Our team (Ada's Spark) is participating in The Badger Challenge to raise money to fight cancer. Cancer is relentless and unforgiving. We fight for Ada, who battled acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) until the very end. Nobody should ever have to go through the nightmare that we have endured. Over the course of 15 months, Ada spent over 250 days and nights in a hospital where she went through 13 rounds of intense chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant (with her big brother, Oliver as the donor) and participated in two clinical trials at St. Jude and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Despite all this, cancer prevailed and took over. Ada ultimately passed away from relapsed/ refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on July 22, 2023.
Pediatric cancer research is greatly underfunded. The treatments that are used, particularly for AML, are decades old and cause numerous life-altering side effects. There are over seven subtypes of AML and within each subtype, each individual cancer is different. What works for one patient may not work for another. Efforts are underway to develop more personalized and less toxic treatments, but so much more research and development is needed.
We are proudly helping accelerate cancer research and patient treatment initiatives forward at the University of Wisconsin through my involvement in the Badger Challenge which powers the brightest cancer minds, ideas and technologies at UW. The Badger Challenge's mission is to give 100% of all participant-raised dollars (yes, every penny!) to the most promising UW cancer initiatives both in the laboratory and clinic setting. Since 2016, Badger Challenge has raised over $2.6 million and what’s best of all is our ability to see where the money goes as Badger Challenge presents their Scholars each year!
Help us support Badger Challenge and its UW cancer mission. All contributions are appreciated - whether it is $5 or $500, every dollar counts and you can be assured that every dollar you give goes back to the cause and helping those affected by cancer.
If you are unable to make a monetary donation at this point, please help us reach our goal by sharing this page with others on social media! Even better, send an email to friends you think might be interested in contributing or joining our team!
To learn more about Badger Challenge (and to sign up yourself!) please go to BadgerChallenge.org.
Thank you so much for your generosity! Together we can help write the story that ends cancer!
