The Finn family and friends recently presented $27,550 to Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital in honor of 11-year-old Vivienne Finn, who passed away in 2020 from an inoperable brain tumor.
In March 2020, Mairead and David Finn lost their 11-year-old daughter Vivienne to an inoperable brain tumor. To honor her life, Vivienne’s brother Connor organized a 2024 holiday fundraiser for Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) patients that raised $27,550, along with gifts.
YNHCH will use the proceeds to enhance the pediatric oncology patient experience. The fundraiser is a continuation of the Luke McQuillan Fundraiser, which began in 2017 after 8-year-old Luke’s battle with cancer. Because of that fundraiser, Vivienne received headphones she used during chemotherapy.
A Greenwich High School graduate and now busy college student, Luke passed the fundraising torch to the Finns in 2023. In the Finn family’s first year, they raised nearly $35,000 for children with life-threatening diseases.
The family presented the most recent check to Asher Marks, MD, director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, and associate professor of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine (YSM), and Vidya Puthenpura, MD, pediatric hematology-oncologist, YNHCH, and assistant professor of Pediatrics, YSM, at the YNHCH Pediatric Specialty Center in Greenwich. Both played pivotal roles in Vivienne’s care.
“Having a center of excellence with a team full of caring doctors so close to us is so important,” Mairead said. “And to have Connor and Vivienne’s friends show up for Vivienne today means that Vivienne’s life did not end in vain.”
