THE POWER Of POLO TO HELP FAMILIES FACING CHILDHOOD CANCER - PALM BEACh ChARITY REGISTER
Watching professional polo player Brandon Phillips race across the pitch at the National Polo Center in Wellington, it's hard to believe that this vibrant sportsman was once a sick boy battling a brutal childhood illness. Diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 14, Phillips, now 40, knows firsthand the challenges families face when a child has cancer.
Phillips founded Polo for Life to help families struggling with the financial and psychological toll of a cancer diagnosis. Through the organization’s annual Polo for a Purpose event, Polo for Life has raised close to $4 million to support local families.
While the event includes a polo match, the festivities go well beyond the sport. Both donors and families attend the annual event, which had a Hawaiian theme in 2024, complete with fire dancers and volcanoes. “The key is to be different and to make it fun,” says Phillips.
Bruce Steinberg, a childhood cancer survivor, attended a Polo for Life event when he was 12. “I didn’t know what polo was, but I heard there would be horses and I thought that would be fun,” says Steinberg. Now 24, he remembers the impact the event had on him. “When you’re in the middle of cancer, it’s hard to look past it. You wake up and you go to the hospital every day. [The event] totally got me out of my world of treatment. I felt supported.”
Steinberg completed his first year of medical school in June. “Everything I went through made me who I am today. Polo for Life was part of that.”
POST (Pediatric Oncology Support Team) is one of three local children’s cancer charities that receive funding from Polo for Life. “Polo for Life is a rare organization,” says POST CEO Barbara Abernathy. “They give us the ability to meet people where they are and put the funds where they’re actually needed.”
With Polo for Life’s support, POST provides families with gas cards, toys, and food; offers support groups; hosts movie nights; and helps cover living expenses. “Parents lie awake at night worrying as much about financial stress as they do about their child and treatment,” adds Abernathy. “The fact that we are able to tell families, ‘We’ve got this,’ because of Polo for Life, is huge.”
Polo for Life launched its first Polo for a Purpose event in New York in September at Meadowbrook Polo Club in Old Westbury. In 2025, Phillips plans to bring Polo for a Purpose to the Roy Rogers Polo Club in Los Angeles.
Now a father himself, Phillips has a broader perspective on the support families need. “I just don’t know how my parents did it,” he says. “Even today, my mother will break down and cry. I feel both sides of it now. That’s why these programs are for the whole family.”
