On Saturday, October 19, 2024, The Tarazi Family will be participating for the third consecutive year in Children’s National Hospital’s Race For Every Child at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC.

This annual fundraising event is very important for our family.  Our beautiful daughter and sister, Madeline, lost her battle with DMG / DIPG on December 31, 2022.  Every year, we plan to honor her legacy by raising money to advance novel treatments for kids who are fighting pediatric brain tumors.  Madeline is affectionately known as our "Tough Cookie" and you may read about her journey here:

https://www.moneyandking.com/obits/madeline-lucia-tarazi/

When we first participated in Race For Every Child in 2022, we formed Team Madeline to raise funds for DMG / DIPG research in Madeline's memory.  We will be walking and running as a family in the 5K.  Anyone who is local is welcome to join Team Madeline and walk or run with us in person.  People may also opt to join us virtually, and of course, any and all donations are greatly appreciated.

What we love most about Race For Every Child is that EVERY dollar raised goes directly toward furthering childhood brain tumor research at Children’s National Hospital (CNMC).  The money is not designated for a general fund where its impact would diffuse throughout the work of the hospital.  Moreover, every race team is able to decide where to direct funds raised.  As such, ALL funds raised by Team Madeline will be directed to CNMC's Brain Tumor Institute, and more specifically to support the research that Dr. Javad Nazarian is conducting, in partnership with his fantastic team, to develop new treatments for DMG / DIPG.   Please see here for information:

https://research.childrensnational.org/center-for-genetic-medicine/research/cancer/

Additionally, race funds raised in previous years have been used to hire nurse practitioners.  Our family worked extensively with a wonderful NP when when Madeline was undergoing treatment, and these NPs help expand CNMC’s ability to offer innovative clinical trials to children with brain tumors.  Some of these children come to CNMC from other states where novel treatments are simply unavailable at local children’s hospitals. 

CNMC currently has numerous clinical trials open for children with different types of brain tumors, both newly diagnosed and recurrent.  Offering such clinical trials requires a great deal of infrastructure that is not supported by either federal funding or standard hospital operations.  This is why CNMC needs help from all of us to keep these options available for kids who are battling brain cancer. 
Thank you in advance for your support!