I never knew the truth of this quote by John Lennon until now:
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
Our California Dream became reality when through your generous support we were able to fund Michelle Monje’s tissue navigator at Stanford and also fund the next stage of our plan, the navigator at Children’s National Hospital as well! We would never have dreamt it was possible to move this quickly on our coast to coast plan, but together we were able to do more than we ever could do alone.
As you may recall, Swifty is envisioning 5 Centers of Excellence across the US. The centers will make up a collaborative network and be an example of best practice in the collection and processing of post mortem specimens and best practice in family/patient care for pediatric brain cancer patients. With CHOP, Lurie, Stanford and Children’s National already on board, we are currently searching for our southern location.
Why is Swifty so invested in post mortem tissue donation? We learned through our Michael’s tumor donation that the tumor he was diagnosed with and the tumor that ultimately took his life were not the same. However, he was TREATED as if they were the same. No one knew at that time how tricky these tumors are and how they change. But with autopsy tissue to study, researchers are learning so much.
The more researchers understand and model the changing biology behind childhood brain tumors, the more doctors will be able to create effective treatment plans. To understand children’s brain cancer better, researchers need to study a child’s tumor at diagnosis, recurrence – and if necessary, after death. Only then will we understand why our treatments work for some children and not others. That is why Swifty is devoting its efforts to getting post mortem tissue to researchers’ labs where the tissue and resulting data can be widely shared with others.
Then our real dream of a cure for the most vulnerable cancer patients will one day be realized.
