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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The non-profit, Hyundai Hope on Wheels, made a generous donation of $100,000 to Baystate Children’s Hospital.
This grant is helping to advance research and provide much-needed support, all with the ultimate goal of putting an end to childhood cancer. Pediatric cancer remains the top disease-related cause of death for US children. A child is diagnosed every 36 minutes, and tragically, one in five will not survive the fight.
“Hopefully one day families won’t have to go through the pain of losing a child,” said Chelsea O’Brien of Huntington.
For O’Brien, October 9 will be five years since her daughter passed away from the disease. While a tough battle, her daughter and family were not facing it alone. At Baystate Children’s Hospital, they were given enormous ongoing support.
“This hospital helped to give us as normal a life as possible, like toys, activities, and riding cars around the hallway,” O’Brien said.
That same care, along with providing children with milestone celebrations and holiday gifts, is what the hospital will be able to continue, thanks to the grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels. This donation was made during a special ceremony in the hospital’s parking lot.
The vehicle from Hyundai Hope on Wheels showed handprints of kids who are affected by cancer. Fresh handprints were added to the vehicle on Monday from past patients at the hospital. Each handprint a child puts on the vehicle represents hope, love, and recovery.
“Now the cure rate is about 85%; it used to be 75%,” said President of Gary Rome Hyundai, Gary Rome. “So we want to do whatever we can to make it 100%.”
The grant will go towards supporting clinical research to get closer to that goal.
“This year alone, we’ve enrolled over a dozen children in a national study that tracks the prevalence of childhood cancer,” said Dr. Matthew Richardson, Pediatric oncologist at Baystate Children’s Hospital. “What types of cancers are being diagnosed regionally, but also throughout the country, and outcomes of treatment?”
Funds will also support a nurse practitioner with experience in treating this cancer and allow parents to receive food and gas vouchers to help defray some of the costs they incur by having to take their kids to appointments or staying overnight in the hospital for some treatments.
Over the last 15 years, Hyundai Hope on Wheels and local dealerships have donated more than half a million dollars to help kids with cancer at the hospital.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
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Kayleigh Thomas
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