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About Us |
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Together, we can make a difference in saving the
life of a child!
Our Beautiful Daughter Sami was one of those children. Sami was an active and fun loving eight-year-old girl living in Cotati. She attended La Fiesta school, enjoyed swimming and playing soccer with her friends. After suffering headaches and loss of balance, she was diagnosed with a Brain Stem Tumor in May 1998.
Sami received six weeks of radiation treatment in Sacramento, resulting in the shrinkage of the tumor. But, at her three month check-up in Ocober, we were told the tumor had spread. Sami then underwent aggresive chemotherapy treatment, which made her very ill. Shortly thereafter, she lost her courageous battle to cancer. She passed away on November 19, 1998.
In memory of our daughter, we have formed the Sami Disharoon Brain Tumor Research Foundation to help raise funds for pediatric brain tumor research. The foundation has a non-profit charitable 501 (c3) status and is staffed voluntarily by family and friends of the Disharoon family. The statistics for this type of cancer are grim. The current incidence rate of children brain tumors is 3.8 cases in 100,000. This means an estimated 2,961 new cases of childhood brain tumors will be diagnosed each year. The source for this information is the Central Brain Tumor registry. There are numerous clinical trials for treating brain stem tumors. These trials largely involve combinations of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. These treatments have not been successful. Herein lies the need for pediatric brain tumor research.
Our goal is to support the University of California at San Francisco's Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program, as well as supporting local children and their families who have been diagnosed with brain tumors. To date we are very proud to announce that we have raised $297,000 for UCSF as well as helping many families in our area. |
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