A beautiful fall weekend in Washington DC was the perfect setting for this year’s Curefest for Childhood Cancer. Curefest is an incredible, impactful event, being one of the world’s largest gatherings of families, advocates, and researchers all looking toward a brighter future of hope and better treatment for childhood cancer.
After missing the opportunity to gather in person during the pandemic, hundreds of people made the trip to DC for this event. This year’s gathering was different than previous years. The community has grown, but felt more intimate, a greater sense of urgency towards the collective mission of bringing hope.
Curefest is always a highlight of September Childhood Cancer Awareness month,
and this year was no different.
The kickoff to CureFest is the Golden Toast, hosted by the Carson Leslie Foundation on Thursday evening. The long weekend of events started with the surprise of seeing the White House go gold for only the second time ever. This wonderful site felt like a marker of how much progress and increase in awareness has happened over the last few years. Guests at the event had a bird’s eye view of the special illumination from the roof top deck overlooking the White House. Speakers told stories of how childhood cancer impacted their lives. We heard from politicians who work at increasing government support, families rallying support from their community, and brave kids who are busy giving cancer a swift kick in the butt!
A Beautiful View of the Golden White House with Host Annette Leslie of the Carson Leslie Foundation 
Gift from a Child, Children’s National, Tough2Gether, CAC2 and Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation at the Golden Toast
Friday, the Gift from a Child team at Children’s National Medical Center gave a private tour of their new Innovation Campus. This state-of-the-art facility will house research labs focused on treatment of rare diseases like childhood cancer. Among these labs will be the Nazarian lab, one of the world leaders in research on pediatric brain tumors that Swifty is able to help fund. We look forward to hearing about many cutting-edge discoveries!
Wet Lab Area 
GFAC Tissue Navigator Augustine Eze 
The GFAC Team in the Innovation Meeting Space 
State of the Art Lab for Research 
The GFAC Team Can’t Wait to Start Working in Their New Lab!
A busy day led into a busy evening with the annual Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2) Welcome Event and Celebration. This event continued the mission of the Cancel Childhood Cancer campaign which Swifty Outreach Director, Ginny McLean played a big part in developing. This campaign increased childhood cancer awareness with thousands of people on Facebook using the campaign frame to to let all of their “friends” know that childhood cancer needs to be a national priority.
Saturday started off with a breakfast hosted by Tough2gether and the DIPG community, with Swifty Foundation/Gift from a Child being one of many sponsors. Guests were treated to insights into current research and patient care from the leading researchers and physicians focused on pediatric brain tumors. Three of the presenters are close collaborators and part of our Gift from a Child family- Drs. Michelle Monje, Javad Nazarian and Adam Resnick. The breakfast was a celebration of life, togetherness, and the accomplishments of a community hard at work fighting for all of the kids who are battling brain tumors.
Dr. Javad Nazarian 
Dr. Michelle Monje 
Dr. Adam Resnick 
At night, CureFest attendees gathered at Freedom Plaza for performances and speeches. Parents spokes of their children who inspire them every day with their bravery and grace, doctors and researchers spoke of the patients that they work so hard for, and heartfelt performances were done to celebrate and honor the cancer battles that have been and are being fought by so many. As per annual tradition, as night fell the candlelight vigil was held. Families were invited on stage to say the name of loved ones no longer with us and have the crowd say repeat their name back, so that their names will continue to be spoken even when their time on earth is cut too short.
Sunday morning worship service sponsored by Swifty/Gift from a Child as well as the Sherwood and Ward families was a great success. Pastor Bishop spoke his message of “Hope, Healing, and Heaven” to an intimate group. This new addition to the Curefest weekend gave families a chance to worship and gather in faith. All who attended found Pastor Bishop’s message to be a source of healing and hope.
The weekend ended at the Washington Monument where 1800 shoes were spread across the lawn to represent the 1800 children lost each year to cancer. Many of the shoes were placed by families and included other tokens and pictures of their child. It was an impactful and emotional way to gather one last time before returning to our individual efforts to cancel childhood cancer.
And this is me, with my mom. This was our fourth Curefest and probably the best one yet!
