MMA GIVES BACK
people in attendance at last year’s event, and we raised a half million dollars,” reports MMA regional President and CEO Peter Krause. Where does the money go? Specifically, the benefi - ciary of Cocktails & Cornhole is a PBTF program called The Butterfly Fund. For over 30 years, PBTF’s primary mis- sion has been to fund medical research toward eradicating brain cancer in children. But it also works all over the country to provide family support ser- vices, including educational resources and peer-to-peer mentoring. The Butterfly Fund was established to provide families much-needed finan - cial assistance while their chil- dren undergo treatment. “Caring for a child is all-consuming,” explains PBTF President and CEO Courtney Davies. “The financial implications for a family certainly can
be devastating. Two-income households often go down to one-income, because a parent needs to stay home. If you are a one-income household, you may need to go on disability.” On average, Davies says, more than half of all families facing a child’s
cancer diagnosis experience financial distress within 12 months after diagnosis, just at a time when stress- es—and expenses—are at their highest. “It isn’t just the mounting med- ical bills that have a financial impact,” explains Kirsten Hicks, who faced this chal- lenge firsthand. Her daughter Courtney, now 23, was treated for a brain tumor as a child. “It is all the little things that you don’t realize. It is the gas needed to go back and forth to
On average, more than half of all families facing a child’s cancer diagnosis experience financial distress within 12 months after diagnosis, just at a time when stresses—and expenses—are at their highest.
the hospital. It is the increased heating bill because the house needs to be warmer because your child is so cold due to the treatment. It is the increase in the
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