Page 9 - Swifty Impact Report Sept 2023

2022 ANNUAL APPEAL: THE RIPPLING EFFECT OF MICHAEL’S AND YOUR DONATIONS: THE SEQUEL
The Ripple Effect of 2022 THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF A GIFT: Michael’s Master Plan: The Big Splash The Family Ripples
• Mikey decides to donate his brain to find a cure. His Master Plan
becomes a postmortem (PM) tissue program at the Children’s
• Families donate to help other families not suffer a similar loss .
Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) in Philadelphia .
• Families donate to add to their child’s legacy — they live on
by accelerating scientific discovery.
Last fall our Annual Appeal generated $349,642. MICHAEL’S & YOURS • His plan evolves to become Gift from a Child (GFAC) • Families who donate tell other families about donation,
a national PM tissue collection program .
The Research Ripples
creating more families asking to donate .
This will fund the Tissue Navigator salaries • Swifty’s $2 million grant to CBTN matched by other • Moms who donate become GFAC Family Companions,
philanthropy making it $4 million .
is right for them .
trained volunteers helping other families decide if donation
and autopsy expenses at three of our regional • Those grants expand CBTN’s infrastructure, • When a family asks their doctor to donate, that doctor learns
allowing CBTN to attract new public and
commercial funding .
about GFAC and starts offering donation to future families .
• CBTN receives in-kind support: $40 million
centers for a full year. Many, many thanks to our molecularly sequence 4600+ brain tumor • GFAC national infrastructure and proven workflows
from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to
Ripples Impacting the Pediatric Cancer Community
samples in their biobank .
overcome past logistical barriers that kept hospitals from
generous donors! • This will quadruple the amount of data freely • Not branding GFAC with Swifty has allowed many institutions
offering donation and kept families from donating .
available to researchers around the world .
to use the GFAC brand as their own when promoting PM
donation .
• PM tissue gives researchers the measurable
biological data needed to know why treatments
fail children . Informing new, better clinical • We published a peer-reviewed article in Journal of Clinical
Keep your eyes peeled for 2023’s Annual Appeal … Oncology, demonstrating: families deserve to be given
trial creation .
• CAR T-cell clinical trials, developed from
the choice to donate postmortem and the ethical charge to
offer it .
postmortem cell cultures, are novel, promising
it could be a wish come true! That would be immunotherapy trials for the deadliest • When a family asks their doctor to donate, that doctor learns
brain cancers .
about GFAC and starts offering donation to future families .
Mikey’s wish of course.
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast
a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
— Mother Theresa
Nikki Lyons:
A SPOTLIGHT AND SOUL FOOD STORY ALL IN ONE
Nikki Lyons is Swifty’s scientific interpreter and research librarian. In
addition, she has represented us at multiple conferences around the
country. For those not active in this physician scientist arena, this is a
BIG deal for Nikki and Swifty!
Nikki was recently sidelined from pursuing her MD/PhD in neuro-
oncology. For the second time in 7 years, she was in kidney failure and
waiting for a living donor for transplant. Did that slow her down?
While on daily dialysis for two years and unable to work, Nikki researched
better ways to educate patients about their illness and treatment options.
According to Nikki, “Expecting patient families to sift through the
abundance of information about their disease, the good and bad,
without a medical background is unfair to them.”
Nikki, sponsored by Tough2gether/DDRFA will present
this topic to patient families and clinicians at this year’s
BrainStorm Summit. She is working to bridge the gap
between what hospitals think patients understand vs what
they actually understand.

Nikki is able to attend BrainStorm Summit because her
Aunt Bonnie was a perfect match and Nikki received her
kidney in June!

Oh... and a week before her transplant, Nikki presented
a scientific poster on behalf of GFAC at the conference
for the Pediatric Society of Neuro Oncology. Let kidney
failure slow her down? No way!

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