Make a Difference #ForTheirFuture
At Rally, our mission is to find better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures for kids fighting cancer. When you donate to Rally you give hope to every kid facing cancer by funding the best research we can find. For Their Future! Seven-year-old Rally Kid Caroline is a vivacious brain cancer fighter who wants to be a babysitter when she grows up. She wants to enjoy her mom’s cinnamon rolls and make her brothers laugh. Not even brain cancer can stop her goofy and open-hearted spirit from shining! Rally Parents Matt and Jamie dream of Caroline’s future. As their daughter fights cancer for the fifth time, they navigate their jobs, running errands, sports practices, and doctors’ appointments. Right now, life for Caroline and her family looks like: Eight hours at the cancer center. A needle slowly dripping chemo into Caroline’s little body. The giant list of...
Dreams Really Do Come True
There’s an interesting oxymoron that we in the cancer community know well: you meet the best people under the worst possible circumstances. Though we see deep loss and sorrow as we advocate for children fighting cancer, we also see beautiful generosity and hopeful stories. Rally supporter Michael Mendelssohn was the top fundraiser at CrossFit Dynamo’s 5th annual 24 in 24, a fitness and fundraising challenge benefitting Rally. He also happens to be a member of the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) and is in a Facebook group with many other DVC members. Another DVC member, Gerald, was looking to donate a Disney Beach Vacation to a deserving charity. Michael immediately advocated for Rally. Gerald selected Rally. And this is where dreams really do come true. Rally Kid Bella and her family had never been to the beach and Gerald made that dream come true. Bella is a tough-as-nails 8-year-old who...
Give the Gift of Hope
“There’s no handbook when your daughter is diagnosed with cancer,” sighed Matt, Rally Kid Caroline’s Dad. When Matt and Jamie were starting their family, Jamie gave Matt a book called “How to Be a Dad,” which taught him how to change diapers and take care of a baby. But nothing could prepare him to hear the devasting words: Your 3-year-old daughter has brain cancer. Cancer is Caroline’s norm, it’s really all she’s ever known. She’s grown up in hospitals and greets nurses and Rally staff like old friends. She has fought cancer five times. “At first, going to the hospital was a game. But as she’s gotten older, she’s starting to realize the emotional weight,” her dad says. “She’s dealing with adult issues. Kids shouldn’t have to deal with this.” Today, Caroline is a spunky 7-year-old. She loves goofing off with her brothers, spending time with her parents, and eating her mom’s mac and...
Meet Rally Kid Caroline: A Spunky 7-Year-Old Fighting Brain Cancer for the Fifth Time
Rally Kid Caroline Brewer wears two bracelets around her tiny wrists. The bracelets are made of rainbow beads and strings, one says “Warrior” and the other says “Courage”, fortifying her arms like Wonder Woman’s golden cuffs. These bracelets remind her to be strong and courageous as she fights cancer for the fifth time. Diagnosed with brain cancer for the first time at the age of 3, Caroline has grown up in the cancer world. She’s been a Rally Kid since her journey began. Cycles of chemotherapy, pokes and scans, remission to relapse is all she’s ever known. Outside of treatment she acts like a normal 7-year-old because she’s never known anything different. Caroline is quick to laugh, quick to tease and quick to create mischief at home. Her oldest brother, Will, succinctly describes her as wild, and her other brother, Jack, joins her antics, chasing her around their Atlanta home with a...
New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a type of cancer that begins in the cells that form bones, and mainly affects teenagers and young adults. In metastatic osteosarcoma, the cancer spreads from the primary bone site to another location, most often the lungs. It can also spread to other bones, the brain or other organs. Currently there are no curative treatments for metastatic osteosarcoma. We urgently need to develop new therapies. To better understand a disease, it is common for tumor research studies to use orthotopic implantation. This method grafts tumor tissue where the disease begins in a mouse model. For osteosarcoma studies that would be in a bone allowing researchers to examine cancer progression more accurately and identify potential drug combinations more reliably. Rally-funded researcher Lindsay Jones Talbot, MD, is a pediatric surgeon, researcher, and instructor at St. Jude Children’s...
INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact
Rally is proud to be the initial funder for the creation of the INSTRuCT Database with a Consortium Grant to Dr. Sam Volchenboum of the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) at the University of Chicago. Recent advances in genomic medicine look promising in the study of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). RMS is a rare soft tissue malignancy primarily diagnosed before adolescence. RMS studies are historically challenged, given that only approximately 350 patients are diagnosed with RMS each year in the United States and around 700 patients a year in Western Europe. It is challenging to conduct clinical trials of anticancer drugs for the treatment of RMS due to the rarity, its various subtypes and differences in gene mutations. As a solution, the International Soft-Tissue Sarcoma Database Consortium (INSTRuCT) was created through collaboration with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Soft-Tissue...
Make a Difference #ForTheirFuture
At Rally, our mission is to find better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures for kids fighting cancer. When you donate to Rally you give hope to every kid facing cancer by funding the best research we can find. For Their Future! Seven-year-old Rally Kid Caroline is a vivacious brain cancer fighter who wants to be a babysitter when she grows up. She wants to enjoy her mom’s cinnamon rolls and make her brothers laugh. Not even brain cancer can stop her goofy and...
Dreams Really Do Come True
There’s an interesting oxymoron that we in the cancer community know well: you meet the best people under the worst possible circumstances. Though we see deep loss and sorrow as we advocate for children fighting cancer, we also see beautiful generosity and hopeful stories. Rally supporter Michael Mendelssohn was the top fundraiser at CrossFit Dynamo’s 5th annual 24 in 24, a fitness and fundraising challenge benefitting Rally. He also happens to be a member of the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) and...
Give the Gift of Hope
“There’s no handbook when your daughter is diagnosed with cancer,” sighed Matt, Rally Kid Caroline’s Dad. When Matt and Jamie were starting their family, Jamie gave Matt a book called “How to Be a Dad,” which taught him how to change diapers and take care of a baby. But nothing could prepare him to hear the devasting words: Your 3-year-old daughter has brain cancer. Cancer is Caroline’s norm, it’s really all she’s ever known. She’s grown up in hospitals and greets nurses and Rally staff like...
Meet Rally Kid Caroline: A Spunky 7-Year-Old Fighting Brain Cancer for the Fifth Time
Rally Kid Caroline Brewer wears two bracelets around her tiny wrists. The bracelets are made of rainbow beads and strings, one says “Warrior” and the other says “Courage”, fortifying her arms like Wonder Woman’s golden cuffs. These bracelets remind her to be strong and courageous as she fights cancer for the fifth time. Diagnosed with brain cancer for the first time at the age of 3, Caroline has grown up in the cancer world. She’s been a Rally Kid since her journey began. Cycles of...
New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a type of cancer that begins in the cells that form bones, and mainly affects teenagers and young adults. In metastatic osteosarcoma, the cancer spreads from the primary bone site to another location, most often the lungs. It can also spread to other bones, the brain or other organs. Currently there are no curative treatments for metastatic osteosarcoma. We urgently need to develop new therapies. To better understand a disease, it is common for tumor research studies to...
INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact
Rally is proud to be the initial funder for the creation of the INSTRuCT Database with a Consortium Grant to Dr. Sam Volchenboum of the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) at the University of Chicago. Recent advances in genomic medicine look promising in the study of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). RMS is a rare soft tissue malignancy primarily diagnosed before adolescence. RMS studies are historically challenged, given that only approximately 350 patients are diagnosed with RMS each year in the...