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 $275,000 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. The last year has been a banner one for the Pellman Laboratory. For instance, Dr. Pellman and his colleagues have proven a 100 year old theory about cancer development, one that may help lay to rest questions about fundamental steps in cancer development.
Cancer is a life altering disease not only for the patient, but for the entire family as well. The McDonough family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for almost a year during Paddy's treatments and the Dream Factory was instrumental in getting Paddy to "Story Land" - one of his final wishes. In recognition of these efforts, a portion of our event proceeds will go to benefit these organizations.
Your participation in the Patrick Faolan McDonough Memorial adds you to this list of friends, using Paddy's memory to fight the battle against cancer. Together we are teaming up to find a cure for tomorrow's cancer patients, while celebrating the life and memory of Paddy McDonough.
