Thank you for opening this letter. And for caring about kids fighting cancer. What a year. We can all agree that 2020 is not a year we...
A Letter from Dean – December 2020
read more
Childhood Cancer
Helping Childhood Cancer Families Carry The Weight
When you donate to Rally, you fund much-needed childhood cancer research—but there’s more to it. Childhood cancer changes EVERYTHING. It...
Rally Kids Maylee & Kiki: #FORTHEIRFUTURE Of Friendship
When you give to Rally, you aren’t just funding research—you are funding childhoods. You’re giving kids the chance to experience life,...
Meet Rally Kid Lex: A Fun-Loving 11-Year-Old Who’s Fighting Blood Cancer
There’s no way around it: Childhood cancer is sneaky, and it happens unexpectedly. Symptoms can be mild and are often confused with other...
A Letter from Elaine
It’s been fifteen and a half years since a malignant tumor the size of a grapefruit was removed from the left kidney of our son, James....
Words of Wisdom from a Brain Tumor Mom
In honor of Brain Tumor Awareness Month, I asked Melissa Mott—one of my favorite Brain Tumor Moms—a few questions. I really enjoy her...
Why I Chose Pediatric Oncology and Research
Rally Researcher and pediatric oncologist Dr. Michael Kinnaman received a Rally Postdoctoral and Clinical Research Fellow Grant. In part...
A Letter from Rally Kid Peyton to Families Battling Cancer
Dear families experiencing childhood cancer and pediatric palliative care doctors, I am a Rally Kid and a first-year student at the...
The Truth About Palliative Care—It’s Better Than You Might Think
For many pediatric cancer patients and their families, palliative care is a beacon of comfort during the extreme discomfort of symptoms,...
Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro For Kids Fighting Cancer
I sometimes find myself wondering what it must feel like to be a kid who gets the devastating news that he or she has cancer. Throughout...
Vincristine: Controlled Distribution
First, thank you to all the families who reached out and shared your children’s stories with us. Thank you, 11 Alive and reporter Kaitlyn...
Vincristine Shortage Call to Action
From Dean Crowe Vincristine is the most commonly used childhood cancer chemotherapy drug, and it works by stopping the cancer cells from...
Vincristine Shortage – Note To Pediatric Oncologists
Dear Pediatric Oncologists, As I’m sure you’re aware, the vincristine shortage is very real. But what I want you to know is that I am...
Vincristine Shortage – Update and Action
To the childhood cancer community: As Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), I am sending this letter to the childhood cancer...
A Name that Makes Me Cringe
I think this is true of just about everyone I know. I know it is true of me. There are just certain names that bring up bad memories....
Childhood Cancer
What Is MIBG?
When your child is diagnosed with cancer, you have to learn a whole new language in just a few days. Terms, phrases, and abbreviations are used by healthcare professionals who deal with cancer every day. And it can leave you dazed. But sometimes it helps to use an acronym, for instance MIBG – which stands for metaiodeobenzylguanidine. Just try saying that ten times in a row! MIGB is used to treat neuroblastoma. This clear liquid consists of two materials: metaiodobenzylguanidine, or MIBG, and...
What a Difference a Decade Makes
May of 2013 brought the last dose of chemo for my daughter, Danielle. Back then it was hard to see or even think about what life would be like ten years down the road. Honestly, I wouldn’t even allow myself to look that far ahead. Danielle was diagnosed with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January of 2011. When the genetic testing came back on her leukemia about a month after diagnosis, it was not good news. She had all the bad markers and none of the good ones. I chose to focus on...
Brain Tumor Network Guides Patients and Empowers Care
A few months ago, Rally Mom Tiffany shared with Rally Foundation the outstanding support their family has been receiving from the Brain Tumor Network (BTN) for her son and Rally Kid, Logan: “BTN has been a wonderful resource for our family. They are responsive, knowledgeable and compassionate.” BTN is the largest brain tumor patient support organization of its kind in the U.S. Since 2014, BTN has provided free navigation services to almost 2,000 patients. BTN pediatric brain tumor navigation...
What Is A Second Opinion?
Hey Mom and Dad, Let’s chat, Cancer Parent to Cancer Parent, about seeking a second opinion. I’ll be the first to admit I was very nervous when seeking a second opinion. I did not want my child’s team to feel insulted or think that I didn’t trust them. We LOVE our team, and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they love our daughter. And guess what? After receiving the second opinion, the first thing our primary doctor said was “Never feel bad about seeking a second opinion.” In the...
What Is CAR-T?
You may have heard of CAR T-cell therapy, also called CAR T, but what is it? It is an immunotherapy treatment that uses your child’s own immune cells, specifically the T-cells, to fight specific blood cancers. CAR-T can be a frontline treatment or an option if one or more treatments did not work, meaning the cancer is resistant to treatment, or if the cancer returned. Medical professionals do a blood draw to collect your child’s T-cells, a type of white blood cell. Then the T-cells are sent to...
What Is a Bone Marrow Transplant?
You just learned that your child has to have a bone marrow transplant. It sounds ominous. You have a lot of questions. Like, what exactly is bone marrow and what is a bone marrow transplant? Bone marrow is the soft, fatty tissue inside your bones. It creates red and white blood cells, as well as platelets. In addition, bone marrow contains immature blood-forming cells known as hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs. These stem cells are unspecialized, and they can either remain stem cells or mature...