McKenna Claire Foundation

09/04/2026

🎗️ CHILDHOOD CANCER IS RARE… BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT DOESN’T MATTER.

Childhood cancers account for only 1–3% of all cancers diagnosed each year in the U.S.

That may sound small—until it’s your child sitting in that hospital room.

Suddenly, childhood becomes appointments, scans and treatments instead of school, sports, friends and simply being a kid.

Rare should never mean forgotten.

That’s why the McKenna Claire Foundation funds pediatric cancer research and raises awareness—to help researchers find better treatments and, ultimately, cures.

Awareness + Funding = Hope.

09/02/2026

Join us next Thursday, September 10 for the annual purchase with a purpose at Moddl in Huntington Beach. a $30 donation gets you 30% off your ENTIRE purchase. Splurge on some new fall fashion, start your holiday shopping, or just come to mingle and support. Message us for more details or DM to purchase tickets

09/01/2026

💛 September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Every September, we shine a little brighter for the children and families whose lives have been changed by cancer—and for the children we are still fighting to save.

Childhood cancer is not simply a smaller version of adult cancer. It is different, devastating, and far too often underfunded. Behind every statistic is a child with dreams, a family changed forever, and a future that deserves a chance.

Throughout September, the McKenna Claire Foundation will be sharing facts about childhood cancer, the urgent need for research, and the progress being made toward better treatments and cures.

We ask you to help us spread the word. Like, comment, and most importantly, SHARE our posts throughout the month. Awareness creates understanding. Understanding creates action. And action leads to greater funding for research leading to hope for cures.

Together, we can shine a light on childhood cancer, build a community that refuses to look away, and help create a future where no family has to hear the words, “Your child has cancer, there is nothing we can do.”
Together, let’s make sure childhood cancer is impossible to ignore.

08/25/2026

These girls and their moms…

McKenna’s sister Jordan, her best-twin friend Sophie, and her protector Hanah have been part of our story since the days when McKenna was just a baby. And their moms, Lisa and Jen, have walked beside us through it all—celebrating the best moments and grieving through the worst.

There is something incredibly special about friendships that span a lifetime. We are so lucky to have this history together, to have watched these girls grow up side by side, and to still find our way back to each other through all these years.

With Sophie home from Philadelphia, where she’s attending PA school, we spent one beautiful night together on the water. There was laughter, love, memories and so much gratitude for the people who have been part of our lives for so long.

Although McKenna wasn’t there in body, I’m pretty sure she was there in spirit. But oh, what I wouldn’t give for just one more smiling face to be there with us 🦋

08/19/2026

Registration for MCF Play It Forward golf tournament is now open. Join us Friday, October 16 at the Tijeras Creek golf course for a day filled with golf, food, drink, contest, auctions, and more. It’s the most fun you will ever have on a golf course.

Help McKenna Claire Foundation fiscal project of OneOC spread the word about MCF Play it Forward 2026!

08/11/2026

Two weeks ago I spent some time on Zoom with one of our researchers from CHLA, Dr. Jessica Tsai. With the help of McKenna Claire Foundation, her lab has now grown to 10 people (All women, which I love❤️) The lab continues to work on functional genomics, transcriptomics Epigenetics and target discovery. One of the targets they are working with is FOXR 2, which is a potent oncogenes that is normally completely silent in healthy brain tissue that becomes abnormally activated to drive pediatric brain cancer. It is a master accelerator for tumors because it is entirely absent in healthy brains. It represents a “holy grail” target for therapy because it leaves leaving healthy brain cells untouched. Interestingly, the lab is working collaboratively with a testicular cancer lab as Fox R2 was also found in the te**es. If they can figure out what it does in regular tissue at different ages, they can find out more about how this cell functions. This is just glimpse into some of the cutting edge work this lab is currently doing.

08/05/2026

Today is McKenna’s birthday.
The 16th birthday we’ve celebrated without her. She should be turning 23 today.

Birthdays are meant to mark all that is still to come. Instead, this day quietly measures everything that was lost. And yet, somehow, it also reminds me how incredibly blessed we were to have her at all. I would choose those almost eight years with her a thousand times over, even knowing how the story ends.

McKenna had a light about her from the time she was a little girl. She could be silly, sassy, and full of attitude one minute, then thoughtful, compassionate, and wise beyond her years the next. She loved making people laugh, yet she was just as content sitting quietly, taking in the world around her. She carried a confidence and peace within herself that I’ve spent much of my life trying to learn. Those gifts were part of who she was long before cancer entered our lives, and they never left her. Even in her hardest days, that light never dimmed.

People ask how we continue to work in this space of pediatric cancer. The fact is we were blessed with this extraordinary little girl who filled our home with laughter, loved without conditions, and somehow understood that life isn’t measured by its length but by the love we leave behind. The only way I know how to honor both her life and her death is to keep trying to live the way she did—with courage, curiosity, kindness, and joy.

So I try.

I try to embrace the ordinary moments. To be braver when life asks me to be. To keep my heart open, even after it has been broken. Some days I come close. Most days I fall short. But one look at her smile reminds me that tomorrow is another chance to begin again.

Happy Birthday, Macky.

Mommy, Daddy, and Sissy love you and miss you with every piece of our hearts.

Your life taught us what courage looks like. Your death taught us how precious every moment truly is. And your legacy continues to teach us that hope is not something we simply find—it is something we choose to build.

Because of you, the McKenna Claire Foundation exists. Because of you, researchers wake up every day determined to understand this disease, to test one more idea, to take one more shot that could change everything. Your story lives on not only in the hearts of those who love you, but in laboratories, in clinical trials, and in the children who will one day have a future that wasn’t possible when you were here.

Today we celebrate the beautiful little girl who forever changed our world.

And tomorrow, because of you, we’ll get up and keep building the one you deserved.

Happy 23rd Birthday, sweet girl.

Your light still shines. ❤️

08/04/2026

On Friday, I met with our researcher at Rady Children’s, Dr. Praveen Raju, for a tour of the California Proton Cancer Therapy Center in San Diego. Seeing this technology up close was truly awe-inspiring.

Proton therapy uses a massive cyclotron—more than three stories tall—to accelerate protons that deliver an intense burst of cancer-killing energy directly inside a tumor. Because the protons stop at the exact depth of the tumor, they spare the healthy tissue and organs beyond it, reducing unnecessary radiation exposure.

Standing next to a machine of this scale was incredible, but even more powerful was the reminder that every advancement like this brings us one step closer to better treatments for children facing brain cancer.

08/03/2026

Today we take a moment away from pediatric brain cancer to say “Happy Birthday” to our administrator and friend, Kris, who literally holds McKenna Claire Foundation (and sometimes our marriage😉) together. From IT, to accounting, to events - we couldn’t do this without her. Please take a moment and help us think her for selfless work in giving Hope to children with pediatric brain cancer.

07/31/2026

Make sure you tell your friends. Mahj for Macky is coming September 19th. Join us for lunch, auctions, and friendly play- all in the name of giving children with brain cancer Hope.

https://e.givesmart.com/events/PCb/