Meet Francesca and Isaac, Survivors Making a Community Impact
College students are heading to campus soon in preparation for fall classes, and it’s an especially exciting time for first-year students, including our 2023 College Scholars.
Childhood cancer survivors who receive a college scholarship from Children’s Cancer Cause undertake a volunteer project related to cancer advocacy. Many of our scholars choose to do something either in their hometown community in the summer before they head off to college or they hold an on-campus event during the year. We’re so proud of the impact that these students are making in their local communities, and today we want to highlight the inspiring success stories of Francesca and Isaac, two of our recent scholarship recipients.
“My goal is to sign up more young people for the bone marrow registry.”
- Francesca
Francesca, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 15 years old. Her experience with cancer inspired her to pursue a career in medicine, with a goal of one day becoming a pediatric oncologist with her own research lab. Today, she’s a Medical Student Researcher at Stanford University in the Department of Pediatric Oncology. She expects to graduate from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2027.
Francesca was our inaugural Stewart Scholar (2022). The Stewart Scholarship is our top scholarship award, presented to a survivor who demonstrates exceptional potential to make a positive difference in the world. It is named in honor of John and Nancy Stewart, founders of our Stewart Initiative for Childhood Cancer Survivors.
For her Children’s Cancer Cause volunteer project, Francesca partnered with Be The Match to host a campus bone marrow drive at Stanford. The event was a big success, enrolling approximately 45 new potential donors from diverse ethnic backgrounds into the national marrow registry.
“We received support from different diversity groups across the medical school, hospital, and undergraduates,” Francesca shared with us. “I am still working to sign up more participants this summer as well.”
Francesca’s taken her advocacy a step further by collaborating with a pediatric bone marrow transplant recipient who found their donor through Be The Match to create a video that highlights the survivor’s story and the importance of diversity in the registry. While shadowing oncologists in her studies, Francesca witnessed how difficult it can be to find bone marrow donors - especially for patients from ethnic minority groups - “and how waiting to find a donor can worsen prognoses.”
“Thank you so much for this opportunity to share with others the importance of signing up for the match, educate them on racial disparities in cancer treatments, and inform my campus about pediatric cancers,” says Francesca. “I am honored to be part of this community and want to offer any support I can in the coming years!”
Want to join the registry or help others join?
If you’re a college student inspired to help create change on your campus, please check out Be The Match on Campus. When you join or start an affiliated student club on your campus, Be The Match will provide everything you need to host an event like Francesca’s.
If you’re not on a college campus but you’re between ages 18-40, visit Be The Match here to determine your eligibility for joining the registry.
“So many times during my experience with cancer, my life was saved by a stranger.”
- Isaac
2023 Gold Scholar Isaac was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) when he was eleven years old. He was given a 20 percent chance of survival. During his third round of chemo, he battled pneumonia, septic shock, and a fever of 108.
“I will never know the names of the many blood donors who preserved my life by replenishing red blood cells and platelets dozens of times throughout my treatment,” Isaac told us.
His family recounts that one time during his treatment, there were no platelets left in the state of Connecticut so a Red Cross worker drove to Rhode Island to retrieve platelets for Isaac and the two other childhood cancer patients on his floor.
For Isaac’s scholarship volunteer project, he partnered with the Red Cross to host a blood drive at his local church in June 2023.
Isaac hoped the event would serve as a way to “promote awareness for cancers like leukemia and the need for large volumes of blood required to support children undergoing chemotherapy,” and we’re so proud to share that it was a huge success. In fact, there was such an overwhelming response that the local Red Cross ran out of collection materials!
Isaac and another childhood cancer survivor were on hand at the event to thank donors and explain how blood donations saved each of their lives during treatment.
“Most of the donors were first-time donors, which was so exciting,” reports Isaac’s family. “This was the first time that our church had hosted a blood drive, and they hope to do it once or twice per year from this point forward.”
Want to donate blood or host a drive?
The Red Cross offers a toolkit of resources for students and faculty who lead Red Cross blood drive programs on college campuses. Whether you’re a student or not, search here to find an existing blood drive or schedule an appointment near you.