Drew Patchin is an almost 11 year old from St. Louis, Missouri. When Drew isn't catching all the Pokemon around town, you can find him at Ninja classes, horseback riding, playing cello, participating in his scout troop, or playing basketball. Drew's favorite person in the world is his six year old little brother, Tyler.

But Drew is not your typical 11 year old – he’s a warrior in disguise. In 2019, Drew was diagnosed with brain cancer called anaplastic ependymoma. He received surgery and radiation at St. Louis Children's Hospital and was the hospital's youngest patient to do radiation without sedation. In 2021 Drew's cancer returned. This time he had surgery at Children's but went to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for 6.5 weeks for radiation. In early February 2023, a routine scan showed that Drew’s tumor had recurred and was deemed inoperable due to location by his team at SLCH. But Drew is a warrior and is fighting again! After much searching, Drew’s family found a physician at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hopsital in Houston (affiliated with MD Anderson) who believed he could resect the tumor and provide an experimental chemotherapy trial.  After a risky surgery that removed half the tumor, Drew and his mom spent the summer in Houston, and unfortunately the treatment was unsuccessful and the tumor grew.  Drew has some lasting physical affects from the surgery that affect his speech, hearing and fine motor skills – but he hasn’t let that stop him!  

In October, St Jude reached out with a new clinical trial for Drew.  Drew and his mom relocated to Memphis in December for their CAR-T cell trial where they removed Drew’s white blood cells and reprogrammed them to fight his tumor.  He will be in Memphis until mid-February and then will likely travel back and forth between St. Louis and Memphis for continued treatment.  His particular type of cancer is aggressive and his future remains uncertain, but his family is hopeful that this trial will be the miracle they need.  

Through it all, Drew has remained positive and feels that his cancer is a “fun fact.”  He has stated time and again that he’s going to beat this cancer because, in his words, “I’ve done it twice before.” 

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically.