CureFest 2021 Recap

For the first time since 2016, the year Avery passed away, our family attended CureFest for Childhood Cancer in Washington D.C.

Five years ago, Brandon and Alex went to D.C. to be a part of CureFest, just four months after we initially established our foundation.

This past weekend, Brandon, Alex and Cade all attended.

The Avery Huffman DIPG Foundation joined several other families and foundations in co-sponsoring the TOUGH2GETHER Against DIPG/DMG Breakfast.

Shortly after Avery passed away, we donated her tumor and her brain to Dr. Michelle Monje’s lab at Stanford, and since then, she’s been able to use Avery’s tumor for her research along with sharing samples of it with nearly 30 hospitals, labs and universities around the world, including at Fred Hutch and Seattle’s Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Monje spoke at both the breakfast and at the CureFest Night of Golden Lights at Freedom Plaza as well as the TOUGH2GETHER Preclinical Research Sunrise Panel.

It was the first time Alex and Cade were able to hear her speak as well as meet her- we got to chat with Dr. Monje following the breakfast and we were again comforted to know that Avery’s tumor and cells continues to be instrumental in her research, where she is one of the groundbreaking leaders worldwide in DIPG research and treatment.

And that comes back to why we established the Avery Huffman DIPG Foundation in the first place- that Avery’s fight would not have been in vain, but that it could be used to move mountains and find a cure for the monster that took her life at seven years old.

That her big brother and sister got to hear more about the research, meet one of the key mover and shakers in DIPG research, one who is personally using Avery’s tumor to find the right combination to find a cure, was even more important to our family.

At some point, Alex and Cade and Addison will take the foundation to another level and for them to hear even more succinctly the importance of research in finding a cure, after they experienced their own loss of their sister, is instrumental.

We are so grateful for Dr. Monje, for other families and foundations dedicated to finding a cure in their child’s honor, many that we got to spend time with this past weekend in Washington D.C.

And we are so grateful for all of those who support the Avery Huffman DIPG Foundation, so we can continue to fight back in Avery’s honor.

#AveryStrong.