Dean’s Letter – December 2025
Twenty years ago, Rally was birthed from a prayer circle in a driveway. William Olson, a junior in high school, was battling brain cancer...
A Message From Nora
Hi! My name is Nora. I am 7 years old and I have a blood cancer called ALL — for a second time. The first time, I was 4 years old and I...
Rally Kid Nora: Fighting for Her Future — Again.
Dance, tumbling, playing outside and all things pink — these are the joys that light up Rally Kid Nora’s world. She loves to go to school...
Nora’s Journey With Cancer: The Spirit of a Fighter
Like most 4-year-old girls, Nora was full of life — happy, energetic and always on the go. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until her...
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2025
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — and this year, Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research is celebrating 20 years of...
What’s One Hour of Your Time Worth?
Some people think of volunteering as a nice gesture. But in the fight against childhood cancer, it’s a lifeline. Volunteers are the...
What is Ewing Sarcoma?
Ewing Sarcoma Defined Ewing sarcoma is a cancerous bone tumor that affects children, adolescent and young adults—usually developing during...
What is Rhabdomyosarcoma?
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a type of soft tissue cancer that most commonly affects children and adolescents. It’s often found in skeletal...
What Is Osteosarcoma?
Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children and adolescents. The tumor often originates in the long bones of the body,...
Rally Is Proud to Award $300,000 to These Outside the Box Grant Recipients!
Breakthroughs happen — in science, in medicine and especially in childhood cancer research — with outside-the-box thinking. At Rally...
What is Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)?
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a type of blood cancer that causes an overproduction of white blood cells. These cells grow abnormally and can build up in the blood and bone marrow, leaving less room for healthy white and red blood cells as well as platelets. CML is commonly associated with a genetic mutation called the Philadelphia chromosome. While CML is very rare in children, with about 150 pediatric cases in the U.S. each year, it’s often more aggressive in kids than it is in adults....
What is Neuroblastoma?
Neuroblastoma is a cancerous tumor that develops in the nervous system of babies and young children. It can also occur, rarely, in adolescents. A neuroblastoma tumor often affects immature nerve tissue called neuroblasts. The most common area for neuroblastoma to appear is in the adrenal glands, which sit above the kidneys. Adrenal glands produce hormones that control body functions such as digestion, blood pressure, breathing and heart rate. Neuroblastoma can also begin in other areas of the...
What is Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor (AT/RT)?
Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor (AT/RT) is a rare and fast-growing tumor that typically originates in the brain and spinal cord. These tumors most often occur in the part of the brain called the cerebellum, which controls movement and balance, or in the brain stem, which controls vital functions like breathing and heart rate. AT/RT mainly occurs in children under the age of three, but it can occur in older children and very rarely in adults. AT/RT is found in fewer than 3% of children with...
A Letter To Rally Kid Alexa
Dear sweet Alexa, Yesterday’s passage of the funding bill in the Senate (yes, it’s now 2026!) was a win inspired by you so many years ago. I first learned what advocacy really looks like because of you. You were only a preschooler, and yet you understood exactly what mattered. You marched up to Capitol Hill, climbed into Senator Johnny Isakson’s lap, and, very matter-of-factly, asked him for $1 million for childhood cancer research and to come to an ice cream party with you that afternoon. He...
What is Medulloblastoma?
Medulloblastoma is a type of brain cancer that’s most commonly found in children. “Medulloblastoma starts in the cerebellum, which is located in the back of the brain,” explained Rally-funded Researcher Dr. Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina. “It is a fast-growing tumor that often compresses the ventricle that brings the protective cerebrospinal fluid to the brain. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that...
What is Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)?
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a brain tumor found in a part of the brain stem—above the back of the neck and connected to the spine—called the pons. The pons is a vital part of the brain, controlling critical bodily functions like breathing, swallowing, blood pressure, heart rate, eyesight and balance. DIPG occurs almost exclusively in children; most often between the ages of four and 11. DIPG accounts for roughly 10-15% of all brain tumors in children. These tumors—called gliomas...