KSHB 41: Big Slick makes big impact for local families

By Jordan Betts

Twenty-month-old Clara Jensen loves to be outside. Her parents soak up every minute, because her life was almost cut short by cancer.

"When she was born, they thought it might be some vein growth or something," Clara's father, Aaron Jensen, said.

It wasn't.

"She had this massive tumor in her tongue and, at the time, no one knew it was a tumor," Clara's mom, Jennifer Jensen, said.

Doctors delivered the devastating news of a cancer diagnosis when she was only a few weeks old, but the staff at Children's Mercy also took action.

"In Clara's case, we able to take sequencing of her tumor sample, find a genetic mutation and match that mutation with a drug," said Dr. Erin Guest, who specializes in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children's Mercy.

Of course, the program and other cancer-saving treatments are costly, which is where Big Slick KC comes in.

The brainchild of several movie stars with ties to the Kansas City area — David Koechner, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and Jason Sudeikis — the event started as a celebrity poker tournament and has morphed into a celeb-packed weekend event that has raised more than $8 million for Children's Mercy.

Read the full story via KSHB 41

Learn more about the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy