When Paul Karvoski died of brain cancer in 1999, his parents, Jane and Steve, and brothers, Jim and Mark, chose to honor his memory and the care he received by hosting a golf tournament to benefit the Cancer Center. Golf was Paul’s passion and his dream came true when he was able to play in the 1998 Greater Hartford Open Pro Am Tournament. The family established the Paul Karvoski Memorial Golf Tournament, held at Blue Fox Run, Avon and hoped to raise $100,000 for cancer research. This year they celebrated the 20th anniversary of their outing and surpassed over $200,000 in proceeds. Above, Jane and Steve presented their check for $15,500, their largest gift to date.
In 2010 the Karvoski Family and the Cancer Center established the Karvoski Genetics Program. They hoped to give other families options for finding and preventing cancer and getting access to genetic counseling if they could not afford it. The program has grown from a part-time geneticist in one office to a medical director, two genetic counselors, administrative assistant, conference room and two locations within the Karl J. Krapek, Sr. Comprehensive Women’s Health Center and the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Saint Francis. In addition, the program has hired a tele-genetics vendor which allows phone consultations during off-hours and on weekends.