When PR Executive Gretchen Witt heard the words “your son has cancer,” she had no idea it was the #1 disease killer of children in the US much less that there was a desperate need for funding for new treatments. Once she learned the facts, she never looked back – not just for her son but for all children.
We recently held a poignant and inspiring class, during which Gretchen shared her decade’s long journey from founding Cookies for Kids’ Cancer – one of our charity partners – to raising $15 million in funding for research and ultimately therapies for childhood cancer.
Thanks to a career built on crisis management and problem solving and filled with the love all mothers feel, Gretchen came up with an idea to help fund one promising new treatment. That idea went on to inspire a non-profit and ultimately a movement (led mostly by mom-power).
In case you missed it, you can follow Gretchen’s journey from mom to movement by listening to the class re-play here.
Gretchen Witt is the Founder of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national 501(c)3 non-profit committed to raising funds for research to develop new, improved treatments for pediatric cancer, the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S. Gretchen lost her son Liam to pediatric cancer in 2011 at the age of six. During his vicious fight with this disease, Gretchen and her husband were shocked to learn of the lack of effective treatments for pediatric cancers due to lack of funding. Since then Gretchen has been dedicated to raising funding for research of safer, more effective treatments for children battling cancer. Gretchen truly believes that together, we can change the world. No family should have to hear the words, “We’ve run out of options, and we’ve run out of hope. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has inspired more than 8,500 fundraising events in all 50 states and 16 countries and has granted $15 million, funding 100 research projects, including 37 that are now treatments available for children battling cancer today.
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