Butterfly Fund Financial Assistance Program
Childhood brain tumor treatment regimens 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 Butterfly Fund is an emergency assistance program, established in 2000, for qualifying families whose child has been diagnosed with a pediatric brain or spinal cord tumor and as a result are experiencing financial hardship.
Who qualifies for assistance from the Butterfly Fund?
Families whose children (age 0-21 years) have a brain tumor diagnosis and, as a result, 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. Children 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 the child’s brain tumor diagnosis.
The child must be treated at one of the following partner institutions:
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
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
What types of expenses are covered by the Butterfly Fund?
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 PBTF staff.
How does a family apply for assistance?
The PBTF works directly with medical personnel at the treatment facilities listed above. For additional information and questions about the Butterfly Fund, please contact us at 800-253-6530 or by email.
The Butterfly Fund assistance program is possible thanks to the generosity of our project funders:
