Friends for Life event will raise funds for children with cancer
September 22, 2010
By Sebastian Moraga
Imagine you’re 5 years old.
Your tricycle has a flat tire, and your dad replaces it with one from his Ford F-150.
Now, imagine you’re still 5, but instead of a flat tire, you have cancer.
The treatment many children get is the medical equivalent of the giant tire for the tricycle.
Lori Salow Marshall, vice president of the Friends For Life Guild of Seattle Children’s, said much treatment for children is based on research for adults.
Marshall helped organize the third annual Friends For Life Fall Fest fundraiser at Finaghty’s Pub and Restaurant, 7726 Center Boulevard S.E., Snoqualmie. The fundraiser is from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sept. 25.
“Having cancer as a child is devastating enough, but having an adult treatment can really bring on some devastating long-term side effects,” Marshall said. “Our goal is to support cancer research that focuses on treatment fit for children.”
The Friends For Life Guild raises seed money toward pediatric cancer research, so that young cancer patients may someday have a treatment meant for people their age.
“Even $10,000 can enable a research project to get off the ground,” Marshall said.
Once started, such projects can go on to earn the big research dollars, sometimes in the seven-figure range, she said.
This is the third annual Fall Fest at Finaghty’s. Children’s music group RecessMonkey is scheduled to perform at 2 p.m.
People can contribute by writing checks or buying hand-blown, custom Christmas ornaments at the fundraiser. This year, the fundraiser will also sell votives reminiscent of the ornaments sold in previous years, Marshall said.
All proceeds go toward pediatric oncology research at Seattle Children’s. The guild raised more than $50,000 last year, according to its website www.friendsguild.org.
Every year, a child is chosen as “ambassador” of the fundraiser. He or she picks the colors of the ornaments, Renton’s Uptown Glassworks creates them and then the guild and the child pick the ones they will sell.
Five-year-old Jackson Forebaugh is the ambassador this year. He was born in 2004, and diagnosed with cancer at 15 months.
The battle to beat a condition known as Rhabdoid’s tumor of the kidney cost Forebaugh one of his kidneys and affected his other kidney and his heart, according to the website.
“He’s doing pretty well now,” Marshall said.
Forebaugh’s webpage states that he graduates from Seattle Children’s oncology program this month.
“We will celebrate his survival at Fall Fest,” the website states.
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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