Remembering Elias' Battle with Liver Cancer's Fundraising Page

"No matter the size or shape of the seashell; as long as you believe, you can always hear the ocean." Elias Heng-Tai Yang
"No matter the size or shape of the seashell; as long as you believe, you can always hear the ocean." Elias Heng-Tai Yang

WHY WE'RE FUNDRAISING WITH THE JIMMY FUND WALK TO FIGHT CANCER

Elias' Story:

On August 15th, 2019, Elias went to Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) to have a cyst removed from his liver. A couple of hours into the surgery, they found the mass to be cancerous. After hours of surgery, he was in the ICU for 2 days before he was released to the recovery unit.

His care team was able to identify the cancer to be Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma of the Liver (UESL, an extremely rare form of cancer with less than a few hundred cases recorded). After a month of recovery, his body was finally well enough to start chemo treatment. He experienced minimal side effects from chemo and enjoyed life to the fullest.

On January 17th, 2020, he finished a total of 6 cycles of chemo and was declared "cancer-free." We celebrated at his favorite dine-out spot, Olive Garden, where he proudly announced to everyone "I kicked cancer's butt!"

Unfortunately, about a month later, he started showing signs of lethargy, and during a weekend visit to urgent care, they spotted an enlarged lymph node on his neck. He was admitted back to BCH on February 23rd, 2020. Test results later showed that cancer had metastasized...

Despite the positive result from previous chemo treatments, his body was not able to receive more of the same chemo due to the high toxicity of the treatment. In the following months, the team administered a couple of different chemo combinations while trying to minimize various physical symptoms caused by cancer cells attacking Elias' body. However, the cancer was just too aggressive...

On May 2nd, 2020, just shy of his 6th birthday, Elias passed with both parents by his side while listening to his favorite Disney soundtrack, "Moana."


Elias' care team and the goal of this fundraiser:

Dr. O'Neill is a pediatric oncology physician-scientist with a passion for translational research and expertise in the care of pediatric solid tumor patients. She serves as the Clinical Director of the Solid Tumor Program and Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Center of Excellence at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

We would like to create a prospective registry to study UESL by collecting patient samples and clinical information. This registry will serve as an opportunity to learn more about this disease, in aggregate, than has ever been achieved to date, with the goal of informing clinical course decisions and improving treatments for this disease.

Your gift will support the launch of this registry, and we thank you for helping Dr. O’Neill and her team better understand UESL to improve the treatment and care of patients at Dana-Farber and beyond.

PROGRESS TO GOAL

Raised:$15,813.75
Goal:$51,608
1team member

THANK YOU TO OUR TEAM MEMBERS

C = Team Captain
NAME
AMOUNT RAISED
x0x
x$15,813.75x

THANK YOU TO OUR TEAM DONORS

NAME
AMOUNT
Event Honor Roll
Anonymous
$250
Anonymous
$150
Anonymous
$103
Anonymous
$100
Anonymous
Avery Cheu
$100
BDavies
Belcher Family
Chestnut
$100
Dan and Megan Fleischman
Dianne Newton
$100
Dr. Hans Schwartz
$50
Dr. Richard Holman
$250
Duy Le
Erin and Charlie MacLean
$100
Greg Theokas
H. Cocoa
Jenn Zacks & Zach Pearson
Joanne and Bob Finnegan
$25
JOANNE DARCY
Joe & Sue McCarthy
$100
Jordan M
$100
K.T.
$50
Kates-Prentice Family
$100
Ken Rosina
$100
Kurt Milligan
$25
Lara and Stefanie
$100
Lillian Chen & Kyle Gong
Majka Maciak and Bob Binstock
$250
Marty Feldman
$250
Matt Clark
$250
Michael Mascolo
$50
Mr. David Gauper Gauper
$50
Mr. Drew Walker
Mr. Richard Silvestro
Mr. Tristan Doherty
$100
Mrs. Erin Marino
$50
Mrs. Sharon Dalton-Castor
$200
Ms. Faggiano
$50
Ms. Nancy A. Dwan
Point32Health for Stephanie Picardat
$25
Ronald B Vickery
$100
Sara
$250
Sarah C
$250
Sean Simon
$100
Stephanie Picardat
$25
Taher Hasanali
$100
The Gardner Family
Thomas Nogueira
$100
Tully Family
Vanessa Desani
$25
Zihang Zhao
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My Giving Page

"No matter the size or shape of the seashell; as long as you believe, you can always hear the ocean." Elias Heng-Tai Yang
"No matter the size or shape of the seashell; as long as you believe, you can always hear the ocean." Elias Heng-Tai Yang

Remembering Elias' Battle with Liver Cancer

Elias' Story:

On August 15th, 2019, Elias went to Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) to have a cyst removed from his liver. A couple of hours into the surgery, they found the mass to be cancerous. After hours of surgery, he was in the ICU for 2 days before he was released to the recovery unit.

His care team was able to identify the cancer to be Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma of the Liver (UESL, an extremely rare form of cancer with less than a few hundred cases recorded). After a month of recovery, his body was finally well enough to start chemo treatment. He experienced minimal side effects from chemo and enjoyed life to the fullest.

On January 17th, 2020, he finished a total of 6 cycles of chemo and was declared "cancer-free." We celebrated at his favorite dine-out spot, Olive Garden, where he proudly announced to everyone "I kicked cancer's butt!"

Unfortunately, about a month later, he started showing signs of lethargy, and during a weekend visit to urgent care, they spotted an enlarged lymph node on his neck. He was admitted back to BCH on February 23rd, 2020. Test results later showed that cancer had metastasized...

Despite the positive result from previous chemo treatments, his body was not able to receive more of the same chemo due to the high toxicity of the treatment. In the following months, the team administered a couple of different chemo combinations while trying to minimize various physical symptoms caused by cancer cells attacking Elias' body. However, the cancer was just too aggressive...

On May 2nd, 2020, just shy of his 6th birthday, Elias passed with both parents by his side while listening to his favorite Disney soundtrack, "Moana."


Elias' care team and the goal of this fundraiser:

Dr. O'Neill is a pediatric oncology physician-scientist with a passion for translational research and expertise in the care of pediatric solid tumor patients. She serves as the Clinical Director of the Solid Tumor Program and Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Center of Excellence at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

We would like to create a prospective registry to study UESL by collecting patient samples and clinical information. This registry will serve as an opportunity to learn more about this disease, in aggregate, than has ever been achieved to date, with the goal of informing clinical course decisions and improving treatments for this disease.

Your gift will support the launch of this registry, and we thank you for helping Dr. O’Neill and her team better understand UESL to improve the treatment and care of patients at Dana-Farber and beyond.

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