The Symmes family knows what it’s like to lose a child to cancer. So in honor of being Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, the family is putting on several fundraisers to help reach their goal of $8 million.
The Pink Label Event is one of their most successful fundraisers. Local boutiques donated brand new items to be sold at a reduced price. Others donated gently used items as well.
All the money raised will go toward the Caroline Symmes Endowment for Pediatric Research.
Caroline died when she was 5. She had a passion for fashion and loved the color pink. Her mom Libby says she will still fight for other kids.
“When you’re told by your daughter’s doctor that she’s going to die because they can’t do any research. They have no resources then that strikes you and you have got to help other families because we lost Caroline to a disease that should have been treatable,” said Libby Symmes.
Cancer is one of the leading killers of children in America. More than 20 percent of pediatric cancer victims do not survive. Riley Hospital for Children agree that research could benefit these children. They’ve teamed up with the Symmes family to help with funding for a research center through federal funds.
“Riley and the researchers and clinical physicians are able to take those dollars and broaden that for national research grants take that money and make it much larger in this effort,” said Jason Mueller of the Riley Children’s Foundation.
The Symmes family says they can’t reach their goal without corporate sponsorships. But in the meantime they’ll keep raising funds through unique ideas like the Pink Label Event.
Markell is known as “Mr. Hollywood” – he is a 15 year old boy diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, with an unstoppable creative spirit and passion for life among all of his adversity. From the creators of My Last Days, Unstoppable is a four-part series in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee that profiles the strength and unstoppable spirit of their young patients.
The team didn’t give up on Still or his family, inviting him back to the team’s practice squad. It gave him money, health insurance and the time he needs to help his little girl.
But the community also rallied around the Bengals player.
Devon Still’s football jersey went on sale to raise proceeds for pediatric cancer research. The money goes to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, ranked among the top medical centers for childhood cancer research in the country, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
At a price tag of $100, Still’s No. 75 is the fastest-selling jersey in team history. As of Sept. 12, roughly 40,000 jerseys were sold to raise money for pediatric cancer research. That’s nearly $400,000 for pediatric cancer research in just four days.
Sales continue to soar.
As fans and supporters of Still and his family started receiving their jerseys, they noticed a personal note from the player inside, thanking them for their support.
The note read:
“I want to thank you for supporting my family and my daughter Leah through your generosity. It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to families fighting cancer in Cincinnati and across the country. Thank you for giving — we appreciate it more than you know.”
No parent is prepared to hear those words. But it happens to dozens of families every day: There will be nearly 16,000 new cases of pediatric cancer this year. Read this inspiring story — and learn how you can help fight for more research to find a cure.
Dan and Andrea Gorsegner were stunned to learn that their 2 1/2-year-old daughter Natalie had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Andrea offers a small glimpse into their journey as a family, from cancer diagnosis to the maintenance stage of her treatment.
Had enough of the negative NFL stories for now? Well, here’s a great story about Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Annie Bartosz that will leave a smile on your face and help restore your faith in, well, just about everything.
Annie Bartosz is a sixth-grader from Wisconsin who lost her twin brother Jack to cancer two years ago. She currently leads a campaign entitled “Gold In September,” which encourages people to wear gold to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. She’s attracted a lot of attention to the cause herself and even has a great website — goldinseptember.com — to get the word out.
A proposed new law could make it easier for terminally ill patients to get access to potentially life-saving drugs. The process, known as expanded access, or compassionate use, was a topic at this year’s annual Childhood Cancer Summit in Washington, D.C., Friday.
The summit is the yearly meeting of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, co-founded in 2009 by Central Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, in order to better direct Congressional resources and efforts to the cause of preventing pediatric cancer.
McCaul was also a friend of Austin attorney Andrea Sloan, 45, who waged a brave, public battle for compassionate use in 2013 while in the final stages of ovarian cancer. After months of requests, an anonymous drug company ultimately granted Sloan compassionate use of a drug, but her disease had progressed quickly and she passed away on Jan. 1, 2014.
McCaul said he is ready to introduce new legislation in Congress in Sloan’s honor that would keep other patients from having to wait so long for their requests to be granted—time they do not have.
To this day, Darren Greenwood doesn’t know who was responsible for the care package, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.
It was 2011 and Darren’s son, Joe, was about to be diagnosed with leukemia.
Joe, 17 at the time, had begun feeling ill during a family vacation and had gone to see his doctor upon their return. After looking at the results of his blood tests, the doctor told Joe and his parents they needed to go directly from their home in Ripon, outside of Modesto, to the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center.
They arrived late. They were tired. They were hungry.
That’s when they got the care package.
“Somebody at some time had made some kind of donation to the hospital,” Darren says, “so that new leukemia patients and their families would get one.” Darren says, in retrospect, it wasn’t important what was in the package, just that it was there.
“It was just the coolest thing,” Darren says, holding back tears, “that somebody somewhere was thinking about you.”
