Meet Devan: 2024 Stewart Scholar
Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.
The Stewart Scholarship is our top academic 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.
Devan’s Story
Devan was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia when he was 20 months old.
He entered remission after a grueling treatment regimen that included chemo and an unexpected brain surgery. But he relapsed at age four and urgently needed a bone marrow transplant.
It never came.
“Unfortunately, mixed-race patients like me have only half the chance of white patients to find a matched donor,” he told us. “Friends organized bone marrow drives around the world, but never found a match. I got high-dose chemo and an experimental stem cell transplant instead. I missed a year of school. But I was lucky to survive.”
Devan is acutely aware that his survival was possible only because he was treated at a top research hospital with access to groundbreaking care.
*Over three decades, my type of cancer has gone from a death sentence to a treatable disease — in wealthy countries, that is,” he wrote in his application.
Devan was born in Colombia, where the survival rate for many cancers is much lower than in the U.S. And he is quick to point out that wealth inequities still impact survival here in America, with kids in high-poverty counties at higher risk of mortality from their cancer or its treatment than their peers in high-income areas.
“I owe my life to modern medicine, and crucially, access to medicine,” says Devan.
In fall of 2024, he will begin studies in Global Health at Harvard University.
“Cancer has made me grateful for life’s highs—and even lows; simply being alive is a blessing. I’m more attuned and empathetic to people’s hidden struggles and never take waking up each morning for granted. It’s also taught me about health inequities — and my privileges. I want to pay forward my good fortune by helping others get access to lifesaving care.”
Devan’s Advocacy Project
Driven by his own experience and understanding of global health inequities, Devan has partnered with a war refugee from Ukraine to create a U.S. chapter of Kids of Ukraine, a nonprofit working to raise awareness about the urgent medical needs of Ukrainian children with cancer.
He’s already met with Congressional champions, the Ukrainian ambassador, and the State Department, and he has successfully raised funds to help evacuate children for treatment outside of Ukraine.
Now our 2024 Stewart Scholar, Devan has big plans to do even more over the next year.
He hopes to organize an advocacy event in Washington, DC, to continue gaining the attention of thought leaders and policymakers. By sharing the stories of patients and families, he hopes to raise more awareness with the general public and the media. He’s also looking to secure donations of medical supplies, especially x-ray machines and specialty imaging scanners, as well as art supplies and art therapy training for children’s cancer wards in Ukraine.
“I saw a chance to help kids facing worse odds than I did — children fighting cancer while their country fights a war,” says Devan about his motivation for this work. “But this is just a start; there is much more I can achieve.”