Hosted at the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, the event highlighted the hospital’s commitment to excellence in the areas of graduate medical education, translational research, connective tissue disorders, pediatric orthopedic surgery, radiology research, pediatric molecular oncology and cancer immunotherapy. These achievements are made possible through visionary philanthropic support.

2026 Honorees

• Brenda Rogers, MD 
  Dr. Sidney F. Pakula Endowed Chair in Graduate Medical Education
  
   
• Jordan Jones, DO, MS, FAAP, FACR
  Underdown Yeomans Family Endowed Professorship in Connective Tissue Disorders Care
  
   
• Kathryn Keeler, MD
  Dr. Brad and Dawn Olney Chair in Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery
  
   
• Sherwin Chan, MD, PhD
  Gallagher Family Endowed Professorship in Excellence
  
   
• Tomoo Iwakuma, MD, PhD
  Braden’s Hope for Childhood Cancer Endowed Chair in Pediatric Molecular Oncology
  
   
• Yong Li, PhD
  Paul and Linda DeBruce Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunotherapy

As the hospital continues to expand its academic profile, endowed faculty positions remain central to its legacy of providing the best possible and highest quality care to all children when they need it most.

These appointments provide talented clinicians, researchers and educators with the protected time and resources needed to lead, innovate and mentor the next generation of pediatric medicine. In an increasingly competitive academic environment, endowed positions also play a critical role in recruiting and retaining world-class talent.

For a nonprofit teaching hospital, endowed positions are far more than a title. They are transformative investments in patients, faculty and the future of children’s health.

“These recognize not only past achievement, but future promise, and they provide enduring support for work that advances our mission across clinical care, education, research and discovery,” said Steve Leeder, PharmD, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer.

The ceremony also recognized the generous donors whose support established and sustains these endowed appointments. Their enduring commitment helps Children's Mercy remain a leader in pediatric care, research and education for children and families across the region.

• The Louis H. Gross Foundation, Inc. Dr. Lawrence Pakula, a Director
• Kim and Rod Underdown and the Underdown and Yeomans Family
• Dr. Brad and Dawn Olney
• The Diane and Terrence Gallagher Family
• Braden’s Hope for Childhood Cancer
• Paul and Linda Debruce
   

Learn more about the honorees and donors at childrensmercy.org.

By Frida Humphreville

Children’s Mercy’s new pediatric cancer division has big plans for little ones.

Yong Li, director of the new Molecular Oncology and Cellular Therapeutics division, and Steven Leeder, senior vice president and chief scientific officer, explained what the division will add to emerging research on cancer treatment for kids.

How is this division different from other therapeutic programs at Children’s Mercy?

Li: First, it's primarily for pediatric cancer. That's our endpoint, and current pediatric survival (rates), they are pretty decent. About 80% to 85% of the pediatric cancer patients get more than five years of survival, and the vast majority are considered cured. 

Even for that, 85% is a problem because most of the treatments are highly toxic. So the field is transitioning, not just so you get a patient to survive more than five years, but in a less toxic way, allowing for a normal life span. That's very unique for our center.

Therapeutics is also treating other types of disease, particularly in autoimmune disease, and there is lots of talk about how it can be extended to transplant patients. Many patients with transplant, they have some existing antibody that prevented them from acquiring the new organ, and cell therapy is the key technology moving forward. 

Read the full article via the Kansas City Business Journal

PRESS RELEASE: Children’s Mercy Names Yong Li, Ph.D. To Lead New Program Expanding Hope and Treatment Options for Children Facing Cancer and Other Serious Diseases

By Tod Palmer

For 10-year-old Matteo Rodriguez, soccer was a lifeline during cancer treatment. Now, it's just a game he loves to play.

"It was a lot of mixed feelings, because I was sad that I was in the hospital, but I was happy that I was watching [Lionel] Messi play,” Matteo said. “I just loved soccer at that time.”

Four years ago, Matteo, who lives in Olathe with his family, was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His mother, Jennifer Diaz, said doctors repeatedly missed the signs.

"He had been fighting a croupy cough for several months, and every time we would take him into the doctor, they would misdiagnose him," Diaz said.

Doctors at Children's Mercy Hospital eventually discovered a tumor that covered more than half of his chest, a devastating diagnosis.

See the full story via KSHB 41

He will also serve as the inaugural holder of the Paul and Linda DeBruce Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunotherapy, established through the generosity of the DeBruces, longtime supporters of Children’s Mercy. 

The Molecular Oncology & Cellular Therapeutics division will focus on advancing new treatment options for children with cancer, while also exploring emerging therapies that could benefit children with autoimmune diseases and complications related to transplants. The goal is simple but powerful: move promising research more quickly from the laboratory to the bedside, where it can make a meaningful difference for children and families. 

In this new role, Dr. Li will help expand Children’s Mercy’s ability to offer innovative cellular and immunotherapy treatments and strengthen its partnership with the University of Kansas Cancer Center. This collaboration supports faster progress in pediatric research and helps ensure children have access to leading-edge therapies close to home.   

“Breakthroughs in cancer treatment are advancing rapidly, particularly in immunotherapy and cellular therapeutics,” said Steve Leeder, Ph.D., PharmD, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Children’s Mercy. “Dr. Li’s leadership will help ensure children benefit from these innovations.”  

Dr. Li is an internationally recognized scientist with deep expertise in cancer biology, cell-based treatment development and the use of artificial intelligence to accelerate drug discovery. He most recently served as a professor and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine, where he also led Molecular Epidemiology. 

His research brings together molecular, cellular and computational science, including artificial intelligence, to identify new treatment targets and develop biologic therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. Dr. Li currently leads one of a small number of National Cancer Institute‑funded U54 Cancer Prevention‑Interception Centers focused on advancing precision medicines. 

Supported by multiple National Institutes of Health grants, Dr. Li has served as principal investigator on research exploring PD‑L1 biology, p53‑directed therapies and computational drug development. His career includes leadership roles at Baylor College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic and the University of Louisville, as well as postdoctoral training at Yale University with Nobel laureate Dr. Sidney Altman. He has earned national and international recognition for his work, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

“Children’s Mercy offers world-class clinical care and a strong research foundation,” Li said. “I look forward to leveraging these strengths to advance innovative therapies and bring new hope to children and families facing cancer.”  

The events raise money for pediatric cancer research and support for Children's Mercy.

As TODAY's Al Roker reports, since starting in 2010, the Big Slick has raised more than $34 million and continues to grow.

See the full story via The TODAY Show.

Learn more about Big Slick 

The Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Research information for families

A Kansas City mother is being honored during Black History Month for turning her family’s personal struggle into a mission that is saving lives across the community.

Sheena Anderson received the Dr. Charles Drew Lifesaver Award from the Community Blood Center for her advocacy work supporting people living with sickle cell disease.

Anderson became an advocate after her 12-year-old son was diagnosed with sickle cell disease.

Since then, she has organized multiple blood drives, including one in Grandview last September, to help patients who depend on regular blood transfusions to survive.

Doctors say Anderson’s efforts have helped increase access to safer and more compatible blood for patients with sickle cell disease.

