Define Your Life and Your Legacy This Make a Will Month
When Peter R. Bossow Jr. was diagnosed with cancer in 1998, everything changed for him and his wife Marci. While the time between his diagnosis and his passing was brief, it left a profound impact on the lives of everyone who knew him. During Pete’s battle with cancer, he and Marci were overwhelmed, exhausted, and afraid for what was to come. In the midst of treatment, they were given the opportunity to experience respite with the help of their family and friends, allowing them to set aside the strain of cancer while recharging and reconnecting.
While Pete was in the ICU at Penn, he communicated to Marci both what he wanted in his will and his dream to leave a legacy and give other families fighting cancer the same respite he experienced. Although Pete would not live to see his vision come to fruition, Marci carried it forward through the creation of For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation. And today, FPS is building the nation’s first-of-its-kind cancer respite center, Pete’s Dream, which will serve thousands of cancer patients and their families every year.
Marci and Pete’s story is representative of the experience of millions of other families who are forced to deal with the reality of a cancer diagnosis. Cancer turns your life upside down, and patients can be left feeling powerless and at the mercy of their diagnosis. One way to regain a sense of control can be to create a will. This can provide peace of mind by ensuring your wishes are clearly documented and carried out and guarantees you have power over how your assets will be distributed between family, friends, dependents, and causes you care about, whether those be financial assets, property, personal belongings, or even pets. A will can also protect loved ones from unwanted legal and financial burdens during an already difficult time. Included in the will making process are additional estate planning documents, such as a living will, that outline medical decisions in the event you are unable to communicate your own preferences.
Despite the importance of a will, only about one third of Americans currently have one in place. This can be due to the perceived cost of estate planning, how upsetting it can be to think about your mortality, procrastination, or simply not believing you need one. However, creating a will can be an empowering step that gives you control over your affairs both in the present and in the uncertain future that cancer presents.
Pete was empowered in his journey and prepared his will about two months before his passing. It was during conversations around this process that the legacy of For Pete’s Sake was solidified. Pete requested that the foundation be put in his obituary notice, and the rest is history.
August is National Make a Will Month, and through a will, your impact can extend far beyond your lifetime. This is what Pete did, and this is what others have done to ensure the FPS mission continues.
The McMahon family is a shining example of creating a legacy, and they recently told their story in PennLive. After losing both their mother and father to cancer just a few years apart, the McMahon family experienced firsthand the heartache and uncertainty brought along with a cancer diagnosis. The importance of leaving the world a better place was a lesson instilled in them by their parents, and their mother, Sandy, did just that. As one of her final acts, she made a generous gift to For Pete’s Sake using her Individual Retirement Account. By naming FPS as a beneficiary, she supported the construction of the chapel at Pete’s Dream and therapeutic programming for families onsite at the respite center. The McMahon’s generous bequest is just one example of the many ways you too can create a legacy.
Within one’s will, people can make legacy gifts to charities with either a fixed dollar amount or fixed percentage. Bequests can also include a remainder clause, giving what remains after all other instructions have been satisfied, or naming an organization your beneficiary if other plans cannot be fulfilled.
However you choose to leave a gift behind to a nonprofit like FPS, you can be sure that it will be used to positively impact thousands of lives. As we construct Pete’s Dream and scale to serve thousands of cancer patients and their families every year, a gift to FPS in your will ensures that you will leave a legacy behind of hope, happiness, and healing.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to leave For Pete’s Sake a gift in your will or have questions about estate planning at all, our CEO and Founder Marci Schankweiler holds an LLM in Taxation and Estate Planning Certificate from Temple University School of Law. She would be happy to talk with you about your plans and answer any questions you might have. You can reach her at [email protected] or at 215.416.7489.
“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.”
-Winston Churchill
