January 2018 our family’s life was turned upside down when our daughter Sophie was diagnosed with childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  Sophie was thankfully successfully treated for her illness and has been in remission for over 4 years but today there are still too many children who are diagnosed with this disease whose outcomes do not look like ours. Throughout this journey our family has learned a lot more about pediatric leukemia have come to realize there is so much potential and progress needed for the future treatments which will improve outcomes for pediatric blood cancers.

We and you, our community, have been so generous in supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada in the past. This year in particular we are excited to be supporting them as they are rolling out in Canada and Globally is PedAL initiative which is a series of clinical trials to test and roll out the next wave of treatments specifically for
pediatric leukemias. Through PedAL, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is setting out to fundamentally change how children with pediatric acute leukemias, including the type of leukemia that Sophie had, are treated. This next wave of treatments will hopefully shape the treatments that children in the future with more effective and less harmful treatments. Thank you so much for supporting us and  this important work being done.