“Her efforts made a ripple effect in the community providing safer and more blood supply to individuals with sickle cell disease including children in our own program,” said Dr. Shabnam Arsiwala, director of the Sickle Cell Disease Program at Children’s Mercy.

See the full story via KMBC 9

Children's Mercy Sickle Cell Disease Program

A star-studded fundraiser is returning for its 17th year in Kansas City with familiar fun and some changes.

Big Slick, a fundraiser hosted by celebrities and Kansas City natives, will be back May 29-30 in 2026.

Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner, Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner will once again host the event, inviting celebrities and friends to join them for a good cause.

Each year, Big Slick benefits pediatric cancer research at Children's Mercy Kansas City. In 2025, the event raised $4.5 million for the hospital.

This year, however, there will be no Celebrity Classic softball game. Due to scheduling limitations with the FIFA World Cup, the Kansas City Royals will not be in town when Big Slick is scheduled. The Celebrity Classic usually takes place before a Royals home game.

Details on tickets and celebrity guests won't be revealed until tickets go on sale in the spring.

Read the full article via KMBC 9

Big Slick Celebrity Weekend

In early 2021, 9-month-old Charlotte seemed to have a routine winter bug. Then she developed a bad rash and woke up so pale “her lips blended in with her skin,” Emmry remembered. “We had already taken her to the doctor once, but my mother’s instinct was that this isn’t a normal day care [sickness].”

Emmry took Charlotte to Children’s Mercy Kansas, where they confirmed Charlotte needed support and quickly transferred her to the Adele Hall Campus to be admitted. Within a few days, Charlotte’s rash had gotten significantly worse, and she was struggling overall. Dermatology reached out to J. Allyson Hays, MD, Director, Histiocytosis Program, to ask: Could this be Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH)?

See the full story via KCTV 5

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Big Slick, Kansas City’s favorite celebrity fundraiser benefiting Children’s Mercy, launched its 16th year with laughs, heartfelt moments and a shared sense of purpose. Many are familiar with the pre-Royals celebrity softball game and T-Mobile Center Big Slick Show, but Big Slick is a three-day event that brings so much joy into our hospital walls — including patient bingo, a magic show, patient visits and Friendly Feud in the Big Slick Auditorium, a space named in honor of the event’s extraordinary impact.

Children’s Mercy President and CEO Alejandro (Ale) Quiroga kicked off the May 30 press conference with an inspiring speech.

“Big Slick happens organically in a city like this,” said Ale. “You can’t build this with a business plan. It takes Kansas City, and it takes Children’s Mercy. For the past 16 years, we’ve raised $25 million and changed how pediatric cancer is diagnosed and treated around the world.”

Ale shared the powerful story of Colin, a 4-year-old patient diagnosed with a rare congenital cancer. Genetic sequencing not only guided Colin’s treatment, it led to testing that revealed a separate cancer risk in his father, prompting life-saving surgery. That same testing is now helping protect Colin’s younger siblings.

“Who would have thought a poker tournament would lead to a life-saving diagnosis for an entire family?” he said.

The hosts reflected on the evolution of Big Slick from its early days as a celebrity poker tournament to a powerhouse weekend of fundraising and community connection.

“Every year it feels like a big hug,” Gardner said. “It’s not just a fundraiser. It’s a family reunion with purpose.”

Asked what they hoped people would remember about Big Slick years from now, the hosts were unified. “That it made a difference,” Sudeikis said. “We love showing off our hometown. We bring people here, and they see how special it is — especially the people and this hospital.”

Big Slick 2025 raised a record-breaking $4.5 million

The hosts and guests, which this year included more than 50 celebrities, gathered Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center for an unforgettable night of performances and fundraising.

One of the most powerful moments of the evening came when the crowd learned about Peter — a cellist, a Boy Scout, an athlete, a chess player… and a fighter. While bravely undergoing treatment for cancer at Children’s Mercy, Peter chose to give back. He started his own fundraiser and donated every penny of his savings — $1,800 — to help other kids like him.

Sadly, Peter passed away just two weeks before this year’s Big Slick. But his spirit and selflessness lit up the T-Mobile Center. After his story played during the show, Peter’s family joined our hosts on stage, where, through heartbreak and with incredible grace, Peter’s father shared his son’s wish: That we continue the fight against cancer in his name.

And the crowd responded. Paddle after paddle went up — many matching Peter’s $1,800 donation — in a wave of love and purpose that helped raise a record-setting $4.5 million.

As always, the highlight of the weekend was the deep connection between the hosts, the hospital and Kansas City.

“Kansas City shows up year after year,” said Riggle. “We just keep the ball rolling — but this city makes the ball bigger.”

By Joseph Hernandez

A fun-filled Saturday night inside T-Mobile Center saw tons of actors, musicians and athletes pool their talents together for one goal: to raise money for Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Donors from all over the world bid on a silent auction with over 50 items, including one-of-a-kind experiences like stunt driving school with “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville, a self-care day in New York City with “Saturday Night Live” star and Big Slick host Heidi Gardner or a visit to the set of reality TV and comedy show “Impractical Jokers.” 

Ticketed guests also had the opportunity to bid on exclusive items inside the venue as the show was happening on stage, like a “Ted Lasso” experience with Jason Sudeikis that sold for $200,000.

How much did Big Slick 2025 raise? 

So how much did the Big Slick crew of Gardner, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner, flanked by famous friends Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Kenan Thompson, Katherine McNamara and 40 other stars raise for Children’s Mercy in 2025?

In total, the event raised a whopping $4,530,012 — a new record for Big Slick.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick 2025

By Lisa Gutierrez

This is in no way shade or disrespect to the many celebrities who come to Kansas City every year to raise money for Children’s Mercy during Big Slick Celebrity Weekend. 

But there are two stars in particular who tend to draw the wildest cheers from the KC crowds: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his football BFF, tight end Travis Kelce. 

So the good news for their fans today is that both are on the guest list for this year’s event. 

The two-day event takes place May 30-31. The annual weekend raises money for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

As always, this year’s event involves two core events: 

The Big Slick Celebrity Classic Softball Game will take place on the main field at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, May 30, before the Royals play the Detroit Tigers. Everyone with a Royals ticket can watch the softball game, which begins at 5 p.m. 

The Big Slick Party & Show, the weekend’s main event, is Saturday, May 31, at T-Mobile Center. The raucous event includes musical performances, skits and an auction for big-ticket items. 

Tickets, starting at $75, are available at bigslickkc.org.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

The first group of tickets go on sale Tuesday for the 16th annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, the star-studded fundraiser for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. 

Kansas City’s homegrown squad of A-listers — Heidi Gardner, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner and Eric Stonestreet — host the event and bring lots of celebrity friends with them. 

Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have also appeared at the party and main event at the T-Mobile Center in recent years.

This year’s two-day event takes places May 30-31. Since its first year in 2010 as a celebrity poker tournament and party, Big Slick has raised more than $25 million for the hospital and the children it serves.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick

The 16th Big Slick Celebrity Weekend will take place May 30-31, 2025, organizers of the charity event announced Tuesday. 

