The goal was to raise $5,000.00, but they quickly blew past that number and ended up raising a total of $7,625.25!  A new record!!!  Thank you to all of the students, parents and staff of Downtown Elementary for your continued support.

This week, for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, two schools in the BCSD (Downtown Elementary and my school, Cato Middle School) are doing their annual penny wars to support the N8 Foundation! The wars started on Monday (9/24) and will run through Friday (9/28). The penny wars are all out battles and include themed dress up days and rallies at the end of the week. It is a fun way for kids to get involved and raise money for cancer research. In the past, both schools have raised over $5,000 (each)!!! This year, we would like to give the community an opportunity to participate as well to help them reach and surpass their goals. If you or anyone you know is interested in donating money to go toward the game, please donate HERE. 100% of all money raised will go to the N8 Foundation, of which, 100% goes to research for pediatric cancer. As we say, not a penny wasted!!! 🙂 Also, all donations are tax deductible through the Foundation.

Donations can also be mailed to the Foundation at P.O. Box 6463, Bakersfield, CA 93386.

And game on to everyone who had their students bomb my class with your cash this morning. It’s on!!!

As always, thank you everyone for your continued love and support! Also, shout out to the BCSD as a whole for including the N8 Foundation as one of its trusted beneficiary foundations during its summer teacher training institute.

To kick off Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month (gold ribbon), on September 1st, the N8 Foundation will donate an additional $10,000.00 to the Monje DIPG Research Lab.

We just finished a LONG day of meetings here at the conference in Portland, Oregon (7am – 9pm to be exact). I must say, we are so honored to have been among some of the most brilliant and compassionate Dr.’s and scientists from around the world who have dedicated their careers to Pediatric Brain Tumors. It is no secret from the collaboration between the non-profits and these doctors that we are all dedicated to our children and teens diagnosed with Pediatric Brain Tumors. Discussions of treatments, trials, biopsy options, quality of life and the need for funding were all heated and debated topics throughout the day. I have always commended and thanked these brilliant minds for choosing this path of care and research for our children because, in my mind, I didn’t choose this and never would have thought that my family would have been affected by this disease. But my reality – turned into a nightmare and I choose to be in it now, I choose this fight no matter how difficult it can be. There is so much to digest from today, but the bottom line…I know what we are doing is making a difference and I will forever be thankful to the community of doctors, scientists, families, and survivors who continue to dedicate their lives to Pediatric Brain Tumors. #N8Foundation #PediatricBrainTumorFoundation #DIPG #KyrieFoundation #MeghanRoseBradleyFoundation #BeBraveforLife #MithilPrasadFoundation

Stanford Letter 5-9-18

In BIG news, the research team we have been working with at Stanford announced what will hopefully turn into a MAJOR scientific breakthrough in treating DIPG … and they did it, in part, using Nate’s cell lines! How crazy is that!? In short, using immunotherapy (engineered immune cells), they are now able to virtually eliminate DIPG tumors in models.  See the attached article. Truly an amazing leap forward!

Read the article HERE.

The research paper with their findings was recently published in Nature Medicine. The N8 Foundation even got a nod at the end of the paper as a partial sponsor. Thank you Dr. Monje and team!

The team at Stanford is currently working to start the first human trial in the next few months, hopefully by the first part of this next year (2019).  We are certainly hopeful that this new breakthrough translates into an effective human treatment … Dr. Monje, you and your team are amazing! Thank you again!!!

Board Members Nick and Tracy recently had the opportunity to visit the research lab at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles (CHLA).  While it was difficult to return to CHLA (the hospital where Nathan treated), it was good to see that the passion and drive in the researchers is stronger than ever – and, of course, to learn about all of the exciting new advancements.  Thank you to the doctors and researchers at CHLA for giving us the tour!  Amazing facility.

 

 

 

 

When Nathan was receiving treatment, one of the things that comforted him the most while he was in the hospital was visiting with the therapy dogs that would come into the rooms to visit.

We have since learned that these trained therapy dogs are in short supply – but there is great demand for their services.

 

 

So… Welcome Louie!!!

N8 Foundation President, Tracy Street, is currently in the process of training Louie to become a certified therapy dog to take into children’s hospitals.

Louie is a sweet and gentle chocolate labradoodle.  He has been a welcome addition to the family and we are looking forward to sharing him with others!!!

In furtherance of the N8 Foundation’s goal of driving research to ultimately defeat DIPG, using funds raised from past fundraising events, the N8 Foundation fully funded a full-time research position at Stanford focusing entirely on DIPG!  Since we are funding 100% of the position, they even named the position after our foundation – The N8 Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship in DIPG Research!

In October, our board traveled to Stanford to visit the lab and meet the team.  While there, we were able to see the live cell lines that the doctors and researchers were able to establish from Nathan’s tumor.  While it was extremely difficult to see these tumor cells from Nathan still “thriving” and growing in a petri dish, it was also reaffirming and comforting to us to know that even though he is gone, he is still leading the fight to find a cure for this horrible disease.  In fact, we learned during our visit that in the time since he passed, the cells had multiplied into the millions and the team was actively shipping them (free of charge) to other research labs and facilities all over the world, including as far as Europe and Australia.  Amazing!!!

Thank you Dr. Michelle Monje and her team!

N8 Foundation Vice President and CEO, Nick Street, was recently selected to participate as a member of the Pediatric Oncology Patient & Caregiver Clinical Trial Advisory Board through Genentech, Inc., a national biotechnology company who focuses on pediatric cancer research.  You can learn more about Genentech and its recent projects in pediatric cancer research here.

The Board will hold its first meeting in Washington D.C. on November 12-13, 2015.  The purpose of the Board is to help biotechnology companies, such as Genentech, (1) understand the challenges and motivations of pediatric cancer patients (and their parents), (2) better understand how to address their needs in Phase I/II clinical trials, and (3) to discover and define clinical trial services and tools that may be helpful to patients and parents.

UPDATE:  The trip/meeting was a success – and quite a learning experience!  We even got to take in the sights around the City (for a few hours) before jumping back on the plane and heading back home.  Thank you Genentech!  Looking forward to all of the promising developments in the future!