When Emory pediatric oncologist Katharine Brock and nurse practitioner Anna Lange attended the funeral of a nine-year-old patient who had died of cancer, they recognized a familiar face in the crowd: Dean Crowe.
Crowe is a mother, activist, advocate and founder of the Atlanta-based Rally Foundation, which funds pediatric cancer research at Emory and beyond. She took her first step into the world of childhood cancer when William, a teenager who pitched on her son's baseball team, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
As William's condition deteriorated, Crowe found herself by his side, in a hospital room with his parents. As Crowe and her husband contemplated the contrast between William's struggle and their son's good health, she decided she had to act. Crowe asked William's mother what she could do to help.
Her response? "Raise money for childhood cancer research and fund the best research, wherever it may be."
The Rally Foundation was born at that moment.
Serving as seed investors in the next great discovery
Since its founding in 2005, the Rally Foundation has funded $35 million for pediatric cancer research. That figure includes nearly $2.5 million in pediatric cancer research at Emory.
Rally's grant approval process is rigorous, involving a medical advisory board and a dual peer review system. The rigor has paid off. Half of Rally's funded research has received additional federal funding, generating more than half a billion dollars in additional support. In addition to that, 25% of Rally-funded research has led to clinical trials.
"We see ourselves as philanthropic seed investors in the next great discovery," Crowe says. "We go in early, and what we love to see then is other organizations funding the same research, which then attracts big government grants."
Collaborating to discover effective treatments
Rally's continued support of Emory is a clear measure of the quality, promise and efficacy of its pediatric cancer research.
Research conducted by Brock and Hunter Jonus, an instructor of pediatrics at Emory's School of Medicine, is a prime example of why the Rally Foundation is involved with Emory. Both Brock and Jonus are affiliated with Emory's Winship Cancer Institute, Georgia's NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Funded by Rally during her postdoctoral fellowship, Jonus worked on a groundbreaking project involving gamma delta T cells to treat neuroblastoma. The idea was to remove these cells from a healthy individual, multiply them in the lab and then infuse them into neuroblastoma patients to fight their disease.
When Jonus joined the project, the research had already yielded promising data, but there wasn't enough evidence to move forward with treatments. The lab needed a postdoc to dive deeper into the research and gather the data necessary for FDA approval.
That postdoc was Jonus, and for the next four years — fully funded by the Rally Foundation — she studied these cells to learn exactly how they killed this form of cancer, determine potential toxicities that might arise and gather evidence to ensure the treatment would be effective and safe.
Her work paid off, and when combined with data from other scientists, moved the research from basic science to FDA approval for use in clinical trials. The first trial opened at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with one patient having completed that initial cycle. Following CHOA's move to its new location in fall of 2024, two more patients were expected to enroll in the same trial.
"I was fortunate to witness the entire process, from the lab bench to the first patient infusion," Jonus says. "This funding was crucial. Unlike many scientists who spend their entire careers trying to achieve this [basic research progressing to FDA approval], I was able to see the impact of my work on patients' lives early on."
While Jonus and others race for a cancer cure, Brock has devoted part of her career to serving patients often facing the end of their lives.
"The Rally Foundation has been instrumental in launching and sustaining our work," says Brock, who is a member of Winship's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program.
With Rally funding, for example, Brock and her team explored the use of telehealth during the first month of hospice enrollment for pediatric patients. This project, called the Hospice Transition Telehealth Pilot, involved coordinated telehealth visits between families, hospice nurses and the hospital team. The goal was to determine whether telehealth could effectively support families, reduce travel time and lower stress during this challenging period. The answer is that it can do all three.
Rally's latest round of funding includes $350,000 to support five projects at Emory.
Rallying the public
Beyond the science and investments, the Rally Foundation has also been an effective advocate for increasing government support of pediatric cancer research. Rally representatives frequently engage state and federal officials and have been instrumental in securing $223 million in federal funds for childhood cancer research.
Crowe recalls the story of one clinical trial participant who also happened to be a dynamic advocate. When visiting the White House, the patient left these parting words to anyone within earshot: "Quit taking so long to get us clinical trials, because we don't have the time."
About the Rally Foundation
Each day in the United States, more than 40 children, adolescents and their families learn of their cancer diagnosis., according to research published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. While 85% of young patients overcome their cancer thanks to effective treatments, many others do not. Even patients who do survive often face life-long health challenges.
The Rally Foundation's mission is clear: to fund the best pediatric cancer research, regardless of location, and to support families' needs. That support includes providing more than 125,000 meals to families in U.S. hospitals and exploring new opportunities — such as telehealth visits and ways to reduce financial toxicity — to ease these burdens.