The usual group of Kansas City stars are expected to co-host — Heidi Gardner, David Koechner, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and Jason Sudeikis. An “army of generous celebrity friends” is also promised. 

The event is a “don’t miss” on Kansas City’s activities calendar every year, drawing stars from TV, film and music to town for several days. 

What began in 2010 as a celebrity poker tournament to raise money for Children’s Mercy has become the city’s biggest celebrity event.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick '25

This pilot program builds on the work the Biden Cancer Moonshot has led to ensure that children and families facing cancer have equitable resources and access to diagnosis, treatment, research, and survivorship care. As part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, the Biden-Harris Administration revived the White House Childhood Cancer Forum, backed and then the President signed the Childhood Cancer STAR Reauthorization Act to increase funding for childhood cancer research, and the Administration is actively working to implement the Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity or RACE for Children Act to identify and approve precision pediatric drugs quickly.
 
Most recently, in recognition of September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the Biden Cancer Moonshot hosted the White House Roundtable on State Advocacy for Childhood Cancer, bringing together a diverse set of federal and state policymakers, health care experts, and childhood cancer advocates from across the country. Roundtable participants developed strategies and shared best practices that maximize state programs like cancer control plans and Medicaid to deliver new resources and support for families facing childhood cancer and developed plans to implement successful strategies to improve childhood cancer outcomes.
 
Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has been closely tracking and mitigating manufacturing and supply chain issues, with efforts underway to prevent future drug shortages and promote resilient supply chains. Last summer, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy convened leaders from across the generic oncology drug supply chain, including patient advocates, caregivers, and health care providers, to hear directly from those who are working on the ground to get lifesaving medicines into the hands of those who need them. In April, the Department of Health and Human Services released a white paper outlining policy steps to prevent future drug shortages, including proposing the establishment of a new Manufacturer Resiliency Assessment Program and a new Hospital Resilient Supply Program.

In this interview with OncoDaily, John Herriges, a specialist in genetics and genomics, shares his insights about the importance of OGM as a comprehensive technique that can detect structural rearrangements throughout the genome while providing detailed information down to the gene level.

What are some of the most significant advancements in genomic testing technologies over the past few years?

In the cancer realm I think that OGM, which has really come to everyone’s attention the last few years, has the potential to be a real gamechanger as it can help streamline testing for patients and can lead to a better genetic classification of tumors.  There are a lot of other testing advances though that are significant, like long read sequencing, tumor methylation profiling, and RNA sequencing.

Read the full blog via OncoDaily

Children's Mercy Kansas City First Pediatric Hospital to Use Optical Genome Mapping in the Clinical Setting

For the first time in more than a decade, this year’s rankings included a new specialty – Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health. Children’s Mercy is featured as one of the top 50 programs in the country. All programs receive equal recognition in this inaugural year. This is a testament to all the work being done to address the mental health needs of children and teens in our community.

Six Children’s Mercy specialties rank among the top 25 nationally this year, with the Nephrology team ranking #9. The Neonatology team made a big jump to #11 up from #48 last year, and Cardiology and Heart Surgery jumped from #43 to #26.

Children’s Mercy specialties’ rankings:

·        Nephrology (#9)

·        Neonatology (#11)

·        Urology (#20 tie)

·        Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (#21 tie)

·        Neurology & Neurosurgery (#21)

·        Diabetes & Endocrinology (#23)

·        Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#26)

·        Pulmonology & Lung Surgery (#28)

·        Orthopedics (#35)

·        Cancer (#39)

·        Behavioral Health (Top 50)

“Being among the top pediatric hospitals nationally is worth celebrating,” said Paul Kempinski, MS, FACHE, president and CEO of Children’s Mercy Kansas City. “Children’s Mercy finished first in Missouri and tied for third place in the Midwest region, which includes more than 40 hospitals across 13 states. The rankings are a true testament to our team’s hard work, expertise and dedication to the patients and families we serve.”

In surveying nearly 200 pediatric centers, U.S. News gathered clinical and operation data. This data was then combined with results from a reputational survey in which board-certified pediatric specialists were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty.

Those pediatric specialties consist of: behavioral health; cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; neonatology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology.   

The full rankings and methodology are available at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals.

An all-star lineup of Kansas City hometown heroes hosted the 15th anniversary of Big Slick May 31 - June 1. 

The weekend raises money for pediatric cancer research at Children's Mercy Kansas City.

TODAY's Al Roker got to play some Friendly Feud and some softball.

He also learned about the impact Big Slick is having for families.

See the full story via TODAY Show

Big Slick '24

Children's Mercy Research Institute

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

By Ryan Collins

The collaboration effort between Mercy Springfield Communities and Children’s Mercy Kansas City (CMKC) to enhance pediatric care in southwest Missouri is moving at a fast pace, and the Kansas City-based hospital will begin seeing patients in southwest Missouri within the coming months.

“We expect to have patients being seen (in Springfield) this calendar year,” Dr. Rob Steele, executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer at CMKC, said in a May 29 interview on Mercy’s Springfield campus. “We’re itchy because we’re still in the midst of recruiting, but you know, optimistically, this is within the next couple months.”

The collaboration between the two hospital systems will not be a joint venture, nor a profit-sharing model, said John Myers, president of Mercy Springfield Communities. Instead, CMKC will pay Mercy to lease space within Mercy’s existing facilities, but CMKC will operate independently and without oversight from Mercy. The physicians and staff of the new Springfield pediatric practice will be exclusively employed by CMKC.

The model the two systems are aiming for is called a “hospital in a hospital,” but that type of operation still has to be approved by regulators, Myers said. The amount of square feet that CMKC will lease and the cost is still being hashed out, but it will be a significant quantity of space.

Read the full article via Springfield Daily Citizen

Children's Mercy Kansas City

About Children's Mercy Kansas City

When I first heard that the Big Slick Party & Show on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center was going to revive the old “Saturday Night Live” skit best known as “Da Bears,” I was skeptical about how they’d contour it to modern times and a Kansas City audience. 

But at an event that featured the spectacle of Patrick Mahomes standing on stage throwing autographed footballs auctioned for $15,000 each to Travis Kelce to deliver in the crowd, nearly half the current cast of “SNL” and endless entertainment for a wonderful cause, the act formally known as “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans” struck me as the most memorable performance of the night. 

While the most significant highlight was the show-stopping “reveal” that this weekend’s efforts had raised $3,973,637 (and now $25,002,638 over 15 years) for Children’s Mercy hospital, “Da Bears” bit was downright “SNL”-worthy but all the more resonant because it was scripted for us.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick '24

Children's Mercy Research Institute

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

In between the wisecracks and giggles and silliness at their press conference Friday morning, the homegrown co-hosts of Big Slick Celebrity Weekend made a point to emphasize what it’s really all about. 

Eric Stonestreet teared up as he recalled a moment musician Philip Bowen shared with a young Children’s Mercy patient. 

