Meet Abby
In 2001, at the age of six, Abby was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor called anaplastic ependymoma. After surgery which completely removed the tumor, she had six weeks of radiation treatments. Everything was just fine when a routine MRI revealed a recurrent tumor in 2003. Additional surgery and brachytherapy radiation followed. Later that same year, Abby had more surgery to remove extensive radiation necrosis after which she completed two years of oral chemotherapy. In May 2007, a routine MRI revealed a "suspicious" area which required more surgery. Thankfully, the mass turned out to be non-malignant and Abby has recovered well. Abby is an independent girl who loves animals, especially the family pets, Charlie, a black and tan standard dachshund, and Snickers, a fluffy cat. She enjoys listening to music, playing games with her sister, and has participated in soccer and gymnastics. Abby's determination and strong spirit have helped her through the difficult times. At present, she is healthy and enjoying life.

Meet Alexa
Just days after her first birthday, Alexa was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. She was given a 20% chance for survival. Fortunately, Alexa was enrolled in a clinical trial and for the next three years underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. After a few years of healthy childhood, she began to have several medical issues which were a result of all the cancer treatment she had as a young child.  Alexa's spine began to curve sideways and inward towards her organs. The inward curve began pushing against her lungs and along with the scarred lungs from chemotherapy she has ended up with only a 20% lung capacity.

This January, Alexa flew to St. Louis to have scoliosis and lordosis surgery in order to straighten her spine and give her room to breathe. The results were amazing and she is back in Atlanta doing physical and occupational therapy and trying to get back to being just a normal kid.

Although Alexa is far from being normal, she is a beautiful girl with a big, bright smile and an amazing attitude.  She still goes to school, loves math and reading, helping others, playing the piano, and having fun with all of her friends. At age 10, she is so full of life.

Amelia turned 5 in May and is looking forward to starting kindergarten in August. Her attitude and spirit continues to be an inspiration to all who know her.

Meet Bella and Maddie
On July 4th, 2007, our family was blessed with the birth of beautiful identical twin girls, Isabella (Bella) and Madeline (Maddie).
On August 30th we noticed that Madeline’s abdomen was a little swollen and firm. However, her behavior was unchanged so the pediatrician suggested some gas drops, which we tried but did not change her abdomen.

On September 4th we went to the pediatrician for the girls’ 2-month checkup. He took a look at Isabella and said she looks perfectly healthy. He took a look at Madeline and he immediately sent us for an x-ray. After the x-ray, we waited in the waiting room for the doctor to call us back with the results. He didn’t like what he saw on the x-ray, so he told us to go to the hospital immediately.

A CAT scan that very night indicated Maddie had a large cancerous tumor called neuroblastoma. In the next few days, Bella began exhibiting symptoms and was soon diagnosed with neuroblastoma as well. The doctors feel that the tumor started in Madeline and spread to Isabella via the placenta. The girls are only the 9th reported case of monozygotic twins with neuroblastoma in the world.

Meet Benjamin
At the age of four, Benjamin is currently in the maintenance phase of treatment for his cancer. He was diagnosed in 2004 with two types of Leukemia (ALL and AML) at the same time. He will have spent three years of his life on chemotherapy.

Ben enjoys playing soccer and recently earned an orange-striped white belt in karate! Ben loves Ninja turtles, climbing on the playground, and playing with his brother. He is looking forward to beginning kindergarten soon.

Meet Brittany

A double lung transplant looked to be her only option, but the cancer was especially aggressive and she began declining very quickly. Soon, due to her decline and the unusual nature of this cancer, the transplant was no longer an option and she was to be treated with a new targeted chemotherapy drug that had shown some quick results in clinical trials. Tragically, the cancer didn’t respond as quickly as we hoped, and she just didn’t have the amount of time needed for the treatment to take effect.  Three weeks after being diagnosed, Brittany lost her battle with lung cancer.

Meet Carmel
Carmel is a 16 year-old diagnosed with Leukemia. She had chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant in which her sister was a perfect match. Off treatment for over a year, Carmel is doing great. She is currently in the eleventh grade, volunteers at the local library, and works at a pottery shop. Carmel loves to sing, and is currently a narrator for a church production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Meet Carsten
Carsten is a loving, intelligent, funny and fun boy who loves to learn. He was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in December 2005, and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. He continues to maintain a positive, upbeat attitude, and enjoys learning about how his body is working to defeat this disease.  

