Help Raegan Fight Neuroblastoma

See the video message above for Raegan’s story, or use this link.

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On November 14, 2024, Raegan had a regularly scheduled one year checkup.

48 hours later, she was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer.

Raegan has high-risk neuroblastoma. A massive 11 centimeter, or about 4.5 inch, tumor was found attached to her adrenal gland, liver, kidney, and aorta.

Her fight will span 14-18 months, and requires 4-5 months of intensive chemotherapy, followed by an invasive and organ threatening surgery to remove the mass.

She’ll also need to go through a 1-2 month long bone marrow transplant to recover from the toxic effects of chemotherapy, followed by countless rounds of radiation and immunotherapy.

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Raegan has an excellent cancer care team at Akron Children’s Hospital, and they are following the same treatment plan that all other leading cancer care institutions use. However, since her tumor is so large and complicated, her best chance to beat this cancer is to have surgery at a more specialized hospital. Akron Children’s Hospital is taking great care of her, but they just do not treat as many neuroblastoma patients as Cincinnati Children’s or Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK).

Cincinnati Children’s was ranked the #1 pediatric cancer program in the country the past two years. Dr. Allmen and his team are surgical leaders in neuroblastoma surgery. Kelly and Stephen had a great interaction with one of the surgeons there while they were there for stem cell collection.

Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City treats more neuroblastoma patients than anywhere else in the country. Their surgeons are known to be more aggressive with surgery to remove all the cancer cells while still having great outcomes. Dr. Gerstle, the surgeon there that would care for Raegan, is an amazing person, saving lives of these kiddos weekly.

Kelly and Stephen want the ability to select one of these incredible hospitals for Raegan’s surgery so she has the best of the best during this critical portion of her treatment plan. Unfortunately, these organizations are out of network for their insurance and they will face significant out of pocket costs. $200,000 is the current estimated out of pocket cost just for the surgery at either hospital.

They hate that they need assistance to give Raegan this option but will do anything for their girl. Please consider donating to help cover the costs of her surgical care. This little girl will undoubtedly do amazing things in this life after this battle is through, she deserves nothing but the best.