“If this was a disease for white people, I think the cure would have been found already” – Patriots owner Robert Kraft makes $50 million donation to address healthcare disparity

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft continued his philanthropy towards medical research and health equity as he donated $50 million to the Massachusetts General Hospital. This is part of his decade-long effort to build health equity and fund research into sickle cell disease.

His generosity was borne out of his own experience as he tragically lost his wife, Myra, to cancer a decade ago but was moved by the quality of treatment she received in those final days. He then came to the realization that such treatment was not equally available to everyone, especially racial minorities. That is when he decided to direct his charity towards its current focus.

Sickle cell disease predominantly affects the black community and Robert Kraft was clear in denouncing his observation of different health outcomes when it comes to race. He said:

“If this was a disease for white people, I think the cure would have been found already. I think it falls to people like myself to try to do what we can to help.”

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Robert Kraft's history of donations to health equity causes

Robert Kraft's wife Myra passed away due to ovarian cancer in 2011. At that point, they had been together for 48 years. Starting in 2010, a year before her death, he has given upward of $75 million. This has led to the creation of the Kraft Center for Community Health, which includes a mobile van that addresses health and addiction. He said:

“I knew how lucky we were to have the access to the care, and then I became aware of the inequities in the system. This is the greatest country in the world. We have to do a better job. I thought about the stories I heard in the locker room, and then we started the center.”

One particular inequity that exists is sickle cell disease. As previously mentioned, it predominantly affects the black community where one in 365 black Americans are born with it. Despite it being three times as common as cystic fibrosis, research funding favors the latter. This has led to a racial disparity that Robert Kraft has tried to address.

Recognizing the New England Patriots owner, Dr. Joseph Betancourt, senior VP of equity and community health at Massachusetts General said in a statement:

“Robert Kraft and the Kraft family are creating important pathways for patients living with sickle cell disease to receive comprehensive medical care which has not traditionally been available to them. I am grateful to the Kraft family for their longstanding commitment to improving health care access and outcomes for patients and residents of our community.”

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If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Front Office Sports, The New England Journal of Medicine, and H/T Sportskeeda.

H/T: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Donates $50M to Cut Health Equity Gap, A.J. Perez,12 Oct 2022, Front Office Sports.

H/T: When Actions Speak Louder Than Words — Racism and Sickle Cell Disease, Alexandra Power-Hays, M.D., and Patrick T. McGann, M.D., 12 Nov 2020, The New England Journal of Medicine.