“We walked into a little girl’s room last year and she clearly loved Disney and we just said, ‘What’s your favorite Disney song?’ And she said Little Mermaid,” Stonestreet said. “(Bowen) just goes right into ‘The Little Mermaid’ theme and my group just stood there as this little girl swayed along to Philip playing, and then he played another one.” 

“We walked out and Philip literally crumbled to his knees and started crying because he couldn’t believe what he was able to do and witness. In that moment, he said he will never say no to coming here as long as you invite me and that happens with every one of our groups.” 

The celebrity-led charity weekend is back in Kansas City and is the biggest ever. The annual fundraiser celebrates 15 years of benefiting Children’s Mercy, and this year hosts Stonestreet, Heidi Gardner, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd and Jason Sudeikis assembled the largest assortment of celebrity guests in its history — 59 in total.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick '24

Children's Mercy Research Institute

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

May is National Brain Cancer Awareness Month and one local family is reflecting on the memory of their late daughter.

Morgan Kottman was just 15 years-old when she died from a rare and incurable brain tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). This November will be the 10th anniversary of her death.

Her mom, Christine Kottman, says she still thinks about Morgan’s sense of humor.

“She was very bubbly and funny. Laughed a lot,” Christine said.

Dr. Kevin Ginn is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. He was also Morgan’s doctor. He says DIPG is very aggressive and usually only affects children.

“DIPG specifically,” Ginn said, “is one of the tumors that from the first day I meet the family I have to tell them their child is most likely going to die within two years.”

See the full story via KSNT

Research information for families

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

This should make a lot of people happy: Sheryl Crow is coming back to perform for Big Slick Celebrity Weekend. 

Two years ago, the nine-time Grammy winner and Missouri native lit up T-Mobile Center with three songs during the fundraiser for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Mercy Hospital. 

This year’s 15th fundraiser takes place Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1. Crow will perform Saturday night at the Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile, organizers announced Friday. 

And, because sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, actor George Wendt — lovable barfly Norm on “Cheers” and uncle to Big Slick co-host Jason Sudeikis — will also appear.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

See the names of all of the celebrity guests coming to Big Slick in 2024

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

The 9th annual Noah’s Bandage Run took place on April 14. The 5k race honors the memory of Noah Wilson, a 7-year-old Johnson County boy who lost his battle to cancer in 2015.

“Noah was a happy kid. He was healthy. He loved sports, loved the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs and he was just a busy kid, but his heart, he just had a heart to help others,” said Noah’s mother Deborah Wilson.

Wilson was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in April 2014 and underwent many treatments. He found comfort in the creativity of a bandage.

“He was poked and prodded multiple times and asked the nurse one day, do you have a fun band-aid, that you could put on and unfortunately they didn’t, they just had the plain ones,” she said.

In the 10 years since the project launched, they’ve fundraised $1.7 million for childhood cancer research at Children’s Mercy. It’s the hospital where Wilson received care before he passed away.

See the full story via KCTV 5

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Children's Mercy Kansas City Research Institute

By Lisa Gutierrez

The first round of tickets went on sale March 19 for the 15th annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, the popular star-studded fundraiser for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. 

Kansas City’s own Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner, Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner and their celebrity friends return May 31 and June 1. 

“We’ve got some new and exciting guests and we’re going to release that information coming up,” Rudd told The Star. 

The biggest slate of celebrity guests last year helped Big Slick raise more than $3.5 million, a record. Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce appeared at the party and main event at the T-Mobile Center. 

To date, Big Slick has raised more than $20 million, helping to attract top medical and research talent by exposing a national audience to the work of the Children’s Mercy Research Institute.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Big Slick Celebrity Weekend '24

Braden’s Hope for Childhood Cancer held its Hope Connect Annual Research Update on March 21 to celebrate the achievements in childhood cancer research made possible by its donors. Hosted at the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, the event featured Braden’s Hope awards totaling $5.5 million, which includes advancing six collaborative research projects led by teams of investigators from Children’s Mercy Kansas City and the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Dr. J. Steven Leeder, PharmD, PhD, Interim Executive Director of the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, opened the update by emphasizing the importance of collaborative research funded by Braden’s Hope. 

“Thanks to Braden’s Hope our research projects not only include investigators at Children’s Mercy and KU Cancer Center, but those across the US and Mexico. Today, a total of 13 institutions and 42 researchers are involved in Braden’s Hope research projects,” Dr. Leeder said. “This is important because together we are stronger – thanks to Braden’s Hope, we are able to share our knowledge across multiple institutions – with the goal to bring more hope to kids right here in the Midwest.”

Children’s Mercy is the consortium partner with KU Cancer Center—the region’s only NCI comprehensive cancer center. Comprehensive status is the highest level of recognition awarded by the National Cancer Institute and represents the gold standard for cancer centers.

Braden’s Hope funded projects include:

·       Advancing new treatment options for children and young adults diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma—led by investigators Terrie Flatt, DO, MA, and Andrew Godwin, PhD

·       Developing targeted therapies for children with a uniquely devastating type of leukemia—led by investigators Erin Guest, MD, John Perry, PhD, and Jay Vivian, PhD

·       Identifying drugs that specifically kill sarcoma cells with one Ewing sarcoma Region 1 gene while sparing normal, healthy cells—led by investigators Tomoo Iwakuma, MD, PhD, and Mizuki Azuma, PhD

·       Understanding how a tumor’s genetic makeup affects its response to T cell therapy—led by Midhat Farooqi, MD, PhD

·       Stimulating the immune system to find and kill cancer stem cells by using a classic chemotherapy drug in a targeted way —led by John Perry, PhD

·       Developing a new compound that kills cancer cells lacking p53, an important tumor suppressor found in the body—led by Tomoo Iwakuma, MD, PhD

As part of the update, Deliece Hofen, President of Braden’s Hope, held a panel discussion with the funded researchers who answered questions about their work. Deliece knows first-hand the importance of advancing research for kids. Her youngest son, Braden, battled childhood cancer three times, starting when he was just three years old. During Braden’s second battle with cancer, he faced the words "no known cure" and his odds for survival were less than 10 percent. 

“Thankfully, my son Braden has defied all odds and is now living cancer-free; however, he lives with many long-term health complications based on the harsh treatment he received at such a young age,” Hofen said. “Our goal at Braden's Hope, is for all families to receive the best, cutting-edge treatment available, without having to leave Kansas City. We want to give children and families diagnosed with cancer, hope for a future because no family should ever have to hear the words: no known cure.” 

Children's Mercy Research Institute

Big Slick organizers want you to save the date.

The celebrity charity event — hosted by Kansas City natives Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner, Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner — is returning for its 15th year on May 31 and June 1, 2024.

Organizers will reveal celebrities attending, plus ticket information, in the spring.

The weekend event benefits pediatric cancer research at Children's Mercy Kansas City.

See the full story via Fox 4

Big Slick

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

By Megan Abundis

Sporting Kansas City fans were welcomed to Children’s Mercy Park on May 31 amid a rain delay against FC Dallas.

Seventeen miles away, Children’s Mercy Hospital on Gillham Avenue has been 14-year-old Uale Sua’s home for the past three months.

“I’ve been stuck in my room for the last couple of weeks, so getting to look outside of my room is pretty amazing,” Sua said.