Carsten is in Kindergarten at Key Elementary School, where classes are instructed in English and in Spanish. It has been great fun for him learning another language. He loves to create. One of his favorite activities is to build flying machines out of Lego blocks.  He also loves to draw, paint, and to glue things together. Carsten loves to read, and is a big fan of Star Wars, and other adventure stories.

Meet Carter
At the age of seven, Carter faced cancer with determination and a smile – not once did he complain. All who knew Carter adored him. Carter loved God, Georgia Tech, his dog Comet and his family and friends tremendously. He excelled in art, sports and academics. Carter thrived on competition, and he won almost every battle. When this young warrior met his match in cancer, he challenged the disease with his own piggy bank coins and asking his mom to give the money to find a cure.

Despite 14 cycles of chemotherapy and an experimental form of therapy, Carter’s battle against cancer was lost. But this courageous young man, who knew cancer could take his life, told his mom, “Cancer can’t take away love.”

Meet Catie
Catie was an adorable toddler who had a twinkle in her eye and brought a smile to your face. She loved animals, princesses and her friends. She was also a very determined and courageous little girl. On her first birthday, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Catie has endured eight surgeries, 22 months of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments. Catie fought long and hard, but in the end, her body could not tolerate any more treatment.

Catie’s mom, Jenny, says, "Children's days should be filled with playtime, laughter, and friends not chemotherapy, hospitals, and medicine. It is only through research like that funded by the Rally Foundation that doctors will find more and less toxic cures for our children. That's why we fully support the Rally Foundation and the work it does. Join us and rally with Catie to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve."

Meet Chelsie
Chelsie was diagnosed with stage III High Risk Neuroblastoma in August 2004 at the very young age of 4 months.  By her first birthday she had endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy, 12 rounds of radiation, oral chemotherapy, surgery to remove the remaining tumor, and a very risky stem cell transplant.  Through it all she remained a trooper.  In February 2005, she was declared NED (no evidence of disease), which she remains today.

We were very fortunate to live in a community with a cancer center for children.  We count our blessings daily that she is where she is today, especially since many of her friends are not so fortunate. 

Meet Chris
At the age of five, Chris was learning Tae Kwon Do and getting ready for kindergarten when his parents were given the devastating news that he had cancer. For the next five years, Chris had three surgeries, 34 rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, a stem cell transplant and hundreds of blood and platelet transfusions. He was a Cub Scout, served on the school safety patrol, and had a first degree black belt and an incredible sense of humor.

At age 11, his body could not tolerate more treatment and he passed away with so much more life yet to live.

Meet Christi
Christi began experiencing back pain in the spring of 2002. Doctors found nothing wrong. One day, she woke up from a nap screaming in pain and unable to breathe. A CT scan found a tumor along her spine and around her heart. September 11, 2002 she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer of the nervous system. It had spread throughout Christi's tiny body and into her bone marrow. She was Stage 4, the most advanced stage with the poorest chance of survival. Intense cancer treatments, two hours from home, put Christi in isolation for many months - no school, church, or friends.

Despite the harsh treatments, the cancer remained and it became medically necessary to transfer Christi's cancer care to New York City. Christi's parents left their youngest daughter at home (500 miles away) and moved into the Ronald McDonald House where they lived for 9 months during Christi's treatments. The treatment included surgeries, chemo, and other experimental trials. Still, her cancer remained.

Christi took many more experimental treatments some allowed her to live a relatively "normal" life at home. A profoundly gifted child, she loved school. She also took weekly: horse riding lessons, ballet, jazz, religion and piano lessons. She received the "Clara Barton Award" (the Red Cross's highest honor), for sponsoring blood drives. Christi knew first hand the importance of donating blood as her life has been saved over and over by loving blood donors.

Sadly, in January of 2006 Christi's cancer worsened and spread. Despite nine more months of experimental treatments, the cancer proved to be too much for Christi's body who had endured four continuous years of treatments. Christi gained her Angel wings on September 19, 2006 with her parents by her side.

