My team
My Story…
Hi Family and Friends!
This year I’m running my 8th consecutive Falmouth Road Race in support of Vineyard Havens, an incredible charity that helps families affected by cancer.
The Falmouth Road Race was founded to raise money for worthy causes, and this one is especially meaningful to me. Cancer has been a persistent and unwelcome foe that has resurfaced in my family over the years.
Running 7 miles in the August heat and humidity is a challenge, but it’s nothing compared to what families battling cancer face every day. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to support an organization making a real difference for those families.
Thank you so much for any amount you are able and willing to donate!
-Matt
Description
So Much More About Vineyard Havens Family Impact
Vineyard Havens (VH) exists to restore moments of joy and normal family life during an otherwise overwhelming medical journey. Through our unique approach to cancer respite, families are given a safe, supportive, and welcoming space to relax, reconnect, and enjoy time together outside of the hospital or clinic.
Jeanne and the team place families in beautiful homes throughout Martha’s Vineyard, all within a short drive to the island hospital if needed.
Each getaway includes an island home, round-trip ferry tickets, professional family beach photos, and a $100 daily stipend for activities or groceries. Families are also welcomed on their first night with dinner and a lightly stocked fridge so they can settle in and begin their time together with less stress.
Building on this respite week is the pediatric initiative, Island Dreams, which focuses on restoring joy to children with cancer. More than 50% of the patients are pediatric, and each year VH budgets an Island Dream for each child in treatment. These Dreams might include a biplane ride across the island, a deep-sea fishing excursion, a sunset catamaran cruise, or a shopping spree at the island toy store. Most importantly, these pediatric patients get to choose the Dream that brings them the most joy.
For many children, an Island Dream is the first time in months–or even years–when cancer is not the center of their world. Meanwhile, nearly every adult cancer patient we serve has children under the age of 18 who are deeply impacted by their parent’s diagnosis. At this time, VH does not have funding to offer these children an Island Dream, even though they face many of the same fears, stresses, and trauma as children with cancer themselves. VH team believe that every child affected by cancer–no matter how it shows up in their life– deserves the same chance to feel joy and build happy memories. Running and raising funds for VH will help to fund an Island Dream for these children.
An example of why this matters: One teenage boy with relapsed leukemia, a first generation American, had only lived in apartments with a stove - never an oven - so his dream was to bake real chocolate chip cookies in a real oven at the beach house. For others, they want to try everything: fishing, clamming, a sailboat ride at sunset or a biplane ride around the island. But no matter which kind of respite families choose, they all share a few things in common: each family gets a beautiful beach house for the week, professional family beach photos, round trip car ferry tickets, and a refrigerator stocked when they arrive to their vacation home - all paid for by Vineyard Havens. .
Recent Donors
| Donation date | Donor name | Donation amount |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 03 | Peter&Anne Brogan | $109.85 |
| May 29 | The Spencers | $109.85 |
| May 29 | Nickali Khabibulin | $109.85 |
| May 26 | Anonymous | $273.35 |
