MIBG Treatment in Southeast - Isabella Santos Foundation

GOAL: Run 50K in 1 year to raise $5K for ISF. Say what??

This will be Cynthia’s 4th year fundraising for ISF and she has enlisted a special partner in crime. Cynthia decided to sign up as a MIBG Ambassador and think outside the box for her fundraising. Cynthia and her daughter, Kat, are committing to rack up 50K in runs to raise $5,000 within a year of this coming Thursday (June 28th)… the anniversary of Isabella’s passing.

Fundraising year after year gets hard, no matter who you are! Not only do we love that Cynthia’s daughter is getting involved (kids helping kids make our hearts melt), but that they are doing something different and new. Thank you Cynthia and Kat for your dedication in honor of Isabella. We can’t express how grateful we are!

Learn more about what it means to become an MIBG Ambassador. Funds raised through this program will be distributed very specifically through our partnership with Levine Children’s Hospital with a very targeted purpose. So get creative and fundraise the way you want to.

Friday marked a huge milestone for our Foundation. And we aren’t just talking about a monetary milestone and funding a million dollar project, but also an emotional one. On what would have been Isabella’s 13th birthday, it was extremely special to be able to celebrate her life, her legacy and especially the IMPACT she is making on this world with the coming of an MIBG Treatment Suite at Levine Children’s Hospital.

Levine Children’s Hospital will now be 1 of 20 hospitals to have a MIBG Treatment room in the U.S. The two-room MIBG suite, which will include a lead-lined patient room and an anteroom for parents and caregivers, will provide targeted radiation to pediatric neuroblastoma patients and other rare pediatric cancers with minimal side effects. In addition, availability of this room will allow for research studies aimed at testing the effectiveness of early MIBG treatment regimens. Isabella and her parents were forced to travel to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia due to this treatment not being available in Charlotte. We are excited that we are changing this challenge for other families.

The MIBG project team did not forget one single detail. Most MIBG treatment rooms are just a one-room area for the patient receiving treatment, while their parent or caregiver sits on the other side of a lead-lined shield. The two-room suite will give the child receiving treatment the ability to see the parent or caregiver through the connecting room window. We love all the details the project team has included into the treatment suite design like utilizing Isabella’s artwork and a multi-colored fiber optic light design on the ceiling. And that’s just a start.

We were joined on Friday by our 3 Wish Circle Members and sponsors who helped us make this room a reality. What was also special, doctors and nurses who treated Isabella during her time at Levine Children’s Hospital were in attendence. To watch them listen to Isabella’s mom as she spoke was incredibility touching. It was definitely a full circle moment. Everyone in attendance signed a piece of Levine history as the lead beam will become part of the suite during construction.

We can’t thank everyone enough for the support and believing in our foundation. You are helping us make a mark on the future and we will continue to strive to elevate cancer care for kids. We look forward to sharing updates as construction begins in a few short weeks. The hospital will have construction cameras, it will be fun to watch the room unfold.

News Coverage on the morning:

MIBG WSCOTV News Coverage

Molly Grantham