Child leaves Diamond legacy

For the last 26 years the Four Diamonds Fund has meant strength, honesty, wisdom and courage to hundreds of families -- a theme developed in an essay by a boy who lost his battle with leukemia.

"The Four Diamonds" is the title of an essay written by Christopher Millard, the son of the fund's founders. In the essay, Sir Millard battles an evil sorceress who offers him one chance of escaping her clutches and freeing the land of evil: he must complete four tasks and receive from her four diamonds.

- Irma Millard, mother of Christopher Millard

In 1972, about six weeks after writing "The Four Diamonds," Christopher lost his struggle against leukemia. During his fight, his family received financial assistance from a foundation in Boston. Receiving the financial assistance meant breaking up the family, because a similar program was not available in Pennsylvania, said Irma Millard, Christopher's mother. For Chris to receive his treatment, he had to go to a hospital in Boston.

"It was hard on our family to do that, to be broken up like that," Millard said. "We discussed creating something like this (Four Diamonds Fund) so that others wouldn't have to go through what we had to go through."

The day Chris died at Hershey Medical Center, the Millards approached a representative of the hospital public relations office about their idea and he was interested.

At first, fund raising was limited to community events such as flea markets and church bazaars, Irma Millard said.

In 1977, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon adopted the Four Diamonds Fund as its official charity. According to The 1997 Marathon Yearbook, Thon had raised funds for a different charity every year, beginning with its inception in 1972. Since 1977, however, Four Diamonds has been the only charity to receive money from Thon, the yearbook reported.

And 26 years after Christopher Millard's death, the foundation created by his family has helped raise more than $9 million for cancer patients and their families.

About 500 families now receive assistance from the Four Diamonds Fund, said Kirsten Werme, Four Diamonds coordinator at Hershey Medical Center.

That assistance comes in a number of forms, Werme said. The greatest amount of money goes to help families meet medical costs not met by their primary insurance providers, she said.

Other funds pay for two social workers, who provide support and information for patients and their families, and two child life specialists, who are on hand to care specifically for the young patients, Werme said.

Pediatric cancer research is also funded by Four Diamonds, as are the miscellaneous expenses of fund recipients, Werme said. Meals, transportation and medical equipment fall under this category, Werme said. And in some cases of dire financial need, the fund even pays for phone and electric bills, she said.

Werme said many of the programs are available because of Thon's involvement in the fund-raising process. According to last year's figures, 73 percent of the fund's money was raised by Thon.

"I think that what the Penn State students have done for the Four Diamonds Fund is absolutely amazing," Werme said. "And the impact on the families goes seriously beyond the financial."

Irma Millard said the fund is a also source of great satisfaction for her, and she believes it would have been for Christopher as well.

"One time he said he'd love to come back as a witch or a sorcerer, but a good one," she said. "And I think he has."