Children's Mercy set him up with his own set of wheels called REX (Robot Experience).

Sua could be connected to fans while he controlled the screen, camera and wheels from his hospital room.

Sua's second cancer battle isn’t stopping him from exploring what he loves.

He went through multiple rounds of chemo and radiation, even with the possibility of amputation.

“This time around he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia,” said Numia Sua, Uale’s Sua's mom. “If you meet Uale, he doesn’t complain even when he’s in pain.”

Golf, rugby, basketball, wrestling and football were his sports of choice.

“He was playing sports all the way up until he was diagnosed,” Numia Sua said. “He is a very, very athletic kid."

See the full story via KSHB 41

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

Cancer in adolescents and young adults

By Lisa Gutierrez

The biggest slate of celebrity guests at Big Slick Celebrity Weekend helped raise another record, just over $3.5 million, for Children’s Mercy, the hosts announced Saturday to cap a riotous show at the T-Mobile Center. 

The evening proved that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce can’t handle his hot wings, that Ted Lasso can play drums and that sick children would benefit from all the humor and music. 

At the end of a show that ran four hours, the event’s Kansas City co-hosts — Jason Sudeikis, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet and Heidi Gardner — announced that in its 14 years, Big Slick has now raised more than $20 million for the hospital.

Read the full story via The Kansas City Star

Ways to Give to Children's Mercy

Big Slick Kansas City

By Lisa Gutierrez

The class of newcomers at Kansas City’s annual Big Slick fundraiser for Children’s Mercy next month will include “Wagon Wheel” singer Darius Rucker, organizers said Monday in the first wave of celebrity guests to be announced in the coming days. 

In addition to Rucker, who gained fame with Hootie & the Blowfish, comedian Tim Heidecker from the Showtime comedy “Moonbase 8” will also participate for the first time. 

Big Slick is fan candy, bringing a big slate of celebrities to Kansas City every year. Other names announced Monday are Big Slick veterans: hot wings aficionado and interviewer extraordinaire Sean Evans, host of YouTube’s “Hot Ones”; Kevin Rahm (“Madam Secretary,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Mad Men”); and Irish actor/comedian Aisling Bea, who starred with Big Slick host Paul Rudd in the Netflix series “Living With Yourself.”

Events include the Big Slick Celebrity Classic softball game at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, June 2, and the Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center on Saturday, June 3.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

About Big Slick Celebrity Weekend

By Melissa Brunner

Leo Wehrli loves football.

“I just love the sport. I love the people around it,” the 16-year-old Rossville High School sophomore said. “Everyone has a job and you can do it right.”

The opponent for this Rossville Bulldawgs game plan these days is cancer.

“You gotta put your head down and just push through it,” Leo said. “That’s what I do during football when stuff gets hard, and I knew that’s what I was gonna have to do with cancer, because this is gonna be a long thing.”

It all started with a cough last November. His mom, Pam, says they went to the doctor and everyone thought it was a virus. But it didn’t get better.

“The cough just got worse and worse. It was deeper,” she said.

“It didn’t hurt, but once I got to school, I found out it was really loud,” Leo said. “Everyone would look over (at me).”

They went back to the doctor in January. Doctors did a chest x-ray and discovered a more than 12-centimeter tumor in his chest. That was on a Sunday. Stormont Vail transferred him to Children’s Mercy, where they did a biopsy that Monday, and the next day they got the news. Leo had a germ cell tumor, a fast-growing cancer.

See the full story via WIBW

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

Cancer in Adolescents and Young Adults

From its humble beginnings in 1897 with just one bed, the hospital has grown to 390 inpatient beds and 16 locations. It had 14,345 pediatric admissions in 2022—60% of them for patients less than 10 years old—who traveled to the hospital with their families from all 50 US states.

Children’s Mercy also pursues leading-edge research. In 2015, it established the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, founded and led by Tom Curran, PhD, FRS, Senior Vice President, Executive Director, Chief Scientific Officer, and Donald J. Hall Eminent Scholar in Pediatric Research. The Institute supports the launch of ambitious initiatives like Genomic Answers for Kids (GA4K), headed by Tomi Pastinen, MD, PhD, Dee Lyons/Missouri Endowed Chair in Pediatric Genomic Medicine.

The program’s goal is to sequence 30,000 children and their parents, and it just passed the milestone of providing more than 1,000 rare disease diagnoses to families; it largely addresses cases of rare genetic disease, but, as Farooqi points out, “Pediatric cancer is also a rare disease,” and the program is enrolling cancer patients as well.

Currently, the hospital is conducting 137 studies and trials—49 of which are in oncology—and developing databases that are crucial for research. In 2017, Erin Guest, MD, Director of the Children’s Mercy Cancer Genomics Program, and Alexander Kats, MD, Director of Nephropathology and Transplantation Pathology Services, set up a pediatric oncology biobank for storing both solid tumor and leukemic samples. This biobank is now part of the Research Institute’s CAP-accredited Biorepository, which is overseen by John David Nolen, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

To date, over 500 patients have enrolled and Farooqi and his team have performed whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing on 200 of them. Children’s Mercy, which is the pediatric consortium partner of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, was awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute to share this genomic data as part of the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative. Farooqi explains, “Collecting and sharing data nationally and beyond is really important for pediatric cancer because the numbers are low—it can take a few years for the university to register a dozen children with a single tumor type, whereas for adults, let’s say, the same number of cases could be accrued within a month. If we all work together, we can amass higher numbers of rare tumor types within pediatrics as well.”

Read the full article via Illumina

Children's Mercy Kansas City Research Institute

Research Areas

Big Slick is adding a new host. “Saturday Night Live” star and Kansas City, MO native Heidi Gardner is joining Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner and Eric Stonestreet to co-host the 14^th annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, scheduled for June 2-3, 2023, and benefiting Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

Big Slick started in 2010 as a celebrity poker tournament and party hosted by Riggle, Rudd and Sudeikis. Big Slick alumni Koechner and Stonestreet joined them as official co-hosts in 2014. Gardner, who first attended as a guest in 2019, is joining as a co-host in 2023. She was privately asked to take the official role by all five hosts while on-stage at the T-Mobile Center this past June (as confetti fell and the crowd celebrated more than $3.5M raised for Children’s Mercy Kansas City).

Gardner grew up in KCMO and graduated from Notre Dame de Sion, where she was voted “Most likely to be a cast member of Saturday Night Live.” She spent time at both the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri before leaving the midwest for LA. Gardner began acting full time in 2015. After finding success as a voice actress, she joined the cast of SNL in 2017. In addition to her five-year (and counting) stint on SNL, she’s been seen alongside Adam Sandler in Netflix’s “Hustle,” spotted in the HBO Max exclusive “That Damn Michael Che,” and appears on AppleTV’s newly released “Shrinking.

The 14^th annual Big Slick will take place in Kansas City on Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3, and feature two core events. Celebrity attendees will participate in the Big Slick Celebrity Classic softball game at Kauffman Stadium and the Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center.

