Mission4Maureen: Could YOU Afford Cancer?

Mission4Maureen serves a patient population that is severely under-funded…brain cancer patients. Few brain cancer patients have the resources necessary to fight this affliction and the resulting loss of income that it causes. Most patients must stop working in order to receive treatment. This loss of income, along with rising healthcare costs and lower health insurance benefits, leads to rising debt and late rent/mortgage payments as well as increases in travel expenses and medical bills for treatments. Even our child applicants are living in homes that are experiencing financial difficulty because one parent often must leave their job in order to care for their sick son or daughter. The cost of brain cancer is staggering.  This video link provides a small glimpse into the life of a brain cancer patient NobodyCanAffordABrainTumorYOUTUBE.

 Mission4Maureen is unique. There are many charities for other cancers but few that care for this small but unique group of patients and their families. We evaluate the patient’s need on an individual basis, and our main goal is to help these families maintain a place to live and pay medical bills not covered by insurance.

Mission4Maureen is growing at an exciting pace and is passionate about helping all our patient families. There are so few charities for brain cancer, and most of those raise money for research, not patients. These patients have such courage. We want to relieve some of their challenges.

This is Mission4Maureen's ongoing project and we are well positioned to address this need through our current associations with:

• The National Brain Tumor Society

• The Patient Advocate Foundation

• The International Brain Tumour Alliance

• The Grey Ribbon Crusade

• The American Brain Tumor Association

• The American Cancer Society

(Read the full report here: NobodyCanAffordABrainTumorReadTheReport)

Mission4Maureen Introduces New Look with this year’s Annual Fund!

 In conjunction with the 2008-2009 Annual Fund, Mission4Maureen has developed a new look and a new official logo. It combines the readily recognized pink for cancer patients with the lesser-known official gray color for brain cancer. The new design keeps the original name but includes a representation of Maureen’s eyes. This new look is being incorporated here on the website and in all of Mission4Maureen’s print material and will be included on a number of logo merchandise items that will be available in the spring of 2009. However, the first logo item is being made available for those who donate a minimum of $100 to this year’s Annual Fund Campaign. (See details on the donations page)

Mission4Maureen’s first newsletter (mailed this week) elucidates the theme for the Annual Fund, our venture with Valpak of Cleveland and other Mission4Maureen news. If you have not received the newsletter, you can read it with an Adobe reader by clicking the following: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.

Mission4Maureen received a dramatic increase in attention and awareness due to the online stories about Senator Kennedy ’s brain cancer. Seventeen new applications have come from all over the United States , and although not all applicants agree to allow their cases to be made public, their stories are sad and of course familiar. All these patients are showing determination and courage in the face of their hardships. With your help, Mission4Maureen will do everything it can to help all qualified applicants.