Kids Beating Cancer pledges $1 million to AdventHealth for Children's pediatric bone marrow transplant program

AdventHealth leaders are thrilled to recognize and celebrate Kids Beating Cancers unfaltering support of the hospitals pediatric bone marrow transplant program. Kids Beating Cancers recent pledge of $1 million brings their cumulative financial commitment to $2.5 million.

When we look at everything dark and uncertain in our world today, Kids Beating Cancer is a beacon of hope in Central Florida. This partnership and these generous gifts to AdventHealth and our youngest patients is cause for celebration, said AdventHealth President and CEO Daryl Tol. The services they provide are priceless and are key to helping our most vulnerable patients during a very difficult time.

Kids Beating Cancer, originally known as the John Voight Memorial Foundation, was founded by Margaret Guedes, whose son died of leukemia at the age of nine. Over the past 25 years, Kids Beating Cancer has served more than 8,500 children, provided more than $100,000 in family meal vouchers, and funded $1.5 million in bone-marrow transplant costs.

Our commitment is to remove financial burdens on the families by funding the transplant costs never covered by insurance at the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center, offering the best stem cell transplant treatment supporting forefront protocols offered at only a handful of centers nationwide, and to continue providing family-centered patient support services throughout the transplant journey, said Kids Beating Cancer founder and President/CEO Margaret Guedes.

In 2011, Kids Beating Cancer established the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center at AdventHealth for Children.

"Kids Beating Cancer's million dollar pledge is to support the rapid growth of the number of children served by the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center, poised to become the busiest transplant center in the State of Florida, said Guedes. The growth in the number of diseases stem cell transplants treats has increased the number of children needing transplants requiring the Center to double the number of beds from eight to at least 16.

Kids Beating Cancers mission from the very beginning has been to help the whole patient body, mind and spirit and their entire family, said AdventHealth for Children Senior Executive Officer Marla Silliman. This commitment speaks directly to AdventHealth's mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ.

About Kids Beating Cancer
Kids Beating Cancer, "the only non-profit of its kind in America for 25 years," serves children diagnosed with cancer, leukemia, and 80 other life threatening diseases. Kids Beating Cancer provides the best pediatric stem cell transplant treatment by supporting forefront protocols, offered at only a handful of centers nationwide, and family-centered patient support services at the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center. Any child can come to the Kids Beating Cancer Center regardless of insurance coverage or the family’s financial means for the evaluation and potential transplant. Kids Beating Cancer pays for the transplant testing and donor identification, a minimal cost of $10,000 per child never covered by Medicaid and only partially covered by insurance. By removing these financial barriers, any child can have access to bone marrow and stem cell transplantation at the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center, the best and only hope for a cure. www.kidsbeatingcancer.org.

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