• The Big Slick Celebrity Classic game will take place on the main field at Kauffman Stadium (1 Royal Way, Kansas City, MO) on Friday, June 2, prior to the Kansas City Royals playing the Colorado Rockies. Access to the Big Slick Celebrity Classic game is included for everyone who purchases a regular game ticket.
• The Big Slick Party & Show is the main event of the weekend and will be hosted at the T-Mobile Center (1407 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO) on Saturday, June 3. 

Additional details – including celebrity guests / performers – will be announced via Big Slick channels in the lead up to the event weekend.

Ticketing Details:

PRESALE - On Wednesday, March 8 at 10 a.m., Big Slick insiders / email subscribers (sign up at www.bigslickkc.org) will have the chance to purchase presale tickets for the June 3 Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center and shop a limited number of VIP (meet and greet) tickets. All subscribers will receive purchasing instructions via email.

• Presale tickets for the Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center go on sale at $75-$125 for standard lower level and $375 for upgraded seats with Founders Club access including open bar.
• Select VIP tickets will also be available for purchase, including $1,000 Hall of Fame Suite tickets and $1,500 for Dugout Suite tickets (for Big Slick Celebrity Softball at Kauffman Stadium) and $2,000 VIP Pre-Party access plus upgraded seating tickets (for Big Slick Party & Show at T-Mobile Center). Additionally, an intimate cocktail party with Big Slick celebrities will be hosted at a private residence on Thursday, June 1 with access at $5,000 per person.

GENERAL PUBLIC - On Friday, March 10 at 10 a.m., Big Slick Party & Show tickets (and any remaining VIP tickets) go on sale to the general public via www.bigslickkc.org. Big Slick Party & Show tickets can also be purchased directly at T-MobileCenter.com.

Fans can also attend the Big Slick Celebrity Softball game at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, June 2. Access to the celebrity game is included for everyone who purchases a Kansas City Royals regular game ticket.

More Ways to Support Big Slick: 

Worlds of Fun is hosting the Zambezi Zinger First Rider Expedition this spring when the highly anticipated ride opens in April, benefiting Big Slick and pediatric cancer research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. 32 winners on two trains will be randomly selected via drawing to be the first public riders on Zambezi Zinger. 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Big Slick. Fans can enter via Prizeo: https://www.prizeo.com/campaigns/l/big-slick/be-the-first-rider-on-zambezi-zinger 

For more information and ongoing updates about Big Slick, visit www.bigslickkc.org or follow Big Slick on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BigSlickKC), Twitter (@BigSlickKC), Instagram (@BigSlickKC) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/BigSlickKC).

Young adults who survive cancer are more likely than cancer-free siblings to be lonely and to develop emotional distress, risky behaviors, and new chronic conditions as a result, findings from a large retrospective study suggest.

Young cancer survivors were more than twice as likely to report loneliness at study baseline and follow-up. Loneliness at these times was associated with an almost 10-fold increased risk for anxiety and a nearly 18-fold increased risk for depression.

The article was published online earlier this month in the journal Cancer.

Most young cancer survivors in the United States reach adulthood and need to play catch-up: make up for missed school and work, become reacquainted with old friends, and develop new friendships, social networks, and intimate relationships. Meeting these needs may be hindered by adverse physical and psychosocial problems that linger or develop after treatment, which may leave cancer survivors feeling isolated.

"The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study provides the largest and the most comprehensive dataset on childhood cancer survivors and healthy-sibling comparisons, giving us powerful data on survivorship, late effects, and psychosocial and health outcomes," Rachel M. Moore, PhD, child psychologist at Children's Mercy Kansas City in Missouri, told Medscape Medical News by email.

Asking a simple question — "Are you feeling lonely?" — can identify at-risk survivors and enable healthcare teams to provide timely interventions that address young patients' physical and psychological needs, said Moore, who was not involved in the study.

Read the full article via Medscape

Children's Mercy Kansas City Cancer Center

Survive & Thrive Program

Sporting Kansas City announced six highly anticipated theme nights planned for the team’s home schedule during the 2023 Major League Soccer season at Children’s Mercy Park.

From the home opener on March 11 until Decision Day on Oct. 21, fans can look forward to an exciting slate of matches inside the state-of-the-art stadium and the team will support several important causes throughout the year with dedicated theme nights featuring a variety of fan-friendly matchday elements.

Additional details for each theme night will be released prior to the designated match.

Kick Childhood Cancer on September 23 | Sporting KC vs. Houston Dynamo

Sporting Kansas City and The Victory Project will co-host the popular Kick Childhood Cancer match on Sept. 23 in conjunction with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Sporting remains at the forefront of this League-wide initiative to honor kids who are battling cancer and to provide opportunities for fans to support the cause through a variety of special events and experiences, including matchday honorees and recipients of Sporting Wishes. The Victory Project strives to enhance and enrich the lives of children with cancer all year long and is aligned in partnership with Children’s Mercy to support research to accelerate diagnoses in treatments.

See the full list via Sporting Kansas City

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Genomic Medicine in Cancer Treatment

By Brendan Talian

Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to release its top oncology hospitals. The hospitals and health systems featured on this list have earned recognition nationally as top cancer care providers and many are on the cutting edge of novel therapies and researcher to improve outcomes and access to care.

The hospitals and health systems below are among the vanguard of cancer treatment and research in the country. Many of them have earned National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center designation and are ranked among the top hospitals for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report.

The list also features cancer centers with busy research institutes, multiple clinical trials and safety designations that exceed national benchmarks. Hospitals and health systems listed below are dedicated to expanding their oncology departments and regional cancer centers to improve patient care locally and nationally. We accepted nominations for this list. Click here to find the 2023 nomination forms.

Children’s Mercy Kansas City (Kansas City, Mo.). Children's Mercy Kansas City is nationally ranked for 2022-23 as one of the Best Children's Hospitals for Cancer and Cancer Research by U.S. News & World Report. The hospital has more than 25 pediatric hematology and oncology doctors on staff. It is also home to The Children’s Mercy Research Institute which integrates research and clinical care with multidisciplinary teams at the point of care while bringing together nationally recognized expertise in genomic medicine, precision therapeutics, population health and health care innovation.

See the full list via Becker's Hospital Review

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Cancer in adolescents and young adults

By Lisa Gutierrez

Next year’s Big Slick Celebrity Weekend fundraiser will take place on June 2 and 3, when its homegrown celebrity hosts will try to surpass the very high bar they set for themselves this year, organizers announced Wednesday. 

The Fab Five — Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner — and a stage full of their Hollywood pals raised a record $3.5 million for the Cancer Center at Children’s Mercy last June.

This was a comeback year for the event, which had been forced to go virtual in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Next year’s 14th annual fundraiser, on the weekend after Memorial Day, should look much like this year’s: 

▪ Friday, June 2: The Big Slick Celebrity Classic game at Kauffman Stadium before the Kansas City Royals play the Colorado Rockies. Access is included for anyone attending the Royals game.

▪ Saturday, June 3: The Big Slick Party & Show, the main event of the weekend, returns to the T-Mobile Center. 

