03/27/2017
Know of this family and the amazing work they do to bring awareness to Pediatric Cancer 💛
Update: Just got an email from the doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and we have a new goal!
As a foundation, we strive to better the lives of those who have been so brutally affected by pediatric cancer. As some may know, founders and parents to Kylie Rowand, moved across the country and lost their jobs while fighting for their daughters life. The financial burden was horrendous. Thats when we, as a foundation, like to step in. We work so hard to raise money so other families like the Rowands don't have to be burdened by the stresses of losing their homes or even putting food on their tables. Year around, we help families from all parts of the United States pay their bills.
Aside from helping families personally, once a year we donate a check to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centers neuroblastoma department. We strictly donate to Kylies research. When we met with her doctors last year to present our $100,000 donation, we sat down and had a long chat with them. We wanted to make sure donating to her research would be the right and most rewarding thing to do. We want to be SURE were MAKING A DIFFERENCE! It was the most bittersweet conversation I think I've ever had. They have samples from Kylie when she was first diagnosed, many samples throughout her 20 or so surgeries from her lungs, liver, lymph nodes, brain, and bones, her stem cells from when they harvested them back at Childrens Hospital LA, and her tissues from when she passed away. Its very rare that they have that kind of data to work with when doing research. During Kylies fight, we never hesitated a second when it came to donating her tissue. We knew by those little samples that so much goodness could come from them. Because they have so many samples from beginning to end, they are able to study the mutations and how every intricate detail of her disease changed or progressed. Why certain things changed and how they mutated. Her doctors guaranteed that, although Kylie may not be living on this earth anymore, her life will continue in the body and spirit of other children.
One of the worst diagnosis you can receive when being diagnosed with neurblastoma is finding out that your child is NMYC amplified. Those childrens disease don't respond as well to treatment, their disease is more aggressive, and the survival rates drop significantly. In Dr. Roberts email this morning, he expressed with much excitement that they are finding many ways on HOW and WHY NMYC does the things it does. We believe that if we can find a cure or treatment for this nasty NMYC gene, thousands of lives each year can be saved.
For those of you who don't know, the government only allocates 3.8% of the national budget for cancer research to children. That leaves most of the researchers looking for money in other avenues, such as independent foundation or organizations like us.
The researches at MSKCC are requesting help to further this ground breaking research.
We are setting a goal of $50,000. We will be going back to MSKCC in New York city in just 4 weeks. That doesn't give us much time, but I KNOW we can do it!
Here is how YOU can help us reach our goal and bring life to those who will one day be faced with the same obstacles as Kylie and thousands of other children around the world.
First: PLEASE SHARE!!!! Share this post. Help it go near and far! Let everyone know our babies, YOUR babies, need our help!
Second: go to www.kyliestrong.org/donate to make a donation today!
Thank you all so much for your continuous love and support through Kylie's journey and now the journey of all the other kiddos out there fighting!
Below: Here is Kylie, Kylies Mama Bree, and the brilliant Dr. Roberts standing inside MSKCC hospital in NYC just a few months before our Kylie flew to Heaven.
