The Catholic Standard and Times

Great good born of unbearable loss

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

Imagine that you had a beautiful little girl who, at the age of six, lost her life after battling a rare form of leukemia. A year and a half after the loss, you are still reeling; still recovering from the months spent in the hospital watching your child suffer while undergoing endless testing and probing. Then, you find out that your newborn infant is also diagnosed with leukemia. What would you do?

It was that situation that Peggy Dolan, the executive director of the Kelly Ann Dolan Memorial Fund, experienced in 1977 with her oldest daughter, Kelly Ann, and her youngest daughter, Kim.

“I didn’t know what else to say to God anymore,” Dolan recalled of her reaction to the news of Kim’s diagnosis. “I’d said all the rosaries and novenas and asked for all the prayers. The fear was so paralyzing, and all I could say at night before I went to bed was, ‘Help, God.’”

Her worries were enormous.

She worried about her healthy middle child, Kris, who was being cared-for by one family member after another. She was concerned about the family finances, and the success of her husband’s business — because they both spent so much time out of work to be with Kelly, and then Kim. She worried about her husband’s health and the strain the situation was having on their marriage. And she worried about the physical and emotional toll on her parents, who had helped care for Kelly.

But that simple prayer of complete surrender provided Dolan with the strength and courage to move forward for the sake of her daughter.

Once again, Dolan found herself in the world of chronically and terminally ill children — a myriad of tests, long hours at the hospital, endless images of suffering children and family members trying to do their best to relieve even a tiny bit of the pain. A world where parents were losing their homes, their cars and their jobs trying to care for their sick children. A world where the advantages of race, social stature or wealth were erased.

“I began to realize that the children’s hospital was more than a medical place … [It was] a community and the greatest equalizer of race and economic background,” Dolan said.

When Kim became resistant to necessary blood transfusions, the Dolans received the news that they would have to spend at least four months in Seattle, where Kim would have a bone marrow transplant — her only chance for survival.

“You think about how you’re going to keep your home running here while you’re living there, or where the money for all those out-of-pocket expenses is going to come from, not to mention the hospital costs,” Dolan said.

The Dolans had a network of support that saw them through the difficult times, but they knew that wasn’t the case for everyone.

Kim survived the surgery and the cancer, and went on to celebrate her 27th birthday — and her wedding — last year.

But thoughts of her first daughter are never far from Peggy Dolan’s mind. After Kelly Ann lost her battle with cancer on Oct. 5, 1976, just months before turning seven, her father, the late Joe Dolan, began the Kelly Ann Memorial Fund to honor the memory of their brave little girl and all the seriously ill children who struggle to overcome their own illnesses.

Giving back
The first year the Dolans raised almost $8,000 for the memorial fund that helped relieve the stress of a handful of families. By 1990, Peggy Dolan left her full-time position in the family business to dedicate herself to the fund.

“I didn’t know anything about fundraising but that year we raised $20,000, which was a big deal to me. We were able to assist 65 families. The following year we raised enough to help 200 families, and every year since then we’ve been growing and growing. Last year we helped 1,300 families and this year we hope to assist 1,400 families.”

The more time Dolan dedicated to her work, the more she realized how much needed to be done.

Today, the Kelly Ann Memorial Fund not only provides financial assistance to struggling families by paying for their bills or obtaining donated goods, but it has also become an invaluable information and education center, and an advocate for families in such dire situations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Dolan hopes to expand the fund’s services and support nationwide — which should be made easier now that its work is receiving national recognition.

Most recently, Dolan was awarded the National Caring Award by the Caring Institute, which seeks to identify, honor and reinforce the activities of particularly caring Americans who ennoble the human race by transcending self in service to others. Dolan became the 2004 recipient, joining other great individuals, such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

“This fund moves on a different level,” Dolan said. “Just when you think you’re at your lowest level, something comes through that has nothing to do with you. It’s God’s work.”

Personal disasters are happening in people’s lives every day, and people like Peggy Dolan and those who help run the Kelly Ann Dolan Memorial Fund are countering those disasters with daily miracles and much loving care.

To learn more about the Kelly Ann Memorial Fund visit www.kadmf.org or call (215) 643-0763.

CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.

The Kelly Ann Dolan Memorial Fund Benefit Concert featuring Tatiana

On Dec. 9, Philadelphia’s Catholics will have a special opportunity to help thousands of families who struggle to care for severely sick children by attending a benefit concert at the Performing Arts Center at Gwynedd Mercy Academy in Gwynedd Valley.

The concert showcases Tatiana, the Croatian superstar likened to Madonna, who, after experiencing a radical conversion, gave up her fame to live a life for God through her music and her family.

The fundraiser will benefit the Kelly Ann Dolan Memorial Fund, which is dedicated to providing education, advocacy, information and financial assistance to uninsured families caring for seriously ill and physically-challenged children.

Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.
Performing Arts Center
Gwynedd Mercy Academy
1345 Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd Valley, Pa. 19437
To purchase tickets for the Tatiana Benefit
Concert visit www.cameronproductions.org or call Carol Kodsi at (215) 576-5296.