A great finish line
for Cathy

By Kerry O’Connor
For the Times

Cathy Hughes was devastated. In 2005, the wife and mother of four from Port Richmond was diagnosed with brain cancer. Her doctor at Jefferson University Hospital removed most of the tumor and started her on chemo treatments, and told her she had three to five years left with her family.
She was only 32 years old.
But on Jan. 20, Hughes and her husband Russell laughed and danced with family and friends under the giant rotunda of Liberty Place at the Beach Ball, a fund-raiser for the Crossing the Finish Line organization, which they credit with their positive outlook on life.
"When I was diagnosed, it was really hard to stay positive," said Hughes during a break in the night’s festivities. "My family wanted to help, do something nice for us. When my brother Greg and sister-in-law Meghan started looking around on the internet, they found Crossing the Finish Line."
Founded in 1999, Crossing the Finish Line is a non-profit organization that provides young cancer patients (roughly between the ages of 24 and 50) and their families with all- expenses- paid vacations, allowing them to get away from the hospitals, doctors, and realities of cancer and just be spouses in love or loving parents to their children.
"We went to Disney World for our vacation," said Hughes. "We were there for eight days and Crossing the Finish Line took care of everything…plane tickets, rental car, place to stay, admission tickets, even spending money."
"It’s really emotional to meet the cancer patients and their families who have gone on a respite," said Marcella Bossow Schankweiler, founder and president of Crossing the Finish Line. "Currently, we send patients from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to places like Florida, California, South Carolina and the Poconos. It makes such a difference in their lives, in their attitudes, to get away from needles and treatments…to just reconnect."
Schankweiler knows firsthand. She started Crossing the Finish Line after losing her first husband, Peter, to testicular cancer. While Peter was alive, friends and family reached out to the young couple in a time-honored way — the beef-and- beer — and demanded they take the money and do something just for them. They embarked on a three-week Caribbean vacation.
"It did wonderful things for us," said Schankweiler. "I wanted to try and do that for other patients and their families."
So far, Crossing the Finish Line has sent more than 500 patients and their loved ones on respites, thanks to donations received through events like the black-tie Beach Ball and in-kind donations, and the efforts of families like the Hugheses.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, they’ll host a luck-of-the-draw dart tournament at Joker’s Bar, 7312 Castor Ave. It’s just $10 to enter, and every dime of the proceeds will go to Crossing the Finish Line.
"We wanted to do something," said Russell Hughes, looking at his wife. "We’re hoping to raise ten thousand dollars and make it an annual thing. It was so nice just to be us on our vacation. We had to help make that possible for other families." ••
To find out more about Crossing the Finish Line, including how to nominate a patient, volunteer or donate, visit the group’s Web site, www.crossingthefiinshline.org. To find out more about the Hughes dart tournament, visit www.phillydarts.com