STATE COLLEGE — When singer Cori Donaghy takes the stage with her band at the 12th annual Rock the ’80s show on Feb. 24, it will be her 12th time performing at the concert that benefits cancer patients through the Bob Perks Fund . It’s her way of giving back to the organization that helped her family when she was a cancer patient herself 13 years ago.
Donaghy was diagnosed with Stage 4 mantle cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011. At the time, she had just given birth to her third child, and she did not have health insurance, so financial concerns added to an already stressful and scary time. When a patient navigator at Penn State Hershey told Donaghy and her husband about the Bob Perks Fund, it soon became an important resource for the family.
“The Bob Perks Fund helped us cover life expenses so that we could reallocate personal funds toward medical needs. They helped us with utilities, and we received gas cards. … When you’re driving around all over the place to appointments, what seems like a little, insignificant thing is actually huge. It’s way bigger of a deal when you’re in that situation than it seems from the outside,” she said.