Benefit dinner gives hope and help

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - A spaghetti dinner at the Elks Lodge in Springfield provided hope and help to a family going through a difficult time.

Tim Richard of Monson suffers from glioblastoma multiforma, the exact type of brain cancer that killed Senator Edward Kennedy. Within days of his diagnosis, his wife AnnMarie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The couples' 17-year-old twin daughters are also afflicted with muscular dystrophy. The dinner helped to raise money to help pay the bills.

"We are just so touched and overwhelmed with the amount of people who have been so generous and so kind, it's amazing that you know friends family and strangers alike have been sending us notes and cards and donations and trying to help us," said AnnMarie Richard, an ovarian cancer survivor.

More than forty donated items were also raffled off at the dinner. The Richards say money brought in at the dinner will mostly go to cover bills around the house, medical and school expenses.