After a successful battle with Hodgkin's, Mario is now 17 years cancer free and his experience led him to focus on ways to assist those not so fortunate. He devotes much of his time to the Foundation raising funds to help reach the ultimate goal: a cure for cancer.

The main objective of the Mario Lemieux Foundation is to fund promising research projects being conducted by the most talented scientists in the field. Among the donations made by the Foundation was a $5 million gift to UPMC Health System to establish the Mario Lemieux Centers for Patient Care and Research in 2001. In 2002, the Lemieux Foundation established an Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology Research at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh with a $1 million gift.

Nathalie Lemieux expanded the Foundation's scope in 2000 when she created Austin's Playroom Project following Nathalie and Mario's personal experience while caring for their profoundly premature infant son at Magee-Women's Hospital. As they were tending to young Austin, there was no place to provide a comfortable calming environment and engage his sisters Lauren and Stephanie. It was then that Nathalie devised this idea to someday raise funds for playrooms at area hospitals. In ten years, 19 Austin's Playrooms have opened throughout western Pennsylvania.

The Mario Lemieux Foundation also established the Austin Lemieux Neonatal Research Project, in honor of Mario and Nathalie's healthy son who was born prematurely. This grant supports research at Magee-Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in their Division of Neonatology and Developmental Biology.

In 2005, the Lemieux Family Center was established at the Children's Home of Pittsburgh with a $2 million gift - an initiative that supports and nurtures families during the difficult process of transitioning from hospital care to life back at home.

A gift of $1.6 million to The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC established the Mario Lemieux Foundation Endowment for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Research. The gift also provided funding for two new playrooms: an Austin's Playroom on the sixth floor for in-patients and The Lemieux Sibling Center in the main lobby which is dedicated to patient siblings.

Additionally, the Lemieux Foundation supports other organizations such as the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Leukemia Society.

The Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and its attendant events serve as the largest fundraising vehicle for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. After eight successful years of a four-day celebrity tournament that featured galleries of as many as 60,000 spectators, the 2006 event was closed to the public in an effort to maximize the level of corporate entertainment for our ongoing sponsors and supporters.

The 2010 event will be held for the third consecutive year at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and remain a private event. If you are interested in participating, please send us an email as soon as possible, as golf groups are in high demand.