In Memory of Patty Weiner

On January 26, 2021, Patty Weiner, longtime Making Headway Educational Advocate, passed away. Patty was the bedrock on which our entire educational advocacy program was built. Her dedication to children and their families, her expertise, and her compassion was evident every day, year after year. Patty inspired everyone around her to be better and to work as hard as she did. Patty helped hundreds of families, giving special needs children the greatest gift of all, a proper education. Making Headway is forever grateful to have her as part of our family and she will always be in our thoughts. In Patty’s memory, Making Headway will continue the work that she started, and vow to always help the children that she loved so much.

For over 20 years, Patty Weiner was one of the most knowledgeable, hard-working, and dedicated members of Making Headway’s Ongoing Care Team. As our Senior Educational Advocate, she has provided over 3,000 hours of expert support to ensure children receive all the educational services they need. Patty’s knowledge and passionate advocacy on behalf of families has earned her the respect of school administrators and special educators throughout the region. Throughout her career, Patty has earned multiple awards. She has authored textbook chapters and journal articles, founded a parents’ advocacy group, and initiated a taskforce of school administrators, parents, and healthcare professionals. The parent’s advocacy service that Patty started helped parents address the steep challenge of accessing complex educational services. As founding director of the graduate program in Child Life at Bank Street College of Education, she co-created numerous courses—including one on neonatal intensive care, which was especially dear to her heart. In short, Patty Weiner exemplifies Making Headway’s vision of helping families through compassionate and comprehensive service. For all of her work, she was awarded Making Headway’s first ever Lifetime Care Award in 2020.

For over 20 years, Patty was part of the Making Headway family, and their mission to provide care and comfort for children with brain and spinal cord tumors while funding medical research geared to better treatments and a cure. Our programs and services are designed to help children and their families cope with the fear, anxiety, and neurological consequences of hospitalization, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments.  Today, Making Headway carries on with their unique work, offering a continuum of services that includes individual counseling, educational advocacy, in-hospital quality-of-life programs, scholarships, fun family events, medical research grants, facilitating clinical trials, neuro-oncology fellowships, and so much more.