St. Baldrick’s Ambassadors represent the more than 400,000 kids worldwide who are diagnosed with cancer each year. Ambassadors come from diverse geographic areas, ages, diseases, and treatment statuses. Their stories highlight the importance of supporting the best childhood cancer research so all kids diagnosed can live long, healthy, productive, and happy lives.
Every child is so much more than a cancer diagnosis. Each has their own unique personality, gifts, and talents. Read on to learn more about these remarkable kids.
Sage
In many ways, 7-year-old Sage is a typical first grader who loves superheroes, sports, especially soccer, wrestling, and football (go Iowa Hawkeyes!), hunting, bike riding, playing with cars, and perfecting his newest talent, whistling.
At first, it seemed like Sage, then 4-years-old, was fighting a virus. But after a week of increasing leg pain, back pain, and a rash on the trunk of his body, his parents took him back to the doctor. On January 31, 2022, Sage was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), type B.
Treatment started right away. The goal of the first four weeks of chemo was to get his leukemia into remission – and it worked. Because researchers know that cancer cells are determined to come back, the next stage of treatment was even more intense, to knock out any cancer cells still lurking in his little body. Sage was in and out of the hospital during these months of grueling treatment, missing school, and fighting one virus after another due to his weakened immune system.
Currently, Sage visits the clinic once a month until May 2025, when he will ring the bell signaling the end of treatment. He will then continue to be seen in the clinic for follow up labs, and monitoring of side effects from his treatment for several years to come.
Jackson
Seven-year-old Jackson has a heart of gold. A friend to all, he is witty, smart, adventurous, and athletic. However, his greatest quality is the kindness he shows to everyone he meets.
A lover of Halloween, sports, the color orange, Phineas and Ferb, Marvel characters, dinosaurs, cars, and his 2nd grade class, Jackson is a firm believer that pizza represents the four major food groups and would eat it for every meal if allowed. He dreams of becoming a builder when he grows up.
In July 2023, a seemingly minor fall resulted in the discovery of a tumor in his left leg, leading to a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma, a pediatric bone cancer. Treatment started right away, including 14 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, 16 blood transfusions, multiple platelet transfusions, and surgery to remove the tumor and the top half of his left fibula.
Over the course of 8 months, he spent more than 60 nights in the hospital. After surgery, the athlete tackled the two to three times a week physical therapy appointments with the same energy he displays on the sports field.
Today, Jackson shows no evidence of disease. For the next six months, he will have scans every three months. Then, the frequency will decrease to every four months for a year, every six months for two years, and once a year for the final two years.
Aiden
Aiden was a beautiful, smart, funny, and sweet kid who made an impression on everyone he met. A proud big brother to Jake and Devin, he loved sports, playing chess, and was the lead in his school play, “Seussical”. A Bon Jovi fan, Aiden knew every word to “Living on a Prayer” and wasn’t shy about belting out the tune.
In July 2008, his world was turned upside down when a grapefruit-sized tumor was discovered in his pelvis. The 8-year-old was diagnosed with stage 4 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma that originated in his pelvis and spread to his lungs. Treatment started right away. He bravely faced 18 rounds of chemotherapy, 28 rounds of radiation to his pelvis, and 10 more to his lungs.
One day while driving to the city for treatment, Aiden said, “I think I know why I got cancer. I got cancer so I could cure cancer.” He made his treatment a scientific study. Even at the young age of 9, he asked questions about the cells in his body and the science of the chemotherapy he was receiving.
Aiden relapsed in February 2010 and passed away the following December. He suffered and fought like a lion. Aiden died knowing how his story helped others and how his life brought out the best in everyone he met.
Kaylee
Kaylee is a typical middle schooler who loves dancing, Squishmallows, playing Roblox and Minecraft, watching SpongeBob SquarePants, Disney World, and spending time with her friends and family, especially her sisters, Kylie and Kaitlyn.
A fall on July 10, 2023, led to a fractured femur and ultimately a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, bone cancer, nine days later.
Treatment started right away. Kaylee underwent eight months of intense chemotherapy and faced four surgeries, including a rotationplasty, which involved removing the middle part of her right leg (including the tumor), rotating her lower leg 180 degrees and reattaching it to her thigh. Her ankle joint now functions as a knee.
In January 2024, Kaylee received her prosthetic leg. On February 2, 2024, she rang the bell to celebrate the end of treatment and started intense physical therapy to relearn how to walk.
Although Kaylee will continue regular scans to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned, research has given her the chance to focus on what matters most, spending her days enjoying the activities she loves. Cancer may have slowed Kaylee down temporarily, but she’s back to joyfully dancing and jumping around. She approaches life full steam ahead and hopes to one day be a baker.
Morgan
Twenty-year-old Morgan loves playing pickleball, traveling, cooking, eating sushi, and spending time with her friends and family.
In September 2012, at the age of 8, a softball sized tumor was discovered near her left kidney. The tumor, originally inoperable, was wrapped around her aorta and hepatic artery. A diagnosis of extrarenal rhabdoid tumor, an aggressive childhood cancer that is usually diagnosed in babies and toddlers, followed. Not fully understanding what a cancer diagnosis meant at the time, the first question she asked her parents was, “Am I going to lose my hair?”
Following diagnosis, Morgan had surgeries to place her port, a tumor biopsy and resection, 10 rounds of chemotherapy and a month of radiation. She currently follows up with her oncology team yearly. Even though Morgan is 11 years out from treatment, she isn’t immune to treatment-related side effects, such as kyphosis (curvature of the spine) and kidney disease from the tumor located behind her left kidney due to radiation.
Always ambitious, Morgan will graduate a year early from The Ohio State University in May and then move to Colorado to start as a 7-12th grade science teacher with Teach for America. After two years, she plans to attend PA school to become a physician assistant and work in orthopedics or pediatrics.
Throughout the year, you’ll continue to be inspired by these kids and their stories. #ResearchIsHope for all kids with cancer. Donate today.
