Joanna Rae McAfee lived in Tampa, FL and Warner Robins, GA with her parents Jeff & Misty McAfee and older brother, Paul. She was 3 1/2 years old when she was diagnosed with Stage IV Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of pediatric cance...r. She spent half of her life undergoing one excruciating cancer treatment after another without complaint, while deeply touching many lives with her sweet spirit, amazing determination and childlike faith. On December 22, 2005, our sweet Joanna took her last breath and left this Earth and her suffering behind. What a beautiful, wonderful child our world was blessed with for six years! Those of us closest to Joanna never want to forget the battle she fought. Her fighting spirit inspired us to create a foundation in her honor. Our purpose is to memorialize Joanna while helping other children stricken with cancer. We will strive to serve our purpose with a similar spirit, determination, and godliness as Joanna. Awareness Objective - Though pediatric cancer is rare, most people are unaware of the number of cancers that affect our children. Although strides have been made, survival rates remain very low for many of these cancers. Due to size, location and advanced stage of Joanna’s cancer, at diagnosis her chance of survival was only about 20%. Following relapse, her likelihood of survival was almost nonexistent. One of the main priorities of the foundation is to make others aware of how hard these children fight, even when faced with insurmountable odds, and how much work remains to be done to advance the search for a cure. Support Objective - We want to provide some relief to an ailing child from the difficulties and challenges of being sick. We also want to help the families who love, nurture and hurt for their children in some tangible way. The hard reality is that current treatment protocols and clinical trials will not cure many children of their cancer, and these families need our help today. Providing a donation, arranging a trip to an amusement park and providing a meal are just a few examples of kind gestures that make a big difference to the these families. Research Objective - Research represents the greatest promise for curing childhood cancer. Children deserve more than just treatment options. They deserve a cure and a hope for tomorrow. All types of childhood cancers respond differently to treatment, so options are needed that target specific types or groups of cancers like Sarcomas. Disturbing is the fact that the overall survival rate for pediatric sarcomas has not increased in the past 20 years. [Source: The Pediatric Cancer Foundation] Joanna died from Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma so we feel strongly that our first grants should fund either sarcoma research or Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma research, but we will reevaluate grant priorities each year.
