On Saturday, March 18, children battling cancer will make their debuts on the runway in the inaugural Ft. Lauderdale Fashion Funds the Cure, “Walking on Sunshine” at the Renaissance Plantation Fort Lauderdale Hotel.
For 13 years, Fashion Funds the Cure has been a marquee fundraising event in Tampa, celebrating the strength and courage of boys and girls battling cancer. Thanks to the exclusive fashion sponsor, Dillard’s, Fashion Funds the Cure is hitting the road to bring the uplifting and inspiring event to Ft. Lauderdale for the first time.
Below are the children modeling in the show:
- Antonella, 3, Currently battling kidney cancer – Antonella wants to be a princess one day.
- Brayden, 3, Currently battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – He wants to be an air traffic controller one day.
- Elizabeth, 12, Brain cancer survivor – Elizabeth hopes to be an oncologist one day.
- George, 13, Currently battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – George wants to be a football player when he grows up.
- Jasmin, 6, Currently battling Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma – Jasmin wants to be a dancer one day.
- Karen, 8, Currently battling Langerhans cell histiocytosis – Karen dreams of being a vet when she grows up.
- Salma, 7, Medulloblastoma survivor – Salma wants to be a singer one day.
- Tristan, 8, Currently battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – Tristan wants to be a police officer.
- Valentina, 14, Currently battling Angiosarcoma – Valentina hopes to be psychologist one day.
- Zoey, 8, Currently battling Neuroblastoma – Zoey wants to be a Child Life Specialist when she grows up.
Theo Huff
The heartbeat of this event, and the driving force, is a little boy named Theo Huff who lost his battle with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. The Huff family has organized a committee to execute this event to continue to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer.
This event will introduce the South Florida community to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, the beneficiary of the event, and to provide local area children currently battling cancer a night all about them, in Theo’s honor.
At the age of 5 months old, Leah and Ricky Huff learned that their little boy was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. When they first heard the diagnosis, they assumed medicine would have an answer—how could it not, this is a young child with cancer. Modern medicine must have discovered a cure. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Theo endured 14 months of grueling chemotherapy regimens, with drugs manufactured for adults, not children. The very best of what medicine had to offer was not enough. Theo, sadly, passed away at the age of 19 months old, in October 2016.
In their search for answers, Leah and Ricky discovered that there simply isn’t adequate funding for childhood cancer research, which makes cures for diseases like Theo’s difficult to discover. The government allocates only 4% of their federal budget for cancer research to pediatric cancers. Pharmaceutical companies typically focus their funds for research and clinical trials on adult cancers.
With that reality, the Huffs knew they wanted to help raise money to fund research needed to find cures for Theo’s cancer and others like it that continue to impact children and their families. Funding for this type of research is largely dependent on the generosity of individuals, families and businesses that participate in philanthropic events and fundraisers.
Event: Fashion Funds the Cure benefiting the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation
Date: Saturday, March 18, 2017
Location: Renaissance Fort Lauderdale-Plantation Hotel – 1230 S. Pine Island Rd, Plantation, Florida
Time: 6:00 p.m. – VIP and Media Arrival
6:30 p.m. – Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
7:30 p.m. – Runway show begins
Tickets: Public is invited to purchase tickets at NationalPCF.org, 813-269-0955
Individual Ticket – $100
After Party Ticket – $40
Sponsorship: Contact Kelly McGraw – kmcgraw@nationalpcf.org
About the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation:
The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding research to eliminate childhood cancer through the Sunshine Project, the Foundation’s collaborative research initiative. By partnering with doctors and researchers from the country’s top institutions, the Sunshine Project is fast-tracking the development of new drugs and treatments that will ultimately lead to the cure of childhood cancers. For more information, visit www.NationalPCF.org
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