Isabella Santos Foundation to Host Second Annual Pumpkin Charity Ball – Oct. 26

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Aug. 14, 2019 – “Fall into Charlotte” at the Isabella Santos Foundation’s (ISF) Second Annual Pumpkin Charity Ball to support Atrium Health’s Levine Children’s Hospital.

The fall-themed, black-and-white formal gala will take place Saturday, Oct. 26 at The Ritz Carlton, Charlotte from 7:00-11:00 p.m. Tickets are $150 per person and will include a cocktail hour, dinner program and dancing. The event emcees will be Jake and Page Fehling. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the gala. To purchase tickets and for sponsorship information, visit pumpkincharityball.org or contact info@pumpkincharityball.org.

The Isabella Santos Foundation has partnered with Levine Children’s Hospital to establish the Isabella Santos Foundation Rare and Solid Tumor Program. The program will oversee care for all solid tumors, rare tumors, MIBG therapy and all related clinical and scientific research at the hospital. The Pumpkin Charity Ball will raise funds to support this large undertaking that will help solidify Levine Children’s Hospital as a leading healthcare provider in the U.S. Last year’s inaugural gala raised over $200,000. 

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“We look forward to bringing the community together for another wonderful evening of HOPE and to help further the pediatric cancer programs and treatment options at Levine Children’s Hospital,” said Erin Santos, executive director and president of the Isabella Santos Foundation. “The Pumpkin Charity Ball allows us to carry on Isabella’s legacy while helping other kids who are fighting cancer to Beat (the odds), Grow (awareness) and Live (without fear).”

About Isabella Santos Foundation

The Isabella Santos Foundation (ISF) is a 501(c)3 childhood cancer foundation dedicated to raising funds for research for rare pediatric cancers, and charities that directly impact the lives of children with cancer. ISF was founded in honor of Isabella Santos from Charlotte, N.C. who lost her battle against neuroblastoma. ISF is committed to improving rare pediatric cancer treatment options in an effort to increase the survival rate of kids with cancer so they can live their dreams. ISF has donated over $3 million to date to expand the scope of pediatric cancer research and treatment, and to fill various needs surrounding childhood cancers. 

For more information, visit https://isabellasantosfoundation.org/ or follow ISF on Facebook (www.facebook.com/IsabellaSantosFoundation), Instagram (www.instagram.com/theisfoundation), Twitter (www.twitter.com/TheISFoundation) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/isabella-santos-foundation/)

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Making A Connection At Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital (HealthCare Design Magazine)

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Originally published in HealthCare Design Magazine

Young patients undergoing metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) treatment for neuroblastoma, a rare and deadly cancer that affects about 750 children a year, face long periods of isolation as the treatment makes patients’ bodily fluids radioactive, meaning caregivers and parents can spend only five minute per day in their room. Additionally, the treatment requires specialized rooms that need to be lined with 1 inch of lead brick shielding around all four walls and at the floor level.

The window above the parent room desk, which comprises six layers of 1/4-inch leaded glass, allows the parent to maintain visual contact with the child during their treatment.

Because not every facility has the budget or space to accommodate the specialized design, many families are forced to travel away from home to find a treatment facility—a reality faced by the Santos family when their daughter Isabella was diagnosed with the disease at age 2. She endured five relapses with the disease before she passed away at age 7 in 2012. Following her death, the family created the Isabella Santos Foundation and donated $1 million to Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., to build the city’s first MIGB therapy suite.

Working with Little (Charlotte), the hospital decided to turn two side-by-side patient rooms on the 11th floor pediatric oncology unit into a 244-square-foot MIBG room and a 250-square-foot parent room. A nearby storage room was converted into the Hot Lab, where the treatment is prepared. “Proximity to the Hot Lab reduces travel time to the patient and the risk of radiation exposure to others,” says Roger Wilkerson, healthcare practice leader at Little.

To address the isolation of the treatment as well as the need to provide constant patient monitoring, a lead-line window and door were added between the rooms to visibly and physically connect the two spaces, with all access to the patient room coming through the parent room. “It allows the parent to see the child when they cannot physically be in the room,” Wilkerson says. Additionally, the rooms are connected by an AV system, which allows caregivers to see, talk, and play games with the child.

Red Ventures Named Title Sponsor of Isabella Santos Foundation 5K 10K for Kids Cancer

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – July 1, 2019 – The Isabella Santos Foundation (ISF) announced today that Red Ventures will the presenting sponsor of its 12th Annual 5K/10K for Kids Cancer taking place on Saturday, Sept. 28.

“I am excited for two organizations I support to partner for the Isabella Santos 5K/10K,” said Jacob Virgil, senior associate at Red Ventures. “Red Ventures’ support of the Isabella Santos Foundation speaks to what I love about the Red Ventures culture—supporting employees’ efforts to leave the wood pile higher than we found it.”

