Ella is a sweet and sassy 4-year-old who is battling DIPG, an inoperable and highly aggressive form of brain cancer. Ella has been a firecracker since the day she was born. She’s funny, witty, and knows what she wants. Her most common request is for mommy to “picky up.” Ella loves to take care of her baby dolls and stuffed animals and play with little things like Hatchimals. She LOVES her old dog, Lois, as well as her friends and her big sister, Lilly.

Ella began to experience drooling in October 2019, but, since she was overall still healthy and energetic, the drooling was attributed to incoming molars. In January 2020, she started complaining of headaches when she was lifted into her car seat, or there was a change in elevation of her head. Shortly after, she began suffering from tremors with her fine motor skills and became slightly clumsy. On February 4, 2020, Ella’s family received the devastating DIPG diagnosis and were told that Ella had two weeks to 12 months to live. After diagnosis, Ella quickly lost her ability to talk and wasn’t able to play much. She began improving about halfway through her radiation protocol, and by the last day, she was able to speak again. She continued to improve and lose the steroid weight, and by the time summer rolled around, she was back to her old self. Ella and her family took a 12-day vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama and Destin, Florida, where she learned to swim without her floaties. The rest of the summer was spent jumping in the deep end of her neighborhood pool and running around with friends, as well as many family fun activities.

Since her diagnosis, Ella and her family have clung to Jesus. He is their hope and light at the end of the tunnel. Ella is currently eight months post-diagnosis, but unfortunately, this past September, Ella’s right eyelid began to droop, and an MRI revealed that her tumor had grown. Her family is heartbroken, but they know that no matter what happens, Jesus will be there to “picky up!”

Childhood cancer research is incredibly underfunded. It’s time to change that. Our children deserve more. They deserve better treatment options and a cure. An increase in funding is the only way to ensure that someday children won’t die from cancer because of a lack of money.

1 in 330 children in the U.S. will develop cancer by age 20.

On the average, 15,500 children are diagnosed with cancer each year.

Cancer is the #1 killer of children by disease in the United States, yet it remains one of the most underfunded diseases in the world.

The Cure Starts Now focuses on the Homerun Cure™ to all cancers by concentrating our research funding efforts on the deadliest forms of cancer. With over $15 million in pediatric brain cancer research funding to date, you can rest assured that 100% of your donation, after credit card processing, will go directly to innovative research. Please join us in funding crucial research to save our youngest of warriors.