"We've got this."

In 2021, you met Kenedi Schoeneck and her family from Wisconsin. Kenedi was only six years old when she was diagnosed with a rare childhood malignancy in her kidney known as Wilms’ tumor. Worse still, the tumor had burst, increasing the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of Kenedi’s body.

"As a parent, when you see that CT scan up on the screen, you’re completely breaking down," remembers her dad, Dylan. "Our doctor was staying super calm. I asked her, 'Are you staying calm to keep us calm, or are you staying calm because you’ve got this?' She just looked me right in the eye and said, 'We’ve got this.'"

Decades ago, oncologists like Kenedi’s doctor, Wendy Allen-Rhoades, MD, PhD at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, wouldn’t have been able to speak with such confidence. Four out of every five children with Kenedi’s form of cancer did not survive. Patients like Kenedi are benefitting from years of studies, clinical trials, and research into the Wilms’ tumor, and from researchers like Dr. Allen-Rhoades. A Young Investigator Award (YIA) grant from Conquer Cancer launched Dr. Allen-Rhoades' research, which guided her as she saw Kenedi through 15 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, and seven rounds of radiation – all during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, Kenedi is healthy, and she and her family bravely tell their survival story with gratitude for Conquer Cancer donors who make lifesaving treatments possible.

Kenedi and her parents

We invited Kenedi to turn her story into a song.

Meet more Conquer Cancer-funded researchers like Dr. Allen-Rhoades.

"Cancer research requires time, patience, and persistence."

When a patient is diagnosed with prostate cancer, a doctor might predict the success of the treatment based on clinical trials. While the information clinical trials provide is extremely valuable, "it is not precision medicine," says Harshraj Leuva, MD. In 2021, Dr. Leuva, a hematology oncology fellow at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, was granted a Young Investigator Award to optimize drug development for veterans with prostate cancer. Dr. Leuva's work aims to provide more individualized, real-time decision-making for patients and could potentially change how doctors manage prostate cancer on an individual basis.

Dr. Leuva is one of more than 300 researchers supported by Conquer Cancer donors in 2021. Conquer Cancer researchers represent more than 78 countries and study every type of cancer.

When a research grant is awarded, hope is born – for the scientists whose ideas could change the course of cancer care and especially for the patients waiting for a cure. Breakthroughs do not happen overnight, but every day scientists are at work, we move closer to our vision of a world where every cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy.

"Cancer research requires time, patience, and persistence,” said Dr. Leuva. “Donors provide us protected time and the ability to focus on important research questions that lead to unbiased discovery and breakthroughs in our understanding of treatment of cancer."

Dr. Harshraj Leuva

Meet more researchers whose work is funded by Conquer Cancer donors.

Meet Dr. Nathalie McKenzie and some of the patients she's helping.

"It was an amazing privilege to work with patients and learn their stories."

During Summer 2021, 29 students participated in the inaugural sessions of the ASCO Oncology Summer Internship (OSI). OSI is an immersive summer pilot program for rising second-year medical students from populations underrepresented in medicine (URiM).

With support from Conquer Cancer donors, the four-week program launched at select medical schools across the United States to help seed a more diverse oncology workforce. "It was an amazing privilege to work with patients and learn their stories," said one student. "I was moved by these interactions and my convictions for pursuing oncology were solidified."

Gifts to Conquer Cancer not only fund lifesaving research, they also support vital programs to help make cancer care more accessible for people everywhere.

Medical students from the ASCO Oncology Summer Internship.
 Credit: Erich Camping/University of Rochester

Researchers learn they are being funded by Conquer Cancer.

Read how Conquer Cancer donors make cancer care more equitable.