More details, including ticket prices and celebrity guests, will be unveiled in the spring when tickets go on sale.

Read the full article via The Kansas City Star

Learn about Big Slick

Children's Mercy Kansas City Research Institute

U.S. News surveyed nearly 200 pediatric hospitals. Seven Children’s Mercy specialties rank among the top 25 nationally this year, with the Nephrology team seeing its highest ranking at #4. Nine of our specialties finished higher than one year ago.

Children’s Mercy specialties’ rankings:

·       Nephrology/Kidney (#4)

·       Neonatology/Neonatal Care (#14)

·       Urology (#17)

·       Neurology & Neurosurgery (#18)

·       Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#19)

·       Diabetes & Endocrinology (#22)

·       Pulmonology/Respiratory Disorders (#24)

·       Gastroenterology/Digestive Disorders (#28)

·       Orthopedics (#30)

·       Cancer (#34)

“Being ranked in all 10 specialties is not an easy task, especially when considering the relentless stress that COVID-19 put on our organization last year,” said Paul Kempinski, MS, FACHE, president and CEO of Children’s Mercy. “To be among the top institutions in the nation speaks volumes about our expertise, outcomes and reputation, but also about our resiliency and resolve to provide the highest-quality care to our patients and their families, during even the most tumultuous of times.”

In surveying the pediatric centers, U.S. News gathered clinical and operation data. This data was then combined with results from a reputational survey in which board-certified pediatric specialists were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty.

Those pediatric specialties consist of: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and digestive disorders; neonatology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics, pulmonology and respiratory disorders; and urology.   

The full rankings and methodology are available at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals.

By Lindsay Shively

Eighth-grader Kendra Littlejohn is grateful to be back in class at South Valley Middle School in Liberty.

She's returning to some normalcy after a journey she never expected to be on.

One of the first signs came when she decided to try cross country last year.

“I felt sick all the time and tired,” Kendra recalled.

The family had already noticed a bit of a change and talked with doctors.

"Over the summer, we had been to our primary care doctor and we had shared concerns about bleeding,” Katherine said.

But Katherine admits that as a mom and dad, it was tough for them to know what changes were normal or not for their growing teenage daughter.

Next came a trip to the hospital and a shocking discovery. Kendra had an invasive, ovarian tumor called Dysgerminoma that no one knew was there.

“Eighteen centimeters, so I would say, maybe a small cantaloupe,” said Dr. Joy Fulbright, a pediatric hematology oncologist who treated Kendra at Children’s Mercy Hospital. “It is not uncommon for it to take a long time to figure out what’s going on because pediatric cancers are rare. So it’s very often that symptoms have been occurring for months. So I always tell parents, don’t feel guilty.”

Kendra started chemotherapy treatment and then surgery.

See the full story via KSHB 41

Learn more about the Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Cancer in adolescents and young adults

by Katelyn Brown

Tickets for the 13th annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend go on sale this week.

The star-studded event is hosted by Kansas City natives Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner and Eric Stonestreet.

This year it is scheduled for June 24 and 25. All proceeds benefit pediatric cancer research at Children's Mercy.

Big Slick insiders will be able to purchase tickets starting on Wednesday, March 23 at 10 a.m. Information will arrive via email. The general public can purchase tickets starting Friday, March 25 at 10 a.m.

Tickets for the Saturday evening Party and Show start at $75.

To attend the celebrity softball game on Friday, fans must have a ticket to the Kansas City Royals game that night. The celebrity game will take place beforehand and is open to anyone with a Royals ticket.

See the full story via KSHB

Learn more about Big Slick Celebrity Weekend

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Children's Mercy Research Institute

For two years in a row, the pandemic forced Big Slick Celebrity Weekend to go online only. 

But this year they’re back, in person, for two days of events in June to raise money for the Cancer Center at Children’s Mercy, organizers announced Wednesday. 

The hometown hosts — Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner — will once again be joined in Kansas City by celebrity guests, to be announced this spring.

Tickets will go on sale in the spring, with more details announced then. Previous celebrity guests have included Selena Gomez, Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm and Al Roker, plus some other famous Kansas Citians like Heidi Gardner, David Dastmalchian and David Cook. 

This will be Big Slick’s 13th year. The event has donated over $13 million to Children’s Mercy.

Learn more about Big Slick Celebrity Weekend

Children's Mercy Cancer Center

Children's Mercy Research Institute

By Bill Althaus

Love, hope and faith are more than words that appear on three plaques that hang in the dining room of the McIntyre family home in Blue Springs.

They are the foundation – along with family, friends, prayers and medical professionals – that helped Jacksyn McIntyre and his family survive a cancer ordeal that is now cause for great celebration and thanksgiving.

McIntyre, a senior all-state soccer player at Blue Springs South High School and one of the top forwards in the metro area, was diagnosed with cancer when he was just 13 years old.

Today, he is cancer free.

"And Thanksgiving days are very special at my home," said McIntyre, whose family and friends played such a pivotal role in his recovery.

Read the full story via The Examiner

Learn more about the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy

Young people who undergo hematopoietic-stem-cell transplantation (HCT) may be able to conceive even after being treated with highly gonadotoxic agents, a large European retrospective study shows.

The team analyzed data from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) registry. The research team investigated natural or assisted conceptions and their outcomes in patients who were under 18 years of age before their first transplantation and who received HCT between 1995 and 2016.

"I was slightly surprised that pregnancies occurred after myeloablative conditioning without support of reproductive medicine, due to the intensity of the therapy," said Dr. Joy M. Fulbright of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Children's Mercy Kansas City, in Missouri, who was not involved in the study.

"This emphasizes the importance of discussing that there is a high risk of infertility, but that the risk is not 100%," Dr. Fulbright, also director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Program at Children's Mercy, told Reuters Health by email.

Read the full article via Medscape

Learn more about the Adolescent and Young Adult program in the Children's Mercy Cancer Center

By The University of Kansas Cancer Center

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is generally a highly treatable and curable form of cancer. The five-year survival rate for children with the most common form of ALL has increased over time and reached about 90 percent. However, some children do not respond as well to the standard course of therapy for ALL or their leukemia returns, making their cancer significantly more difficult to effectively treat.

A new treatment approach was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in August 2017 targeting this group of children who have what is called refractory or relapsed ALL – meaning their cancer either did not respond well to initial therapy or they experienced a relapse of their leukemia. The groundbreaking treatment uses chimeric antigen receptor technology (also called CAR-T) to re-engineer a patient’s own T cells to target CD19 proteins on the surface of cancer cells.

Children’s Mercy has a long and proud history in the development of CAR-T therapies for children and young adults, having supported the early development of the technology used in the innovative treatment. The hospital’s experience dates back to 2010 when it was one of only a few institutions with open clinical trials of CAR technology.

Those Children’s Mercy trials were led by Doug Myers, MD, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who serves as the hospital’s section chief of Bone Marrow Transplantation. Dr. Myers is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and serves as a clinical associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Myers was also one of the few physicians on the steering committee of the trial that led to the approval of KYMRIAH.

