Our Mission

Mission4Maureen provides financial assistance to families who are burdened by the staggering cost of brain cancer treatment.

About Mission4Maureen

It was the day before Thanksgiving of 2003. Maureen, a young wife and mother, had prepared for the holiday trip to join extended family the next day. But that night she awakened with a severe migraine, and nothing she tried would relieve the pain. The accompanying nausea was so frightening, that her husband made the decision to take her to the ER.

Maureen was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme. While most of the country strung their holiday lights, scribbled their gift lists and immersed themselves in annual Holiday planning, Maureen and her family discussed her grim diagnosis and its even grimmer implications.The ensuing months were a roller-coaster ride of optimistic opportunities and devastating decisions. Maureen and her husband sought information about treatments and solutions at various clinics and hospitals that offered some slight hope. Her family and friends pooled their resources, tried to raise money, and did whatever they could to defray the skyrocketing costs of treatment. No one, least of all Maureen herself, would concede defeat to this insidious interloper.

With the loving support of her family and her friends, Maureen battled this cancer for the next year and a half. On Good Friday of 2005, at age 34, Maureen lost her fight and yet another Holiday was marked by the progress of this young woman’s disease.

Yet, out of Maureen’s tragic tale came a new resolve by her family and her friends. Maureen had often acknowledged the support, both emotional and financial, of those close to her, by commenting that “no one can do everything, but everyone can do something.” She could not have guessed how that simple and heartfelt sentiment would fuel an on-going endeavor, in her name, to help others in similar situations.

Mission4Maureen was borne of the loss of a daughter, a sister, a wife and a friend, and its sole and single purpose is to provide support and assistance for victims – and their families – of brain cancer.

While science seeks a cure, society demands its due. Mortgages, utilities and basic living expenses need to be met, and many brain cancer patients simply do not have the wherewithal to meet those obligations. Mission4Maureen, committed to Maureen’s belief that “everyone can do something”, assists qualifying brain cancer patients with everyday expenses. Assistance may come in the form of rent or mortgage payments, help with the electric or gas bill, or even gift cards to a local supermarket to help with the cost of food and medicines. This simple goal is an ambitious challenge for any charity. How is this goal accomplished? One unsuspecting, unprepared brain cancer victim at a time. In her name, this foundation accepts and embraces Maureen’s challenge. “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”