SWIFTY SEEKS TO FUND FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CLINICAL TRIAL
The Gustafsons would have given anything to have the option of this Enhancing Immunotherapy Trial for Medulloblastoma for Michael when his cancer returned. Then and now, when medulloblastoma returns the survival rate is only 5%. Yes, 5%! That’s why funding this trial was so enticing.
- The trial uses the child’s own immune system to help destroy the tumor, meaning it’s less toxic to a child’s developing brain than the current radiation/chemo protocol.
- The trial design is novel because the trial will learn from itself.
- The trial will be fully funded by charities of families who lost a child to cancer.
100% of your 2020 donation will fund this trial and with it, bring hope to families whose children currently have a dismal 5% chance of survival.
Michael's Story
Before his death at 15, Michael Gustafson hatched what he called his "master plan" - and laid the foundation for what Swifty does today.
Gift from a Child
Tissue donation is a contribution that improves outcomes for children with brain cancer that only families can make.
Recurrent Medulloblastoma
When medulloblastoma recurs, doctors have no established treatment plan for patients. None. We’re working to change that.
Once you choose HOPE, anything is possible
Together we’re moving toward hope one initiative at a time.
Disturbing Facts About Childhood Cancer
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death BY DISEASE for children in the U.S. …. It exceeds deaths by all other diseases combined. Only 4 pennies of every FEDERAL dollar available for cancer research goes to fund PEDIATRIC cancer research.
Learn More
How is brain cancer different in kids?
All brain tumors can change in response to cancer treatment – but this is especially true for kids, whose bodies are growing and changing anyway. You could be diagnosed with one type of cancer, but have a very different type years later.
To improve treatments, researchers need to better understand the ways kids’ cancers change and transform over time. This means studying as much donated tissue as possible, from as many cancer stages as possible.
But it’s often difficult for families to donate tissue for research – and when they do donate, it’s difficult for researchers to share their findings widely. Swifty is helping to change that.
Recent Blog Posts
Together Toward Hope
Golfing For A Cause
The air is getting crisper, the days are getting shorter, leaves are changing color and that means…. boy’s golf and the District 203 Mikey Gustafson/Connor Hunt Match Play Cup! (Formerly called the Ryder Cup.) The Match Play has been a tradition since 2014 as a way for the NNHS golf team to honor the loss…
Our Class of 2020
In the past, May always meant tulips, breaking out the lawn furniture and graduations. Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the tulips or kept us from sitting outside (albeit 6 feet apart), but for the Class of 2020 graduations have been cancelled or hopefully, only postponed. In the meantime, there is a lot of sadness, disappointment and uncertainty…
Light That Seeps Through a Broken Heart
I can’t tell you how often people are dumbfounded on how I can so enjoy working with a pediatric brain cancer foundation, especially one focused on post-mortem tissue donation. I guess they imagine the sadness and loss that these families endure and assume it permeates their lives and my work. That couldn’t be further from…