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Emergency Financial Assistance Fund


Childhood brain tumor treatments can be long and intense, requiring many parents to take unpaid leave from work to focus on their child. This can add incredible levels of emotional stress on the entire family and pose serious barriers to patient care.

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s The Butterfly Fund® is an emergency financial assistance program, established in 2000, for qualifying families who are experiencing financial hardship as the result of a child’s pediatric brain or spinal cord tumor diagnosis.

Families who have an unmet financial household need, are seeking counseling for a member of the immediate family, or are seeking financial assistance for a child’s funeral or burial expenses, as a result of a child’s brain tumor diagnosis. Children (age 0-21 years) must be on active treatment, have had a recent recurrence or progression, or the family is experiencing a financial hardship that is a direct result of a child’s brain tumor diagnosis.

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation works with social workers at the following partner hospitals to provide financial support to families of children in treatment. If your child is receiving treatment at a hospital that’s not currently on this list, please email us at [email protected] so that we can discuss ways we can help.

Alabama:

  • Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham

California:

  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
  • UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco

Colorado:

  • Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora

District of Columbia:

  • Children’s National Medical Center, Washington

Florida:

  • Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando
  • University of Florida Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville

Georgia:

  • Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Illinois:

  • Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Massachusetts:

  • Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston
  • MassGeneral for Children, Boston

Michigan:

  • C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Michigan

Minnesota

  • Children’s Hospital Minnesota

New York:

  • New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York

North Carolina:

  • Duke Children’s Hospital and Health Center, Durham

Ohio:

  • Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Pennsylvania:

  • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
  • UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Tennessee:

  • Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville

Texas:

  • Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston

Utah:

  • Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City

The Butterfly Fund covers the following types of expenses:

  • Household expenses including:
  • Rent and mortgage payments
  • Utility bills: electric, gas, water, trash service, phone or internet (not including equipment payments)
  • Car loan or insurance payments
  • Travel expenses associated with treatment including:
  • Hotel or temporary housing
  • Gas cards
  • Meal cards
  • Professional counseling services provided by a licensed counselor of the family’s choosing that best supports the family’s needs including:
  • Individual counseling for parents/caregivers, patient child and/or siblings
  • Couples counseling for parents/caregivers
  • Family counseling
  • Grief counseling up to one year after a child’s passing
  • Funeral expenses

Expenses not typically covered include bills owed prior to the child’s diagnosis, cable, credit card and personal loan payments, auto repairs and medical or insurance bills of the patient or other family members, tuition or daycare expenses, and any late fees or past due amounts.

Is there a limit to the amount of assistance provided?

Yes. The Butterfly Fund cannot solve a family’s financial problems or provide all the counseling a family member may require. Assistance is intended to help families get through difficult financial times in their child’s journey. Information about limitations should be discussed with the child’s social worker or Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation staff.

How does a family apply for assistance?

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation works directly with medical personnel at the treatment facilities listed in the qualifications tab above. For additional information and questions about the Butterfly Fund, please call 800-253-6530 or email us.

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