The race and post-race celebration will take place from 7:30-10:30 a.m. at Ballantyne Corporate Park located at 15801 Brixham Hill Avenue in Charlotte. The family-friendly event provides fun for the entire family including: brunch; silent auction and raffle; and Kids Zone with games, face painting, slides, jump house and photo booth.

“As we celebrate the 12th year of our 5K/10K for Kids Cancer, we are thrilled to have Red Ventures as the presenting sponsor of our flagship event,” said Erin Santos, executive director and president of the Isabella Santos Foundation. “They are an amazing community partner and we look forward to teaming up on this amazing partnership that will greatly benefit our local pediatric cancer community.”

Registration fees vary and participants may register individually or as a team. For more information or to register and brunch with ISF, visit https://isabellasantosfoundation.org/annual-5k-for-kids-cancer/.

About Red Ventures

Founded in 2000, Red Ventures is a portfolio of growing digital businesses that bring consumers and brands together through integrated e-commerce, strategic partnerships and many proprietary brands including Bankrate, AllConnect.com and Reviews.com. Headquartered south of Charlotte, NC, Red Ventures has over 3,000 employees in offices across the US, as well as London and Sao Paulo. For more information, visit www.redventures.com.

About Isabella Santos Foundation

The Isabella Santos Foundation (ISF) is a 501(c)3 childhood cancer foundation dedicated to raising funds for research for rare pediatric cancers, and charities that directly impact the lives of children with cancer. ISF was founded in honor of Isabella Santos from Charlotte, N.C. who lost her battle against neuroblastoma. ISF is committed to improving rare pediatric cancer treatment options in an effort to increase the survival rate of kids with cancer so they can live their dreams. ISF has donated over $3 million to date to expand the scope of pediatric cancer research and treatment, and to fill various needs surrounding childhood cancers. 

For more information, visit https://isabellasantosfoundation.org/ or follow ISF on Facebook (www.facebook.com/IsabellaSantosFoundation), Instagram (www.instagram.com/theisfoundation), Twitter (www.twitter.com/TheISFoundation) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/isabella-santos-foundation/)

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CONTACT:

Jenni Walker – Walker PR Group – 980-339-8041-office/704-649-6571-cell

jenni@walkerprgroup.com

On the Seventh Year Since the Death of My Daughter (Queen City Nerve)

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Originally Distributed in Queen City Nerve Newsletter and on Queen City Nerve

Dear Charlotte, 

I remember sometime around a decade ago when I first came across Erin Santos’ blog. I’m not sure who shared it with me or how I came across it, but I was immediately enveloped by Erin’s raw writing style, confronting her child’s cancer diagnosis with honesty, fear, love and dark humor. I kept a picture of Erin’s daughter, Isabella, on my computer desktop back then as a reminder to check back in with the blog from time to time. The picture showed a 4-year-old Isabella in her family’s driveway with a pink flower dress on, her head bare save for a headband with a flower on it, if I’m remembering correctly. I remember every time I stared at that picture before going to the blog and I would think or say aloud, “Please don’t be dead.”

Until last Thursday, I had still never brought myself to read the post Erin wrote the day after Isabella lost her battle with cancer. Seven years later, it hits just as hard. I’m just as thankful for writing the post she shared on our website last Friday, on the seventh anniversary of Isabella’s passing, which of course uses Erin’s usual raw honesty to confront her feelings about moving on with her life and surpassing a dark milestone in which her daughter will have been gone for longer than she lived. While I know Erin will never forget Isabella, another thing that will never change as time passes is the life-saving impacts of The Isabella Santos Foundation (https://isabellasantosfoundation.org/ ), which Erin founded and has gone on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for pediatric cancer research and recently funded a $1 million leading-edge rare pediatric cancer treatment room at Levine Children’s Hospital called the Isabella Santos Foundation MIBG Suite. 

I’m not one to use this publication as a solicitation tool, but if you have money to spare, that’s one of the places I would suggest you put it. And the story below should give you a sense of why, because no parent should have to go through what Erin has gone through. 

Ryan Pitkin, 
Editor-in-chief
Queen City Nerve
Charlotte’s Cultural Pulse

ON THE SEVENTH YEAR SINCE THE DEATH OF MY DAUGHTER

June 28 marked the seventh anniversary of the death of Isabella Santos, whose mother, Erin Santos, founded the Isabella Santos Foundation. On that day, Erin shared three posts with us ranging from the day after Isabella passed to June 28, as she looked ahead at how to live in a world in which Isabella has been gone longer than she lived. 


read article on Queen City Nerve>>

Platelet Drive in Memory of Isabella Santos (4 pm ​News WCNC)

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Originally Posted on WCNC

One hundred platelet donations in seven days. That’s the goal for the week-long platelet drive that the Isabella Santos Foundation is hosting with OneBlood to honor Isabella Santos.