Together Toward Hope:
Raising awareness and funds for pediatric brain cancer research through facilitating the advancement of post-mortem tissue donation, promoting collaboration and funding medulloblastoma research. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death for children…it exceeds deaths by all other childhood diseases combined. As if that is not a big enough kick, there is no money to be ma
de in curing childhood cancer, and that is the primary reason pediatric cancer research remains underfunded. Over the past thirty years, pediatric brain cancer has slowly exceeded leukemia as the leading cause of death from childhood cancer. The good news is there has been an increase in survival rates for children diagnosed with leukemia, the bad news is survival rates for children with brain tumors have flat-lined…there has been no improvement. The Swifty Foundation exists to fund pediatric brain cancer research. The research needs to be augmented with advocacy so researchers can get access to diseased tissue and economic incentives can be created to stimulate more research. The Swifty Foundation was created to celebrate the life of Michael Gustafson. Prior to Michael’s death from medullablastoma, his parents decided to use the money they would have invested in Michael’s life…for education, health, support, and inheritance…to start a foundation, and Michael was charged with choosing the mission and name. The name Swifty comes from a nickname his Grandpa Gustafson would call people he liked…as in “Hey Swifty.”