Meet Claire
Claire was the kind of child that always seemed larger than life. As a baby, she cried more than any other baby; as a toddler, she was always busy learning about everything, and as a little girl, she could do anything. Claire was an excellent gymnast, contortionist and swimmer. Everything came easy to her, so much so, it made her brother and sister jealous. As a teenager, she was a cheerleader and member of the debate team. She was beautiful, and had a lot of friends.

Then, cancer reared its ugly head. Not just cancer, but the terminal kind with a challenging 14 months, at best, to live. Claire took on this new challenge with her usual pluck and strength. She was determined to beat it, and she fought for all she was worth.

Claire lost her battle to cancer, but not because she didn't fight. She lost it because we don't know how to stop her kind of cancer. We don't know how to stop a lot of childhood cancers. If Claire had been diagnosed with a brainstem glioma in 1974, her prognosis would have been the same then as it is today. This is unthinkable that we are allowing our children to die because we don't put our money into research for childhood cancers. Please join Claire, me, all of the children who have and are battling cancer, and their families in giving money for cancer research.

Meet Cole
In November 2006, Cole was diagnosed with cancer just before turning six years old.  Doctors discovered several large masses in his abdomen, later to be diagnosed as Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumors.  He endured nine rounds of high-dose chemo, a MIRACULOUS surgery in NYC that successfully resected 100% of the tumors, and full abdominal/pelvic radiation therapy.  Cole ended treatment in August 2007, and has been in remission since.  While relapse is a possibility for Cole's disease and many others, Cole is determined to stay strong and healthy to be ready to fight if it returns. Cole is a charmer who makes friends wherever he goes and loves sports, especially baseball.  He has an undefeatable positive spirit - and remembers more about all the fun opportunities he's had during treatment than the cancer itself.  While he is one of the lucky ones to beat this awful disease, there are currently no treatments to prevent recurrence. Cole’s mom says, “More research on immunology and genetic therapy is much needed to help kids like Cole who beat cancer stay cancer free!”

Meet Cooper
During a routine check up at six months of age, Cooper was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma. He had a softball-sized tumor in his abdomen and cancer that had spread to his liver. Since that time, Cooper has been through surgery, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, radiation, and a retinoic acid and antibody study. He just had his first off-treatment scans which showed that he is cancer free!

Despite the ordeal, Cooper is the happiest baby one could imagine. He is now 18 months old and loves chasing his new kittens around the house!

Meet Coulter
Not only was Coulter deaf and blind in one eye, but at 18 months old he started showing signs of a cancer called Aplastic Anemia. He was a child who was full of life and loved to play outside. He loved Woody and Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story, and liked to dress up as different characters. He loved his brother and sister dearly and enjoyed going to school when he was well enough to do so.

After fighting for six and a half years, he lost his battle and died March 29, 2005. He was 8 years old and had so many more plans for his life.

Meet Daniel

Daniel received 30 radiation treatments during high school soccer season, but he still played every minute of every game. Seven weeks after major surgery to remove the tumor and previous scar tissue, Daniel contracted a staph infection in his incision, requiring another surgery and seven weeks of wearing a portable wound vacuum. Daniel kicked for the football team while his skin was still healing, even using his one hour unhooked from the wound vacuum to attend football practice. Daniel has not let cancer slow him down – he was named Special Team’s MVP by both the freshmen and J.V. football teams.

While she was in the hospital, she was famous for her many expressive, funny faces. Some of her favorite things to do are looking at books, listening to music, and playing outside. Elise is an adorable three year old who loves her brother and is doing just great!

Meet Emily
Emily is six years old and has been fighting Anaplastic Medulloblastoma since August 2006. She has endured several surgeries, extensive chemotherapy, radiation and in mid summer ’07, a research protocol chemotherapy regimen. Thus far she has survived much longer than most children diagnosed with this form of medulloblastoma. Emily has brought great awareness to childhood cancer in her community, and she continues to amaze and inspire anyone that meets her.

Emily used to enjoy riding her bike, boating, going to the beach, dancing and going down waterslides. While unable to walk and do her previous activities, she still likes having her picture taken, dolls, princess stuff, jewelry, coloring & drawing, Dora, and Scooby Doo.  Emily also loves to cuddle with her new puppy, Oreo! Emily recently enjoyed her wish being fulfilled by visiting Walt Disney World in Florida with her family.

