Tinley Park Teen Serves as Honorary Chairperson During Eighth Annual Treasuring Our Kids Fundraiser

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation recently hosted its Eighth Annual “Grand Masquerade for a Grand Cause” Fundraiser. The mission of the Orland Park-based non-profit organization is to provide comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children who have been diagnosed with cancer by providing gifts from a treasure chest.

The nearly 300 people gathered at Palos Country Club in Orland Park on April 8th witnessed a remarkable evening that included a delicious plate dinner and live musical entertainment along with chances to win exciting prizes through silent and live auctions and raffles. The final tally showed the Grand Masquerade for a Grand Cause event raised more than $48,000 to benefit childhood cancer patients.

The Honorary Chairperson for the Eighth Annual Treasuring Our Kids event was just-turned-fourteen-year-old Tinley Park resident Joe Moylan. Although his story is similar to hundreds taking place every day throughout the nation, Joe’s mother, Flavia, and father, Michael, quickly learned in November 2015 about the severe impact of a diagnosis of childhood cancer, as well as the positive effects whenever brave young Joe visits the Treasure Chest throughout his ongoing cancer treatments.

Today, nearly a year-and-a-half after his initial diagnosis, Joe continues to undergo monthly chemo treatments. He also must endure a lumbar puncture every three months so that doctors can closely monitor his health. And in keeping with the invincible spirit he has displayed throughout, Joe is hoping to resume wrestling when he starts his freshman year at Lincoln-Way East High School this Fall.

More than 50 relatives and friends of the Moylan family attended the Fundraiser, and their support of Joe and the Treasure Chest Foundation resulted in several competitive and winning bids for numerous raffle and auction prizes.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 12,500 young cancer patients each month in 18 states across the nation. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Ms. Kisel discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain, noting that when children are diagnosed with cancer their world soon becomes filled with doctors, nurses, chemotherapy drugs, surgeries and seemingly endless painful procedures. Martin celebrated his 24th anniversary of remission from the disease earlier this year.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s web site at www.treasurechest.org.

Photo caption: Grand Masquerade for a Grand Cause Honorary Chairperson and Tinley Park resident Joe Moylan (left) describes how selecting a toy or gift card from the Treasure Chest helped him and other young cancer patients at the hospital where he was being treated, as father Michael and mother Flavia proudly stand by at the Palos Country Club in Orland Park.