Friends Of Karen

Hi, I'm Michael Bauer, and I will be running two half marathons, in two days, in two different countries, while raising funds for Friends of Karen. This will be the beginning of the my Superhalfs journey, a series of six half marathons throughout Europe. To start, I will be running a half marathon in Prague on March 28th, 2026 and then heading right down to Berlin to run another half marathon the next day.

Friends of Karen is a remarkable organization dedicated to providing crucial emotional, financial, and advocacy support for children battling life-threatening illnesses like cancer and their families. In such challenging times, Friends of Karen stands as a lifeline, helping families in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Northern New Jersey, and Southern Connecticut cope with their circumstances at no cost. Together, we can ensure these families have the support they need to focus on what truly matters – caring for their children.

Your support helps Friends of Karen make a difference by contributing towards efforts like:

Every donation, no matter the size, empowers Friends of Karen to continue their vital mission. Please join me in supporting this incredible cause and help families find hope and stability during their most challenging times. Thank you!

Hi I can’t share my name but I am raising money for my moms birthday she works for friends of Karen and she loves giving back I am giving all the money away to friends of Karen in her name for her birthday.

THANK YOU

OUR MISSION:

In the fighting spirit for ALL little warriors, we’re calling on our all-star network to raise money for Friends of Karen’s cancer patients in need. With every passing moment, children are isolated in hospital rooms for months and years at a time, fighting for their life while their parents have to worry about much more than their sick child. The combination of time at the hospital away from work with mounting medical and household expenses is financially + emotionally devastating for far too many families. We want to help ease this pain, so they can focus on what matters most– supporting and healing their child.

Acts of kindness are equally as mighty for a donation! Pearl and her fellow neighbors at the hospital would love to fill their walls with your art + cards! Please send us a message on GoFundMe to ensure your card reaches our little warrior + co!

BACKGROUND ON OUR LITTLE WARRIOR:

8-year-old Pearl and her sisters caught a virus roughly six weeks ago. While her sisters were able to recover from it in a few days, Pearl's body couldn’t quite kick it. Her coloring was off, almost gray-like. Could it be COVID? Severe seasonal allergies? Asthma? She woke up Monday morning hysterically crying that her wrists hurt, combined with bruises we assumed came from Lacrosse. At that point, we went straight to ER for all the tests we could get immediate answers from. With 8,000 being the average white blood cell count, Pearl’s was at 103,000, so her diagnosis was pretty quick to follow with a transfer to the incredible Cohen’s Children’s oncology unit. Here we learned she had B-ALL, which is the least aggressive form of Leukemia, YAY! We have a road ahead of us that will take approximately 2.5 years of chemotherapy with lots of bumps along the way, but our Pearl is nothing if not a stubborn, fierce, persistent fighter. We have no doubt she will fight this with all her tenacity. The only words we needed to hear was CURABLE, and we got that gift. Let the fight begin!

100% Tax Deductible:

Although we are raising money through Go Fund Me, all donations will go direct to Friends of Karen and will be 100% tax deductible.

To learn more about Friends of Karen:

https://www.friendsofkaren.org/

To learn more about how you can support #TeamPearlGirl:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CxHV0z4EkzcTfBacetfkoMcmyVFOQ91MZnUTQdY8bIc/edit?usp=sharing