Giving Page in honor of Adam Frontera's Fundraising Page

Thank you for visiting Adam Frontera's giving page. The money donated on this page will support Neuroblastoma cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.

Since Adam was a little baby, he has always been an entertainer. He loves nothing more than making people laugh and smile by being silly. So, we knew something was very wrong when he stopped being happy and smiling all the time. In the fall of 2012, Adam started to consistently complain of his tummy and legs hurting. After many trips to the doctor for the pain and constant fevers, Adam eventually stopped walking and eating. An ultrasound of his abdomen was ordered, which showed a large tumor on his right adrenal gland. After a biopsy of the tumor, Adam was diagnosed with stage IV Neuroblastoma. In addition to the large tumor, the cancer had spread throughout a large portion of his bones.

Adam endured 8 rounds of chemotherapy, a surgery for tumor resection and removal of his right adrenal gland, MIBG therapy, stem cell transplant, 12 rounds of radiation, 6 rounds of antibody therapy, and 12 months of Accutane treatments. Throughout this intensive treatment, Adam spent a lot of time withdrawn from the world. He did not feel well enough to play with friends, he was in too much pain, and much of the time he was too immune compromised to leave the house. He was most often seen in the past year with headphones on, watching videos.

Now that he is has finished his treatment protocol he is feeling like his old self again. The headphones are mostly off now! He is happy. He plays like a normal kid. He goes to school and has friends. He dances and sings and constantly makes his family laugh and smile!

Please consider supporting the work of Dr. Suzanne Shusterman at Dana-Farber. It is so important to for researchers to have the funds to support discovering new therapies that will save children afflicted by cancer. Our hope is that that this fund will allow them to make progress toward treatments that will not leave children with hearing loss, secondary cancers, and many other life long side effects.

More specifically, your gift will support the development of a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of a promising vaccine for high-risk neuroblastoma patients. This vaccine is created by taking a patient's tumor cells and engineering them to produce a molecule that stimulates the immune system, activating the immune system to fight the patient's cancer. Additionally, support of this work will help Dana-Farber study the outcomes of this leading-edge trial, which may expand treatment options for neuroblastoma and provide more effective and less toxic ways to overcome the most challenging forms of this disease.

With the right funds and the right tools, the next breakthrough will result in a difference, not just for Adam, but for others who are afflicted with cancer at much too young an age.

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