For seventeen years we have gathered on the golf course to pay tribute to the life and memory of Patrick McDonough. Unfortunately, Paddy fought and lost his battle with a very rare form of leukemia long before most children know what it means to fight or be sick. However, for those two and a half years Paddy not only gave us life, but he invited us to give life to others. His story and struggles touched the hearts of many, resulting in a huge display of community support.

One of Paddy's biggest hurdles in his fight against leukemia was finding a suitable match for a vital bone marrow transplant. Typically, a patient's best hope lies with a family member; but doctors were unable to find one amongst Paddy's family. Unfortunately, due to the high specificity of the body's tissues, looking outside of immediate family members drastically diminishes the odds of finding an appropriate marrow match. However, the McDonough family refused to play those odds and organized a marrow drive where thousands of family, friends and complete strangers came together to get typed as a potential match.

While Paddy was ultimately able to find an adequate match elsewhere, the impact of the marrow drive went much deeper. In what may be considered Paddy's lasting legacy, over 5,000 individuals were added to the National Marrow Donor Program's registry. This means that countless cancer patients, both now and in the future, can benefit from the generosity and support of Paddy's friends and family. To date more than 20 people from this marrow drive have been used as lifesaving bone marrow donors.

To date, over $350,000 has been raised and your support today continues to put vital funds into the cutting edge research laboratory of Dr. David Pellman at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Pellman and the talented researchers of the Pellman Lab work to develop new treatment approaches that exploit the differences between normal and aneuploid cells, searching for targeted drugs that attack aneuploid cells while remaining non-toxic to normal cells and tissue.

We congratulate Dr. Pellman for being named the Margaret M. Dyson Professor in Pediatric Oncology. He has also been recognized by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as one of 56 new Investigators. The funding provided by the Patrick Faolan McDonough Memorial Golf Classic has allowed Dr. Pellman and his colleagues to engage in translational research that is helping scientists arrive at new ways of thinking about cancer that have the potential for long-term clinical payoffs, for that we thank you for your support.

The Paddy Award is given each year to caregivers, donors, family members, and friends
who either:

2009
Kathleen McDonough

2006
Kathy Houlahan

2005
Bonnie Newman
 Tim and Cindy Roche

2004
Mark Andrews
 Eric Johnson
Josh Judge
 Jonathan Smith