Four year old Ryder was diagnosed on May 13th 2021. He has had three surgeries, went through high dose chemotherapy and is now on to transplant stem cell. Your support allows us to provide money to Ryder’s family for unforeseen costs while they support him through his fight. Keep fighting Ryder!
Ace and family would like to thank John Shapiro’s Superheroes for the amazing donation.
Ace was diagnosed with infantile acute lymphoblastic leukemia at 7 months in May 2021 and has been undergoing treatment over the past six months at CHOP. After 2 rounds of chemo, Ace achieved remission, but unfortunately relapsed after only a few weeks. On October 19th Ace was able to get his CART cells and the fight continues.
There are no words to express how hard it is to see your child have to fight such an aggressive disease, at times you feel so helpless. It is uplifting to receive so many kind words and gestures from family, friends, and the community. John Shapiro is an inspiration and we are so grateful to his superheroes for the generous donation. Here’s our superhero.
Thank you so much.
With love,
The Penson family
Hello John Shapiro’s Superheroes,
We would like this opportunity to say thank you, for your help and your generosity. Our 15-year-old son Kevin was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in the bone of his left arm. He started with chemotherapy on July 2, 2020 in Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, it has been a difficult process. He has suffered loss of mobility in his arm because the tumor damaged a lot of muscle and after surgery to remove the tumor he has lost muscle and now has a metal prosthesis. He was approved for physical therapy to regain movement in the arm, and he still continues in the chemotherapy process. Thank you again for your generosity in these difficult times.
Sincerely:
Kevin’s Parents
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for graciously reaching out to us and helping out financially.
Our son, Yerachmiel was diagnosed in May 2017. He was treated in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with chemo and radiation and then continue spending the winter in Memorial Sloan Hospital in NY City with antibodies. From there we moved to immunotherapry in Washington DC. and is still struggling to fight his battle. With your generosity it gives us the tools and strength to get through this test. May you be able to continue helping out all in need.
Sincerely,
Parents of Yerachmiel
Our son Cole was diagnosed with brain and spinal tumors at the age of 9 and has been on chemo now 7 1/2 years. We starting talking with a social worker at CHOP about Cole and what he’s doing. We explained about how we started him in horseback riding lessons! The therapist at CHOP had started to notice a change for the good in Cole’s posture and flexibility. We also mentioned the horseback riding.
We reached out to our health insurance company and between us and the nurses and doctors got the run around with NO help. So explaining this to the social worker, she then reached out to your foundation!
Cole is limited in activities due to being misdiagnosed for 5 months, he lost some of his sight in 1 eye. Horrible. Horseback riding is not a cheap activity BUT for his mental and physical state we are trying to continue!! Thanks to your support we are excited to be able to continue Cole’s horseback riding which we feel is so very important for Cole’s well-being!
We are beyond grateful for this gift! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We don’t know you personally but you must be amazing people! We are forever grateful.
Below is a picture of Cole doing what he is growing to love and thrive at!
-Cole’s parents
We are so honored to receive a donation from the John Shapiro Superhero Foundation to support our family while Gwen takes on her battle with brain cancer. It will allow us to be less stressed financially while we are out of work to care for Gwen. Just a month shy of her 4th birthday Gwen was diagnosed with an Anaplastic Astrocytoma brain tumor and we are two months into her treatment. We attended the walk this year and experienced the love of the volunteers and all that attended – it was amazing to hear about John’s journey and his spirit, that is still carrying on in his name.
Thank you so much for giving us this donation – we are truly blessed to now be a part of John’s Superheroes!
With love,
Gwen’s parents
Superheroes Note: Sadly, Gwen passed away on July, 25th, a month after she turned 4. We are honored to have been able to be part of her journey, if only briefly. Please keep Gwen’s family in your prayers.
Thank you John Shapiro Superhero Foundation for picking Mikayla to donate to! We are truly honored that you picked her.
Mikayla was first diagnosed with Medullablastoma in 2014 at CHOP and after treatment was in remission for 3 years.
This spring, Mikayla was unfortunately diagnosed with a new cancer, Osteosarcoma, at CHOP. Her cancer was in her sacrum and wrapped around her spinal cord. In order to treat it, she had to go through chemo and the tumor had to be completely removed. Due to the seriousness of her cancer and location, her surgery would be very difficult. For months we were searching for a surgeon who would remove it and after contacting several surgeons and traveling to several locations, the only place that would do it was MD Anderson in Houston.
Mikayla’s 30 hour surgery was done on Nov 6th and 7th and entailed over 30 surgeons, doctors, nurses and staff. Unfortunately it made her paralyzed in several areas. We are still in Houston healing and participating in some major rehab. Mikayla will also have to do a couple of rounds chemo here.
Since I have not been able to work and my husband has had to take off for several occasions, your donation has been very helpful towards our travel and living expenses, medical bills and other bills.
It is truly wonderful that you have this Foundation to help children like Mikayla. Thanks again for your generosity.
Love,
Mikayla & Family
My name is Ivan. I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at age 12 on July 4, 2017. Fortunately, my body reacted positively to the treatment and I hope this nightmare ends sooner or later. Due to your donation, my mom will be able to pay the majority of her bills. Because of my illness, my mom hasn’t been able to get a proper, full-time job, but with your help, we will live happier times. Thank you, thank you so, so much.
Sincerely,
Ivan and family
Dear Nancy & Ron,
We cannot begin to thank you enough for the kind and generous donation to our family.
Our journey began on March 7, 2017 when my 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with undifferentiated Leukemia, later on, on October 7 she received a bone marrow transplant which caused some complications, which was Graft versus host disease and organ damage, 6 months later she was put on the waiting list for double lung transplant. Finally October 1, 2018 we received the exciting news that they had lungs for her and surgery was that same night.
I can’t explain how hard it’s been to see her suffer and go through all this and I thank God that she’s been very strong and always has a positive attitude.
She’s now 18 years old and still at CHOP recovering from the lung transplant.
We’re hoping and praying that she can come home before Christmas.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, God Bless You!
With Love,
Michelle’s family
Dear Nancy and Ron,
I can’t begin to thank you enough for you generous donation to my son Jaidan, especially around this time of year! I am a single mother of 3, I just recently had a baby in October and with traveling back and forth to CHOP often I am unable to work at the moment. Just as I thought I wasn’t going to be able to give my kids a good Christmas this year this happened and I am so grateful!!
Jaidan was diagnosed with ALL (Accute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) on April 11, 2018 shortly after his 6th birthday. Still to this day he doesn’t understand why all of this is happening to him. The hospital has explained to him that his blood is “sick”. To say the least our lives have been flipped upside down, hearing my son has cancer was the most devastating news I have yet to receive. He did have surgery shortly after being diagnosed to have a port placed. He was hospitalized at CHOP for a week. We struggled with high fevers, heart issues, mood swings, and learning how to cope with all of this at home. The physical, emotional, and financial struggle of dealing with this is tremendous. Through it all Jaidan has overall been a strong little boy and responding well to treatment. We have a long road ahead of us but we pray for better days. Thank you for all you do and for all your time and dedication put into helping families during our lowest time.
Thanks to organizations like yourself it makes times like these a little more easy! I know this will bring a huge smile to his face 🙂
God Bless,
Meagan
