Nelina's Hope

11/29/2025

2025 has been a challenging year with the loss of my husband, Daryl MacPherson, my rock, my friend, and my greatest supporter of everything that I tried to do. We had decided, before his passing, to wind down Nelina's Hope Foundation in 2024.

I will make a final donation to the SickKids Foundation from Nelina's Hope Foundation on December 15th, in his memory, to support DIPG research. It has been an incredible journey over the last decade of fundraising, raising hope, inspiring people and bringing hope of changing the prognosis of DIPG.

I am truly blessed to have had so many people support this cause in memory of my daughter, Nelina. I am so heartbroken trying to comprehend the loss of Daryl. I take comfort in the beautiful memories that we had as a family.

12/20/2024

With the holidays just around the corner, I am so grateful that I can once again give a Gift of Hope to SickKids in memory of my daughter, Nelina.

Nelina's Hope 2024 Gift of Hope is for $10,000, granted to Dr. James Rutka's lab at SickKids Hospital to support DIPG brain cancer research. I am very humbled by the generosity of so many people over my fundraising journey, which has raised over $250,000 to help support six research projects at SickKids.

My holiday wish is for everyone to have a safe and happy holiday, to appreciate health and wellness for yourself and loved ones, take time to reflect, and try to enjoy this time with family and friends. These are the special memories.

12/22/2023

We are pleased to announce our 2023 Gift of Hope for $12,500 is granted to Dr. James Rutka's lab at SickKids Hospital for research project Enhanced Patient Specific Drug Delivery in DIPG. These funds will be used to support in vitro studies and combining immunotherapeutic approaches in DIPG.

Thank you to everyone that supported Nelina's Hope this year. Together, we can a difference in changing the survival rate for this disease.

10/09/2023

10/08/2023

It was a honor to be asked to join the ribbon cutting ceremony at SickKids in September for the new Patient Support Centre. While there are always a few tears remembering the journey with Nelina when I enter this hospital, I am so happy that the years of fundraising for this wonderful hospital have had such an amazing impact on childhood brain cancer and giving hope to families affected by this disease.

I am still fundraising this fall and greatly appreciate continued support.

nelinashope.org

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09/09/2023

Sneak Peek - Halloween 2023. Over the last several months I have been drawing and painting to put together some pieces for a Halloween display in the radiation area at Princess Margaret Hospital. Thank you Susan Awrey for asking me to help with this display knowing how special this day is for me. I have a few more in the works. More to come.

09/01/2023

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month!

I will be fundraising for the next couple of months leading up to Halloween in memory of Nelina. It is another milestone year as Nelina would have been starting high school so my goal is to raise $9,000 to support cancer research at SickKids.

Donations can be made at nelinashope.org website.

01/11/2023

For everyone that helped support Nelina's Hope over the last few years, thank you! Your donations helped make this a reality and to give hope to families affected by this disease. We are a long way to a cure but this is an amazing step forward. I am truly overwhelmed to see this become a reality.

The first pediatric patient recently successfully underwent the procedure as part of a safety and feasibility clinical trial in children with this tumour.

12/28/2022

We are pleased to announce our 2022 Gift of Hope for $15,000 is granted to Dr. James Rutka's lab at SickKids Hospital for research project Enhanced Patient Specific Drug Delivery in DIPG.

This research project will look at various drug combinations that have been identified as having activity against DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma). Using focused ultrasound delivery technology, drugs will be administered to determine efficacy of the drug combination on overall survival and quality of life. The full research proposal will be available on Nelina's Hope website soon.

Because of your support to Nelina’s Hope, we can direct funds to the most critical projects that are advancing medical treatments for rare and difficult to treat pediatric brain tumors and creating hope for families affected by this disease. Together, we can a difference in changing the survival rate for this disease.

A special thanks to Michael Barrett for his ongoing support since we first started fundraising. Thank You!