The experience of Dr. Myers and Children’s Mercy in the early development of CAR technology made the hospital among the ideal sites for a multi-site trial of what became a dramatic and revolutionary treatment for cancer. Children’s Mercy entered into an agreement with Novartis to participate in the company’s KYMRIAH trial, and the commercial Novartis treatment available at the hospital was the first FDA-approved CAR treatment for cancer anywhere.

Though he is hesitant to call it a “cure” per se, Dr. Myers says the CAR-T therapy “has provided prolonged remission in clinical trials for a large number of patients who had no other option. There are few other options that would provide this potential for long-term remission.”

Read the full article via Cancer History Project

By Aryana Azari

All it took for one boy in the hospital to make some new friends was a pack of Post-it notes.

Meyer Mixdorf, 5, from Arkansas, was at Children's Mercy Kansas City hospital for brain cancer-related treatment when his mother decided he needed some cheering up. Confined to his room for a few days after a stem cell transplant in May, Meyer's mother, Liz Mixdorf, decided to entertain him by making Post-it art of a smiley face on the window.

The next morning, they found that a building across the street had responded with a smiley face of their own.

"We called them our mystery friends," Liz Mixdorf said. "It was so fun."

Although the Mixdorfs didn't know it, across from them was Truman Medical Centers/University Health.

"I was just kind of looking out the window and there was a little Post-it note smiley face up there," Johnna Schindlbeck, a Truman Medical Centers employee, told "GMA." "I thought it was cute and grabbed some notes and put up a little winky face."

The back and forth communication through Post-its continued and evolved into more elaborate designs, including Mario characters, Angry Birds, Ninja Turtles and Minions.

"I thought, 'Oh wow, this escalated fast,'" Schindlbeck laughed, and added that other hospital staff joined in to help create the art.

Initially, neither side knew who was on the other end until Mixdorf decided to put up a note that read, "Thank you <3 mom."

"If this little art makes him happy, gives him something to look forward to, and it makes his mother and his family know that other people care ... it was so rewarding for me to see," Schindlbeck said. "I was just at the right place at the right time to be part of something that was so simply beautiful."

With Meyer's latest MRI showing no sign of disease, according to Mixdorf, the family will soon be heading back home and taking Meyer to the zoo as a treat.

Read and see the full story via Good Morning America

Learn more about the Children's Mercy Cancer Center

A Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City, Missouri, looks and feels more like a home thanks to a free renovation from the star of HGTV’s Bargain Mansions, Tamara Day.

Day and 13-year-old Jhayliegh, whose parents are staying at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City’s Longfellow house while she undergoes leukemia treatment at Children’s Mercy Hospital, revealed the remodeled living room by breaking down a wall of boxes separating the space from the main lobby.

“It’s really cool,” Jhayliegh said after seeing the room.

See the full story via KSHB 41

Learn more about the Cancer Center at Children's Mercy

U.S. News surveyed nearly 200 pediatric hospitals this year. Five Children’s Mercy specialties rank among the top 30 nationally this year, with the Nephrology team leading the way at #10, the 11^th straight year to be in the top 10. The Children’s Mercy Cancer team, at #28, also improved its ranking for the fourth straight year, the longest streak since Children’s Mercy started participating in the survey in 2008.

Children’s Mercy specialties’ rankings, with one in the nation’s top 10:

• Nephrology (#10)
• Urology (#19)
• Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#24)
• Neurology & Neurosurgery (#25)
• Cancer (#28)
• Orthopedics (#31)
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (#32)
• Pulmonology & Lung Surgery (#37)
• Diabetes & Endocrinology (#38)

“These results speak volumes about our expertise, outcomes and reputation,” said Paul Kempinski, MS, FACHE, president and CEO of Children’s Mercy. “They are also a direct reflection on every Children’s Mercy employee and their commitment to our patients and their families, especially during a year that forever will be remembered for a devastating worldwide pandemic.”

In surveying the pediatric centers, U.S. News gathered clinical and operation data. This data was then combined with results from a reputational survey in which board-certified pediatric specialists were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty.

Those pediatric specialties consist of: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; neonatology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics, pulmonology; and urology.

The full rankings and methodology are available at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals.

Not all wishes come true. Sometimes we have to change them a little bit.

Make A Wish couldn't grant Sophia Linenberger, a junior at Thomas More Prep-Marian, her original wish but managed to come through to fulfill another dream.

Sophia, 17, received a 2021 Coleman Lantern camper through the Make A Wish program from Camper World in Kansas City, Kan.

Sophia was diagnosed in January 2019 with a rare cancer, Ewing's sarcoma. She spent much of 2019 going back and forth to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for treatment, including two surgeries to her spine.

Sophia was told she was in remission for her cancer, but the cancer appeared again in August 2020.

Sophia's initial wish was to travel with her family to Disney World, spend a night in Cinderella Castle, visit Universal Studios, visit the beach and swim with dolphins at Dolphins Cove in Orlando.

However, Make A Wish has suspended travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After some research, Sophia decided to change her wish to a camper, so she and her family could go on trips together.

Read the full story via Hays Post

Learn how you can Help Our Kids 

Since late June, life has changed for Rylee Schroeder and her parents, Megan and Levi Schroeder.

It was then the Neosho High School senior sought help for extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, nosebleeds and more. The symptoms, combined with a previously diagnosed issue with low platelets, led Rylee’s pediatrician to run a series of lab tests.

The news sent the family first to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, and then Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

Doctors discovered Rylee’s low hemoglobin, platelets and white blood counts were caused by myelodysplastic syndrome. Additional testing revealed the teen has an extremely rare congenital disorder called Shwachman-Diamond syndrome and a TP53 gene mutation that led to the MDS.

Megan said her daughter is only the 36th patient known to have this combination of illnesses, which have progressed to bone marrow failure.

In September, Rylee received a stem cell bone marrow transplant at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, thanks to a donation from her 12-year-old brother Colin.

If everything goes well with the transplant, doctors hoped to see Colin’s stem cells begin to take hold in Rylee’s body between Day 14 to Day 21, post transplant.

Read the full story via The Joplin Globe

Learn more about The Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Children's Mercy

After doctors diagnosed Kalecia Simmons' 7-year-old daughter Riley with cancer July 26, Simmons' family put all their plans on hold.

It started earlier that month when Riley began experiencing abdomen pain.

A scan revealed a cancerous mass in Riley’s stomach — a wilms' tumor, they would later learn. Wilms' tumors are a form a childhood cancer impacting the kidneys.

Riley began treatment at Children’s Mercy Kansas City shortly after her diagnosis.

Plans for trips and activities such as gymnastics and other sports went by the wayside as she and her family stopped, caught their breath, and tried to adjust to what was happening to Riley — to understand.

Because of COVID-19 and because Riley is now immunocompromised, the family must be extra careful who they expose themselves and Riley to; they would hate to bring something home to her.

Children’s Mercy doctors and other medical professionals have helped Riley cope by getting down on her level and explaining things in language she can understand, Simmons said.

Riley fears her upcoming surgery to remove the tumor, but her family is doing what they can to keep her positive and help her be resilient and healthy.

Read the full story via The Junction City Union

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