Ethan is currently half way through a 3.5 year regimen of chemotherapy.  The first 6 months were extremely difficult with Ethan's immune system completely destroyed, and he was in isolation at home the majority of the time.  Even now, whenever Ethan's temperature goes over 101, he will be admitted to the hospital for antibiotics and blood tests and observation.  You can imagine how many times a pre-schooler and (now) kindergartner gets viruses and fevers!  We are in this for the long haul but we count on the length of the chemo to hopefully keep him from relapsing.    Ethan is still very smart, but too much activity tires him out now.  The steroids he must take monthly also dramatically change his behavior to a person we do not always recognize.  His diet is often unhealthy and erratic.  The chemo changes their taste buds or makes food seem unappetizing.   

Ethan loves playing with NFL football helmets and knows all the teams and divisions.  He loves playing with his little sister, it could be anything from imaginary friends to drawing to putting underwear on their heads.  They are always silly and creative!  He likes Scooby Doo and is a lover of all things in nature and all animals.   

Ethan's mom shares, "My hope is that research will help us identify a gene that causes this disease, or a direct environmental link so we can stop exposing children to whatever it is.  I also hope that chemotherapy will get more and more personalized so that each child gets enough but not too little to permanently kill the cancer.  Too much chemo is also bad, as the side effects are several pages long and include other cancers later in life."  

Meet Hayley
Hayley captured the hearts of all who knew her. She loved circles, chasing cats and horses. Hayley was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia shortly after her first birthday. For months, Hayley was a model patient. She took hospital life in stride, and celebrated many of her firsts there—including walking and talking. After a few months of treatment, Hayley’s leukemia went into remission. A few months later every one was surprised when Hayley relapsed in the skin and bone marrow two weeks short of completing her therapy.

She was never to reach a solid remission again despite numerous chemotherapy and experimental protocols. Her relapses were fast and furious, and included cancer hiding in her spinal fluid and stomach. Knowing time was of the essence, Hayley’s treatment was quickly moved forward with a cord blood transplant. She received intense chemo and total body irradiation prior to the actual transplant, but it wasn't enough. She relapsed 14 days later, with 23 percent cancer in her blood.

Less than year after her cancer was discovered and a courageous and exhausting battle, Hayley received her much deserved rest and went home to be with her Heavenly Father, cancer-free at last.

Meet Jack
Jack is a four year-old who was diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer called Neuroblastoma. He underwent chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and tandem stem-cell transplants.

Currently off therapy and doing well, Jack loves music of all kinds. He is known for singing and dancing to silly songs. If he does not grow up to be a rock star, he is likely to become a scientist, having a love of experiments, puzzles and gadgets. Jack's first love is his herd of stuffed “moo moos,” which travel everywhere with him.

Meet Jack S.
Jack was originally diagnosed with Leukemia, which returned three years after his initial fight. He has spent a total of five years doing chemotherapy and radiation. Just recently he finished his treatment.

Jack is an 11 year-old with a wry sense of humor and is well known for keeping the nurses on their toes during his hospital stays. He loves animals of all kinds, but is fondest of snakes, lizards and turtles, earning him the title of “Reptile Man.” Jack also loves traveling and has been to places as diverse as Africa and Alaska.

Meet Jacob
Jacob is a happy, funny, little clown. He is always trying to make someone laugh. He loves his family, pirates, Spiderman, and his dog Rosie. He was an unusually healthy child, with no colds, flu, or ear aches. Then he started having strange symptoms and illnesses at two and a half years old. After finally having a bone marrow biopsy done, he was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on September 11, 2003.

He has been so tough through it all. Jacob has endured numerous spinal taps with injections of drugs into his spinal fluid without having to be put to sleep; he took a handful of pills at one time; he has had many blood transfusions, random viral illnesses with weeks of hospital stays, and daily toxic painful chemotherapy—more than a three year old should ever have to endure. But he keeps in mind the ultimate goal---growing up and living a long full life. He is doing so well and is in remission. He took his last chemo pill on November 13, 2006 and five years from now Jacob will be considered cured.

Meet Jake
Jake has been battling neuroblastoma since October 2001. Jake underwent five