“Dear friends at The Payton Wright Foundation, Mike and I would like to thank you so very much for all the help your organization has given to our family. Nick recently had a major brain surgery in January due to a recurrence from a brain tumor. My husband was out of work for approximately a month as he helped me take care of my son (he was temporarily paralyzed after the surgery). We do not know what we would have done if we didn’t have your support. It is stressful enough going through this traumatic experience, and then having to worry about how we will pay all out bills...well, it can be just overwhelming. You helped us get through a VERY difficult time and we thank you from the bottom of our heart for all that you do.”

“Dear Payton Wright Foundation, you have touched my family’s heart and blessed our lives with your giving. You are truly a gift from God, thank you for caring.”

“We wanted to send a note of thanks for your recent assistance to our family. This is truly a challenging journey that no family should endure. However, this foundation has provided some help to deal with the financial burden that so often occompanies this awful disease. Nolan is a senior in high school and he is currently on his second clinical trial at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. This is truly an amazing place to be cared for. God Bless!”

“As a social worker who takes care of children that are often very ill, many people ask ‘How do you do what you do?’ My answer… I feel blessed to do what I do! I feel privileged to have the opportunity to be a part of our patients’ lives and help them cope with such a horrific disease.

The Payton Wright Foundation helps me do this by providing concrete needs to our families. The parents I work with have enough to deal with as they face this terrifying disease, and your financial assistance helps them to focus on their child and family, at a critical time. Whether it is gas and grocery cards or paying basic household bills, your foundation helps to eliminate the financial crisis many face, and gives them time to focus their energy on caring for their child and family.

The speed in which you provide the assistance and the limited criteria you have make it easy for me to assess the situation and provide immediate help to our families. All families experience financial strain when they have a child with a life threatening illness. Thank you for recognizing that and allowing me to use my skills to provide assistance to everyone in need, not just families who fall into a limited category.

We have a long way to go in curing pediatric brain tumors. Until then, thank you for providing assistance to our families. Your foundation lightens the load for these precious families. By picking up expenses and covering basic needs, you and your supporters allow families to put down the burdens of financial stress to better carry their precious children through this journey. ”

“Recently Hillary, our nurse practitioner at Shands, gave us a Carrabba’s gift card and said it was from a beautiful family who had fought cancer with their child. Our ten-year-old daughter Phylicia was diagnosed with a rare pediatric malignant brain tumor the week before Christmas. She nearly went blind and the tumor crushed her pituitary gland, which has presented itself with perhaps lifelong endocrine issues. We are happy to say that through the prayers of thousands all over the globe and the wonderful cancer treatment she’s received at Shands, her eyesight is almost completely restored and the tumor is more than 80% gone! Thank you again for your generosity and thoughtfulness as it means a lot to us. We will keep your family in our thoughts and prayers.”

“Many people ask, “how do you do it?” How do you manage to keep it all together through the pain, suffering and other burden bestowed by the beast that lives in your daughter’s head? There’s more than one answer to this simple, yet complex question — all things are possible through love, hope, and faith. The love we have for each other, combined with the faith that it all has a bigger and greater outcome than I can ever imagine keeping me getting up in the morning to cope with the challenges. My daughter’s illness has made me hit rock bottom at times; however, I am fortunate to see (even during hostile times) the greatness that still exists amongst our race. I have had the opportunity of experiencing and witnessing miracles and extraordinary measures of love and devotion while being surrounded by the strong and brave.

It is through my daughter’s Francheska brain tumor that I have met the best doctors, nurses, and people. A team who has joined forces to fight together united for the same cause, a cure for brain tumors. But until that comes along, thanks to organizations like Payton Wright we have a helping hand. Their financial support helps us cope with some of the struggles and challenges we have to face. In my case, I am a single mother of three, who had to give up her career to work part-time, the foundation has helped us immensely. In several occasions, the foundation has helped us cope with financial crisis situations. We have received gas cards and have had help in paying some of my utility bills. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank The Payton Wright Foundation for helping me and my family deal with some difficult times. I wish the foundation continued success in carrying out their mission to continue to help with the cause.”

“We are so thankful for the heartfelt experiences shared with us by The Payton Wright Foundation on Friday, February 25th. The founders of this organization, Holly & Patrick Wright, parents of Payton, who was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor in 2006, travelled to Gainesville to speak to our medical students about what it’s like to be the parents of a child with brain cancer. They understand all too well not only the physical toll that cancer takes on the child, but the emotional and financial damage it inflicts on the entire family. As a gift to the families who are cared for at UF and Shands, they gave us a generous $500 donation to help families with travel and food expenses. Thank you! We are grateful that they continue to build their foundation to relieve the burden for patients and families fighting these devastating diseases, while they also raise awareness and spend time educating current and future medical leaders on the vital importance of compassionate care of the entire family.

”