As part of Burlington’s annual in-store fundraising campaign, they’re hosting celebratory drive-by ‘parades’ for children battling cancer
As part of Burlington’s annual in-store fundraising campaign, they’re hosting celebratory drive-by ‘parades’ for children battling cancer
With all the uncertainty in the world today, one thing is for sure — childhood cancer doesn’t stop during a national crisis and patients need support now, more than ever. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and Burlington Stores, the national off-price retailer, are putting a special spin on today’s popular “curbside pickup” routines. Burlington associates are surprising childhood cancer patients across the country with unique “patient parades” outside Burlington store locations nationwide.
From now through November 30, Burlington is encouraging customers to donate $1 or more at checkout in its more than 739 stores to help drive forward blood cancer treatments so childhood cancer patients not only survive, but thrive after surviving cancer. Funds raised in all Burlington store locations will not only support LLS’s mission to find cures and help blood cancer patients access the care they need, but also support programs including The LLS Children’s Initiative.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the exciting parades that have already taken place and the heroic survivors who are inspiring the celebration of bravery and survivorship.
Cristopher, Leukemia Survivor
Boston, MA
Eight-year-old leukemia survivor and second-grader Cristopher recently finished treatment. Even after everything he’s endured, he keeps a big smile on his face and brings laughter and joy to everyone who crosses his path. After leaving a doctor’s appointment just a couple of hours prior, Christopher was pleasantly surprised when he saw Burlington associates cheering for him, who then surprised him with a big gift bag full of his favorite toys.
Leonardo, Leukemia Survivor
Miami, FL
Four-year-old Leonardo has endured more obstacles than most people do in their whole lives. While he’s still in treatment for another two years, he was shockingly excited and happy to receive his very own parade as LLS and Burlington associates sang and danced for him to celebrate his survivorship journey and how far he’s come. Then, they packed his car with a plethora of toys and gifts for him to enjoy when he got home.
Burlington associates piling up Leonardo’s car with gifts.
Jackson, Leukemia Survivor
Atlanta, GA
Since 12-year-old Jackson was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago, he has undergone countless blood transfusions, treatment visits to the hospital and taken daily chemotherapy. He missed out on fun times with friends when he was in the hospital from December 2016 to May 2017. Today, he is a proud survivor, and his mother says he “appreciates everything.”
Victoria, Leukemia Survivor
Houston, TX
Victoria was diagnosed with leukemia as an infant and spent her first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and birthday in the hospital. She learned to sit up on her own, crawl, and walk all while hooked to an IV pole. After a long fight, today, she’s an amazing big sister and a loving and loyal friend. She makes As and Bs in school, has been a Girl Scout for the past four years and loves all things unicorns.
Victoria has come a long way since surviving infantile leukemia.
Vaughn, Leukemia Survivor
Los Angeles, CA
Five-year-old Vaughn was a healthy baby until he was diagnosed at 11 months old with high-risk infantile leukemia. He was placed on an aggressive experimental infant leukemia protocol, and spent months in the hospital. The side effects of the chemo combined with multiple life-threatening infections nearly took his life a number of times. Over the course of two-and-a-half years, Vaughn experienced almost all of the expected chemotherapy side effects. In addition, he patiently endured endless hours of physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture and infant stimulation therapy. Thankfully, Vaughn finished his last chemo treatment in November 2018, and he remains in remission. According to his mother, Emily, “Vaughn's healing success is truly a miracle.”
All patient parades happening nationwide allow LLS and Burlington associates to recognize and cheer for young cancer survivors and their families in their communities, who need support now, more than ever — all while keeping safe and socially distant.
As we round out our first year of marriage and our first year of battling cancer, I recently asked my husband Brad how he would describe this past year. “Disrupted.” Before cancer, we had plans: big, extravagant, travel-the-world kind of plans. After two years of a long-distance relationship, we were finally going to live in the same city. We were going to get settled in our brand-new home. We were going to make new Florida friends. We were excited about the opportunities we had in our careers. We were going to capitalize on the “newlywed phase” to the fullest extent! Then, we learned that cancer doesn’t care if you’re newly married with plans in place; it can rock your world in an instant.
Five days – that’s how long we had been married when we heard the most unexpected, gut-wrenching words: “it’s cancer.” Just five days before, Brad was in a black tux. I was in the most beautiful wedding gown. We were surrounded by our biggest support system and celebrating the vows we had just made to each other – to love each other for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.
