Emily Progin, PR & Social Media Coordinator
eprogin@helphopelive.org / 800.642.8399 ext. 38
Release: Immediate
OXFORD FATHER GIVES BACK AFTER LUNG TRANSPLANT WITH CHARITY GOLF EVENT
SHERMAN, Conn.—On Monday, October 1, 2018, enjoy golf and BBQ for a good cause at The Club at River Oaks (2 Evans Hill Road). The 2nd annual PJ Mannion Golf Tournament will benefit the national nonprofit Help Hope Live thanks to an Oxford double-lung transplant recipient who is giving back to the charity that assisted him during his transplant journey.
Family members call Patrick “PJ” Mannion “the guy who never quits…the one who puts his all into everything he does.” In 2015, the husband and father was diagnosed with the life-threatening lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). PJ immediately required supplemental oxygen just to complete everyday activities and learned a transplant would be his only hope of survival.
Calling on their faith, PJ and his family began the wait for a lifesaving double lung transplant and quickly realized the immense financial burden transplant expenses would put on their family, even with insurance. Out-of-pocket expenses (estimated to be $50,000) would include co-pays, travel and relocation for the transplant, and post-transplant medications (estimated to cost $1,000 per month) over the lifetime of PJ’s new lungs—if they became available in time. They began fundraising with the nonprofit Help Hope Live to help offset some of the uninsured costs.
A benefit dinner in April 2017 was the first fundraiser to bring PJ’s community together. Just one month later on May 19, PJ received the lungs he had been waiting for. To celebrate his homecoming and transplant recovery, the community came together again for the inaugural PJ Mannion Golf Tournament in October 2017.
Within a year of PJ’s transplant, his community had raised more than $100,000 for Help Hope Live in his honor.
This year, PJ and his family have decided to pay it forward for other Help Hope Live families on the transplant waiting list. All proceeds from the 2nd annual PJ Mannion Golf Tournament will be donated to Help Hope Live’s General Operating Fund, enabling thousands of families to continue accessing fundraising guidance and financial support that puts medical care within reach.
Register for the golf tournament by September 22 at helphopelive.org for just $160 per golfer (includes BBQ dinner), or come for the BBQ only for just $30. Sponsorships are still available with levels ranging from $125 to $2500. Check-in is at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. (scramble format). Cocktail hour begins at 5 p.m. followed by BBQ. Space is limited!
For more information, contact: Christopher Mannion at 203.770.0730 or cmannion15@gmail.com; or Patrick Mannion at 203.770.3260 or pjmann277@earthlink.net. Can’t make it? Donations can be made to Help Hope Live at any time at helphopelive.org or by calling 800.642.8399.
Celebrating 35 years, Help Hope Live is a national nonprofit that specializes in engaging communities in fundraising campaigns for people who need a transplant or are affected by a catastrophic injury or illness. Since 1983, campaigns organized by Help Hope Live have raised over $131 million to pay patient expenses.
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Written by Emily Progin
