Forward 4 Tobi's Chicago Marathon Efforts More Than Double their Goal in Raising Funds for NorthShore Kellogg Cancer Center

Last month, Team Tobi participated in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on behalf of the Forward 4 Tobi Foundation, which helps to raise money for the Forward 4 Tobi Patient Assistance Fund at NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) Kellogg Cancer Center. The Forward 4 Tobi Patient Assistance fund helps to improve the lives of patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer by providing financial assistance for medical expenses, child care and other daily unmet needs so they may focus on fighting this insidious disease. Forward 4 Tobi was named for Tobi Klonecki, a local Chicagoan.

Tobi Klonecki was a special wife, mother and friend who lost her life to breast cancer on May 7, 2013. She was a passionate runner who participated in the 1998 Chicago marathon, and because of Tobi’s passion for running, Forward 4 Tobi formed Team Tobi, made up of 16 friends and family from Illinois and Massachusetts, to run the Chicago Marathon. They not only ran for Tobi but for the lives of so many who are desperately in need of daily assistance. To date, Team Tobi has raised over $126,000 for breast cancer, far surpassing their goal of $50,000.

Of the 16 runners, 13 had never run a marathon before. Karen Jacob, friend of Tobi and Director of Fundraising for the Forward 4 Tobi Foundation says, “The fact that they all completed the marathon is astonishing. Personally, this event was special on so many levels, but mostly because Tobi would have been proud. She certainly would have wanted us to do exactly what we did - raise money for such an important cause.”

About Forward 4 Tobi

The Forward 4 Tobi Foundation aims to improve the lives of patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer by providing financial assistance for medical expenses, childcare, and other daily unmet needs so they may focus on fighting this insidious disease. Cancer is hard enough. The vision is to help make the lives of patients and their families a little bit easier, taking away some of the financial burden so they can focus all of their energy on fighting this disease and living life. To bring out the normal in abnormal. http://www.forward4tobi.org/home.html

Forward 4 Tobi Patient Assistance Fund at NorthShore Kellogg Cancer Center

The Fund provides direct financial assistance to Kellogg Cancer Center patients with metastatic breast cancer. The Fund is be used to support needs that enhance a patient’s quality of life.

Examples include, but are not limited to, housekeeping costs, medicine not covered by insurance, integrative medicine services, attendance at cancer conferences (e.g. Annual Conference for Women Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer), travel expenses for clinical trials, and child care costs.

About NorthShore University HealthSystem

Headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) is a comprehensive, fully integrated, healthcare delivery system that serves the Chicago region. The system includes four hospitals in Evanston, Glenview, Highland Park and Skokie. NorthShore employs approximately 10,000 staff and has 2,400 affiliated physicians, including a 900 physician, multispecialty group practice with some 100 office locations. Further, NorthShore supports teaching and research as the principal teaching affiliate for the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

#?~