Posts by Tara Simkins
Reach For The Stars
Press On is proud to continue its support of the Children’s Hospital of Georgia’s Pediatric Immunotherapy Program (PIP) founded by Dr’s. Ted Johnson and David Munn. PIP provides highly specialized experimental immunotherapy treatments for some of the hardest to treat childhood cancers, actively reshaping survival odds and treatment opportunities for children from around the country…
Read MoreBeyond traditional thinking
Although the pediatric cancer landscape has changed dramatically for certain cancers in the past decade, children with certain diagnoses still face dismal survival rates and treatment options. You’re changing the script at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, where the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program (PIP) founded by Drs. Ted Johnson and David Munn provides highly-specialized experimental immunotherapy…
Read MoreThe legacy YOU’VE created for children with brain tumors
Thanks to your generosity, we’re enabling hundreds of thousands of dollars in research all over the world to create less toxic and more effective therapies to treat childhood cancer. In 2019, PRESS ON made a 4-year, $1 million pledge to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia (CHOG). The first $500,000 of that pledge, granted out and…
Read MoreThe possibilities YOU’VE created for children with Acute Leukemias
In 2017, Press On Fund combined forces with Target Pediatric AML (TpAML), a grass roots collaborative funding initiative led by fellow AML parent, Julie Guillot, and others to identify, fund, and accelerate the #1 priority research project for AML patients ages 0-35. TpAML was endorsed by the Children’s Oncology Group as the “highest potential, greatest…
Read MoreThe Possibilities YOU’VE Created For Children With Brain Tumors
In 2019, Press On made a 4-year, $1 million pledge to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia (CHOG). The first $500,000 of that pledge, granted out and completed over 2019 and 2020, was earmarked for the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program (PIP) at Augusta University and CHOG led by Drs. Theodore Johnson and David Munn, pediatric oncologists at…
Read MoreThe possibilities YOU’VE created for children with neuroblastoma
In the fall of 2020, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center announced that their monoclonal antibody treatment for relapsed neuroblastoma “Hu3F8” received FDA approval. Press On is proud to have been a part of the development of Hu3F8—in fact, our history with the drug predates Press On itself. In 2007, after a front-line therapy including a…
Read MorePress On Announces $100,000 Grant to LLS
Press On is pleased to announce a $100,000 grant to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to support LLS’s FIRST pediatric cancer research initiative! Our donation supports the LLS PedAL clinical trial, a global precision medicine master clinical trial run by a team of renowned pediatric oncologists with the goal of matching children with relapsed acute leukemia to…
Read MoreA Great Day at the Georgia Cancer Center
Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day at the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, touring the research labs and clinical trials units, and listening to updates from Drs. Ted Johnson and David Munn regarding the Phase I relapsed brain tumor immunotherapy trial using the drug indoximod, the arms of this trial, and…
Read MorePress On gives $2.5M to fund pediatric cancer research, treatment at GRU
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Press On, a donor-advised fund of The Community Foundation for the CSRA that is pushing for a cure for childhood cancer, is giving $2.5 million to fund translational pediatric cancer research and cutting-edge treatment alternatives at the Georgia Cancer Center. The announcement took place during a news conference Thursday at the GRU Alumni…
Read MoreThe Possibilities
They say I’ll never swim in the ocean. They say I’ll never sing on the moon.
-Possibilities, Turner Simkins and Joe Stevenson
Last Fall, I was eating lunch with Turner and our friend, Joe Stevenson, the Executive Director of 12 Bands. Joe was sharing how much he was enjoying a creative songwriting phase in his life, and I mentioned how much I would love to write a song about childhood cancer which focused on the possibilities instead of the inevitabilities. I am and continue to be inspired by what the human spirit can accomplish when told, “you can’t.” Don’t get me wrong. I am a realist, but I am also a dreamer. If there is even the slightest possibility that something may be accomplished, some barrier may be pushed, some new ground broken, then I believe there is value in the effort of reaching for that possibility. If it turns out that the dream cannot be realized in the end, I tend to see how the dream actually was realized in every step taken toward its ultimate goal. The magic happens in the believing in the dream and the inspired action taken toward achieving the dream, not in reaching the ultimate goal.
Read MoreLimitless
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.” – Richard Bach
Three weeks ago. November 2, 20011. Augusta, GA.
“Hey, Turner-san. Colleen (Dr. McDonough) and I just talked. It’s time to move this boy to Memphis.”
Silence.
Read MoreSpecial Request: Day of Prayer for Patrick
We INVITE YOU to join us, where ever you are, for a Press On Day of PRAYER on September 12th, at noon and 6 p.m. e.d.t. We ask you to join your collective hearts and minds to pray for Patrick Chance as he receives the life giving sacrament of his own stem cells that day. It is a critical time in Patrick’s treatment. … read more
Read MoreSave the Date
Join us on September 30, 2011 for CURE’s Press On Day honoring Patrick and Brennan.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Each year, more than 10,000 new cases of childhood cancer are diagnosed – approximately 46 children and adolescents EVERY DAY. Childhood cancer remains the number one disease killer of American children despite recent gains made for certain pediatric cancers such as acute lymphocytic leukemia. In fact, over 25% of children diagnosed with cancer will be dead within 5 years.
Read MoreA Shining Example
It is with a heavy, rejoicing and peaceful heart that I share Jeni Clark’s post this morning updating all of us on our wonderfully sassy Cassidy.
Read MoreI Can Do This
“‘I can do this.’ This is a thought that can change an entire life. Don’t underestimate the power of those four little words.” Meadow Devor
“Why CAN’T I go home for The Masters, Mommie?” Brennan inquired. “I mean, if I can’t go home, why did I get out of the hospital?”
Read MoreBrennan’s Story
What Tara and Turner planned as a perfect family, snowy trip to the North Carolina mountains in January 2009 turned out to be anything but when the Simkins rushed their fever stricken son, Brennan, back to Augusta, Georgia. Brennan was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (“AML”) on the eve of his 7th birthday. “Our world…
Read MorePress On – A Process
Press On is a process through which families can share what they have learned with other families. Your world comes to a screeching halt when you are told your child has cancer. You are in shock. All the while, however, the world continues to spin around you at warp speed. You catch bits and pieces…
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