Benefit aids W-H scholarship and two charities
HANSON — For Edward Flanagan, younger brother Patrick was a real profile in courage.
The Flanagans, former Whitman residents, now live in Abington. Patrick was a graduate of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School.
Often he endured hours of wrenching vomiting due to kidney disease before heading off to school in the morning.
“Paddy endured more pain in one day than I’ve known in 27 years,” Edward wrote on the fundraising website forpaddy.com. “He endured so much at such a young age — and yet never wanted to receive extra attention or to feel different or to be left behind by friends or classmates.”
Paddy was born in Boston in 1992, suffering severe kidney illness from birth. Floating Hospital for Children became “his second home.” Despite a successful kidney transplant in 2008, he died following a heart attack and coma on Dec. 23, 2012.
Tickets online
His family and friends are now planning a fundraising celebration of Paddy’s life and legacy from 2 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20 at Camp Kiwanee. Tickets are $40 and only avaiable online through a link at forpaddy.com. Attendance is limited to 250 advance tickets and tickets will not be sold at the gate.
Fireside for Paddy will include music by Lenny Lashley’s Gang of One, Lee Preston, Jon Cauztic + Powwer Geoff, Civil Warblers and The Hired Men. A campfire evening, food truck, ice cream truck, raffles and prizes are also available.
Cabins will be available for overnight camping.
The fundraiser will earmark 60 percent of proceeds to an annual scholarship for Whitman-Hanson students interested in pursuing a culinary career will also benefit from the fundraiser, according to family friend, Scott Cappellini.
“He went to Johnson & Wales,” Cappellini said. “His father was a cook and he wanted to be a cook.”
For those who helped
The event will also benefit two organizations that played a big role in Paddy’s short life — 20 percent of proceeds each to Floating Hospital where he was treated and the Make-A-Wish Foundation that arranged a trip for Paddy to San Diego to watch a Red Sox-Padres baseball game prior to his kidney transplant.
“Patrick avoided telling anyone the story of why we were there,” Edward wrote. “He was simply grateful for such a generous gift and the chance to share it with his family.”
“He was sick and didn’t tell anybody,” said family friend Scott Capellini of Hanson about Paddy’s final fight. “He had been sick his whole life.”
For more information or to make a donation the mailing address is For Paddy, P.O. Box 151, Hanson, MA 02341 or email friendsoftheflanagans@gmail.com.
— Tracy F. Seelye
