Hannah's Hopeful Hearts

I just received this message from our friends, Reba & Bill:

     On March 19th, 2010, the Bainbridge community came together at Grace Church for the Hannah's Hopeful Hearts "Climbing Mountains for A Cure for Brain Tumors" fundraiser.  The event was an enormous success both in terms of the love that was poured out for Hannah and our family and for the funds raised for brain tumor research.  The funds were critical for the development of Tumor Paint in Dr. Jim Olson’s lab.  We are delighted to share that the US FDA just gave the green light to begin brain tumor trials in the US with BLZ-100, the first tumor paint product. 

     In addition to Tumor Paint, innovative research under the name of Project Violet was developed by Jim and his colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  Project Violet aspires to develop a new class of nature-derived anti-cancer compounds that attack cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.  This project largely depends on public donations – often from parents and friends of Olson’s pediatric patients - to fund the development of drugs to treat cancer or other diseases once thought incurable.

     Another pediatric cancer researcher, Dr. Michael Jensen, heads up the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research.  Affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital, the Ben Towne Center has in a few short years achieved great success with their immunotherapy research.  Currently, 13 children and counting are leukemia-free, the relapsed neuroblastoma trial is beginning, and there is hopeful progress in targeting brain tumors. Additionally, Grace Church sponsored a young team of cyclists last year in the Race Across America (RAAM), benefiting Mike Jensen’s research.  Two of these cyclists were classmates of our daughter, Hannah.  We have been proud to support both Jim and Mike’s work.

     We are excited to announce that for the first time ever, Dr. Olson and Dr. Jensen graciously agreed to come together in one special night to update our community on their work and progress in childhood cancer research.

This new Hannah’s Hopeful Hearts event will take place on Friday, April, 10^th, 2015, beginning at 7 pm at Grace Church on Bainbridge Island.  Following presentations from Dr. Olson and Dr. Jensen, a call for donations will take place.  During the night, wine, light hors d’oeuvres and a simple dessert buffet will be provided.  The evening will conclude with a lively concert by the band, St. Paul de Vence.  Friends with Jim, this band contributed to the Violet Sessions CD, a creative project that helps to fund research at the Olson lab. 

     We look forward to another heartfelt and inspirational evening to further the work of these two amazing doctors towards their mutual goals of finding less toxic, more effective treatments for pediatric cancer.  And in the words of our favorite QB who is #strongagainstcancer, Go Jim!!  Go Mike!!  Go Hawks!!

With gratitude and hope,  

Reba Ferguson and Bill Hunt

Gregg and I will be participating in this event, and we invite you to mark your calendars and join us. It's going to be a stellar evening, filled with good news, hope, thanksgiving and joy.