Our “Meet the Researcher” series on The LLS Blog shares what our outstanding LLS-funded researchers are working on, the incredible impact they’re making in the fight against blood cancer, and what inspires their efforts to find better treatments and cures. Dr. Maria “Ken” Figueroa, Associate Professor and Co-Leader of the Cancer Epigenetics Research Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System, is focused on an exciting area of research called epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to chemical modifications that regulate (switch on and off) gene activity. With support from LLS, Dr. Figueroa is studying how the epigenetic changes that occur as people age may contribute to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other blood cancers. Advancing age is the most important risk factor for cancer overall, according to the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Figueroa’s cutting-edge work offers new clues toward understanding the factors associated with cellular aging and cancer risk.
Why were you drawn to blood cancer research?
As an attending hematologist back in Argentina, it quickly became apparent that continuing to treat patients with broad chemotherapies that were highly toxic and resulted in frequent relapse was ineffective and unsustainable beyond a first relapse. The initial discoveries by Dr. Brian Druker on the efficacy of targeted therapies in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the early 2000s led me to believe that similar approaches could be implemented for other blood cancers.[1]It was clear that a better understanding of the mechanisms driving the origin of cancers would be required to improve treatment.
What is the focus of your research?
My team is studying how blood forms in the bone marrow and how the normal instructions that govern this process become corrupted – either during normal aging or during malignant transformation. Our hope is that by understanding the underlying changes associated with abnormal blood production, we will be able to identify ways to prevent or treat AML and other blood cancers.
How can studying the epigenetic changes that occur as we age help inform our understanding of blood cancer risk and how to treat these diseases?
Our studies into the epigenetic changes of aging hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells have helped identify many cancer-predisposing changes that occur with normal aging. These changes don't result in cancer per se but can put us in a more susceptible state, in which any additional insult may push the cells in the wrong direction. As we learn more about these changes, we will be better positioned to identify effective preventive interventions or diagnostic strategies that would allow for early therapies to be given. Finally, these unique contributing mechanisms could be harnessed themselves for the development of novel treatments. All of these approaches are currently being explored in my lab.
How will blood cancer patients benefit from your work?
Our primary focus is to identify ways to improve the diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers. We seek to identify laboratory markers that can be used both for early diagnosis and prognostication of disease. This way, we will be able to better classify patients based on their risk of rapid disease progression and their likelihood to respond to therapies. In addition, by better understanding the mechanisms that drive malignant transformation, we aim to identify how we can precisely target the malignant cells with novel therapies, while at the same time preserving normal cells. This type of highly selective therapy is predicted to be more effective and better tolerated than currently available chemotherapies.
How has LLS helped advance your research career?
LLS has been instrumental in supporting my career. From an early Special Fellow Award that was the first grant to support my transition to an independent research position to continued support for several of my projects, funding from LLS has been essential in my ability to pursue original research, especially in areas that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would not support.
What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
I live in a state of constant excitement about the next discovery. I am fortunate to have recruited an incredibly talented group of investigators to my lab, and I deeply enjoy my discussions with them. Every day, they surprise me with new and exciting findings that bring us closer to our goals. As a mentor of basic scientists, I always try to have my trainees spend some time in the clinic with our physicians. This gives my trainees the opportunity to appreciate the experience of blood cancer patients and how our research is working toward improving that experience. I feel that it is important for them to also feel this sense of excitement for new discoveries.
[1] LLS has provided more than $27.4 million in funding since the 1990s to bolster the visionary research of Brian Druker, MD, Director of The Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. With LLS support, Dr. Druker pioneered targeted therapy, a cornerstone of precision medicine. His work led to the development of imatinib, a breakthrough in CML treatment that was first approved in 2001 and has significantly improved outcomes for patients across the globe. Today, Dr. Druker is driving innovation in precision medicine through our Beat AML Master Clinical Trial.
Learn more about Dr. Figueroa and some of her recent breakthrough work by reading our Research Spotlight story here or following her on Twitter @KenFigueroaLab.
As we round out our first year of marriage and our first year of battling cancer, I recently asked my husband Brad how he would describe this past year. “Disrupted.” Before cancer, we had plans: big, extravagant, travel-the-world kind of plans. After two years of a long-distance relationship, we were finally going to live in the same city. We were going to get settled in our brand-new home. We were going to make new Florida friends. We were excited about the opportunities we had in our careers. We were going to capitalize on the “newlywed phase” to the fullest extent! Then, we learned that cancer doesn’t care if you’re newly married with plans in place; it can rock your world in an instant.