Bootlegger's Bash - Preview Coverage

Read and watch some of the preview coverage The Bootlegger's Bash is receiving!

Insider Louisville - by Sara Havens

WDRB - by Kate Springer

Tickets are still available and can be purchased in advance at tinyurl.com/bootleggerticket

Gabe

When Gabe was 17 years old, his life, like those of so many teenagers, was focused on finishing high school, playing his XBox, watching TV, seeing movies with friends and (unlike most kids) driving his white '82 Super Sport El Camino.  But while taking his final exams during his Junior year he suddenly collapsed at school and his normal teenage life was interrupted by a diagnosis of medulloblastoma - a cancer tumor on his brain stem.

Gabe underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and fought his cancer for 15 months before being declared No Evidence of Disease in August 2014. Gabe then got back to continuing his regular life but in May 2015, just 2 days after graduating from St. Xavier High School, Gabe and his family received the news that his follow-up scans showed he had relapsed.

Now Gabe is undergoing a stem cell transplant, which is an aggressive and a far-from-easy treatment.  He has received extremely strong chemotherapy, obliterating his bone marrow and immune system, and has gotten infusions of his own stem cells to allow his body to rebuild his bone marrow so he can once again produce his own blood cells and immunity. While his bone marrow regrows, he fights pain and weakness and requires blood and platelets every few days.

Gabe and his mom Lisa (who is staying with him in the hospital) were the recipients of our first-ever Hope From Harper Transplant Survival Kit when Gabe was admitted for his stem cell transplant.  Stem cell transplants can involve hospital stays that can be weeks (and sometimes months) in length without being able to leave the hospital. Having a few comforts (especially a few things they didn't think of or know to bring with them) can make life a little more bearable during such an ordeal.  Their kit was specifically designed based on the tastes, preferences and interests of both Gabe and Lisa.

Gabe is now on day +8 of his transplant (8 days after stem cell infusion), with many more to go before being able to leave the hospital and continue recovery at home. We wish him and his family continued recovery and the end of Gabe's cancer journey.  They appreciate your support and prayers.

We will be continuing to work toward supporting other kids receiving cancer treatment at Kosair Children's Hospital. Your ongoing support of Hope From Harper make this and other programs benefiting pediatric cancer patients possible.

Auction!

A generous Hope From Harper supporter has recently donated a pair of tickets to the America's Got Talent LIVE tour show in Louisville, KY on October 11th.  We are holding a "not so silent" auction on eBay to allow the tickets to go to the highest bidder!

Please feel free to go visit the auction to check it out.  The tickets are 3rd row Orchestra section, so GREAT seats!

The auction ends on September 9th at 9:28AM - so don't wait to get in your bids!

Face value on the tickets is $65 each, but the starting bid is only $50 for both!

The highest bid will go to Hope From Harper, with no fees, as the item is listed through eBay's Giving Works program (Direct Listing). 

Hope From Harper is now an eBay Giving Works participating charity, and any listing can be listed to benefit Hope From Harper!  If you sell items on eBay, be sure to consider choosing Hope From Harper to benefit from your sales!

Bootlegger's Bash

Join us November 6th for Bootlegger's Bash at The Calumet Club - a 1920's Gatsby-esque speakeasy experience with live music, dinner and dancing!

Tickets are now on sale - http://tinyurl.com/bootleggerticket

Scholar Grant

One year ago we heard the news: After being declared NED just months before, Harper’s cancer had relapsed. For us, this blow was possibly more devastating than the original diagnosis. For Harper, it meant she got to see more of her nurse, which she was glad about. Amazingly to us, Harper walked out of that appointment with a smile on her face.

“There is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.” ~ Pollyanna

There have been many times since then when we have struggled to find something to be glad about. Other times, it has been easier to feel the love and joy around us and so we continued to move forward. In March we shaved, raised money, and made new friends who helped celebrate Harper’s life and the promise of research to benefit others. In April we founded the Hope from Harper charity, bringing Harper’s legacy to life in exciting new ways. Most recently we announced the creation of the St. Baldrick’s Hope from Harper Hero Fund. Today, we have the great pleasure to announce one way it all ties together.

Thanks to your generous donations and support the Hope from Harper St. Baldrick’s Scholar Grant has been established. This year, this grant funds research at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, headed by Dr. Daniel Lee. Because of the Hope From Harper Hero Fund, Dr. Lee will be able to continue to research an exciting new option for pediatric cancer therapy.  Dr. Lee’s research is laying the groundwork for several clinical trials to be initiated studying breakthrough immunotherapy. This therapy approach has the potential to radically change the way we treat many childhood cancers. Because of work like Dr. Lee’s, immune cells can now be engineered to recognize and kill cancer cells and then administered to patients.  Dr. Lee’s project is one of the first to bring this promising therapy to children with cancer. You can read about Dr. Lee's grant here.

As we’ve said before, we believe this is just the beginning. Hope from Harper is dedicated to funding lifesaving pediatric cancer research and improving the care of patients and their families. In the future we look forward to announcing more details on how we plan to continue to spread Harper’s joy - helping patients and families to find something to be glad about, even on those many days when being glad is the last thing on their minds.

Hope From Harper Hero Fund

We are so happy to announce that a mere 4 months after the overwhelming success of our St. Baldricks event we can share the permanent Hope From Harper Hero Fund page.

Click here to see the site, dedicated to Hope From Harper efforts with St. Baldricks to fund childhood cancer research.

There are many more exciting things to come, and this is just the beginning.

Remember to Choose Joy every day, no matter what life throws at you. 

The Hope From Harper Hero Fund

One of the primary missions of Hope From Harper is to bring hope to kids with cancer by funding childhood cancer research.  It is probably not hard to imagine that finding, vetting, selecting and ultimately funding quality and impactful research projects is not an easy task.  The idea of establishing and operationalizing an entire grant making process is something that is extremely daunting, especially for a young organization like ourselves.

In order to clear this hurdle we have partnered with a much larger and established organization that Hope From Harper supporters likely recognize - The St. Baldrick's Foundation.

In March of this year, shortly before officially founding the Hope From Harper charity, friends and family of Harper came together as a team participating in the Louisville St. Baldrick's Community Event. Through this head-shaving event the Hope From Harper team shaved countless heads and raised almost $75,000 as part of the more than $155,000 raised at the event.  The St. Baldrick's Foundation is one of the premier organizations funding childhood cancer research. Since 2005 the foundation has awarded more than $154 million to researchers for childhood cancer research.

We have now officially expanded our relationship with The St. Baldrick's Foundation. While we will continue to help drive head-shaving events (as well as other, non-head-shaving events - stay tuned for more there...) we have also established The Hope From Harper Hero Fund.  In establishing this fund, we have committed to raise and provide funds to St. Baldrick's in an amount no less than $10,000 a year (though we expect our efforts to raise a lot more).  In exchange for this commitment, we have the opportunity to designate the area of research we would like our funds to benefit, which will initially be funding research in the area of stem cell transplantation survivability.

We are currently working with St. Baldrick's to get a dedicated Hope From Harper Hero Fund website established, and we will share the link once it is available.

This is an extremely exciting time for us as we work to lay the foundation of our organization and start to accomplish our work.  The expanded relationship with St. Baldrick's will help jump start our efficient support and impact in the area of childhood cancer research.  We can't wait to share more information about other programs in development as they become formalized.

We want to thank all those who continue to support Hope From Harper, helping us to establish and spread the word about Harper's legacy of love and hope.  Your invaluable support is allowing us help find ways to ultimately improve treatments, resulting in more kids beating childhood cancer.