A MESSAGE FROM Help support me race in the NYC Marathon in honor of families impacted by pediatric cancer!
Please support my fundraising efforts for the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon Fundraising!
I first heard of Emily Whitehead while I was a student at Penn State while I served as a Family Relations Captain for THON 2019. Through this position, I had the opportunity to get to plan events for children with pediatric cancer at Penn State Children’s Hospital and form relationships with them; some families I still keep in contact with and visit to this day. When I heard Emily’s story for the first time I couldn’t believe how incredible it was that she was the first child ever to receive CAR T-cell therapy, and that it cured her.
Fast forward to today in 2023, I am now working as a Physician Assistant in Pediatric Oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the very same hospital that provided Emily with her life saving treatment. Many of my patients are just like Emily. The ones that relapse often run out of options, and treatments like CAR T can be their last chance. However, treatments like this aren’t readily available in other areas. As a result, we often have patients that come to us from all over the country, and even all over the world.
Racing in the New York City Marathon has been a dream of mine for a while now, and being able to run in this race for children like Emily, is an absolute honor. Over the past 10 years I have spent running, I have realized that finding “Your Why” for every race, is extremely important. It has become my moto, to dedicate races like this one to a cause that is bigger than myself. I can’t think of a cause that is a better fit for me and my story than the mission of the Emily Whitehead Foundation.
I witness each and every day at work the physical and emotional pain that pediatric cancer causes to children and their families. The reality is that even though we have treatments for many forms of pediatric cancer, many of them can cause life long side effects – even secondary cancers. I see these side effects on a daily basis at work and would do anything in the world to provide children with safer options.
The Emily Whitehead Foundation is helping ensure research can continue to grow, so hopefully one day, a cure will exist. But until then, we must fundraise for research for safer and more effective therapies for children.
So when asked what motivates me to run on behalf of this organization, it’s really pretty simple - Hope. The hope in my patient’s eyes as they fight their battle, no matter how painful, that they will beat this awful disease and come out on the other side. The hope, that by fundraising for organizations like the Emily Whitehead Foundation, safer and more effective therapies may become more widely available to families.
Each and every dollar makes a difference in the life of a child with cancer; if you are able I would appreciate your support. No donation is too small.
Thank you – one day we will find a cure!
