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
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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 Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)?
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also called acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL for short, is a type of blood cancer that causes bone marrow to overproduce a type of white blood cells called lymphoblasts. ALL is the most common type of cancer that affects kids, accounting for roughly 30% of all cases of childhood cancer. Lymphoblasts are immature white blood cells that are responsible for identifying and destroying foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. When someone has ALL, the bone marrow...
What is Retinoblastoma?
In simple terms, retinoblastoma is an eye cancer that develops in the immature cells of the retina. Though it is rare—with approximately 300 children diagnosed in the U.S. each year—it is the most common eye cancer in children. This malignant intraocular cancer rarely occurs in adults. Retinoblastoma can occur in one or both eyes and is caused by genetic mutations in the nerve cells of the retina. The retina is comprised of nerve tissue and is the part of the eye that’s responsible for sensing...
What is Wilms Tumor?
Wilms tumor is a type of kidney cancer that primarily develops in children around the ages of three and four. It’s the most common type of kidney cancer found in kids. Approximately 9 out of 10 kidney cancers in children are Wilms tumors, sometimes known as nephroblastoma. There are two types of Wilms tumors that are classified by their histology, or how they look microscopically: favorable histology and anaplastic histology. A Wilms tumor with favorable histology means that, while the tumor...
Cancer in Teens and Young Adults
Childhood cancer is a big problem. In the U.S. alone, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every school day. But it doesn’t just affect school-age children -- babies, teens, and young adults can get childhood cancer, too. In the last 20 years, thanks to research, many more young children and older adults are surviving their cancers. But that’s not the case for teens and young adults. Teens and young adults are unique. Their cancers are different, their bodies are different, and they face...
What is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)?
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood cancer of the myeloid cells that normally form white blood cells, red blood cells or platelets. AML originates in the bone marrow, where the leukemia cells build up and overcrowd normal cells. The leukemia cells often move into the bloodstream fairly quickly. AML is the second most common form of childhood leukemia, after acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). AML is much more common in adults versus children; the average age of diagnosis is 68. There are...
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 for the second time. A group of women gathered in the driveway three days a week for over a year to pray him through treatment. That is where I started learning about childhood cancer. It was awful. One day William had a horrific reaction to a transfusion and almost died. I looked at William’s mom and asked a simple question that changed everything: “What...