The 5th Annual Mad Dash Fundraiser, held on November 14, 2009 at La Serna High School in Whittier, was a success!  Everyone enjoyed a beautiful sunshiny day, a great pancake breakfast co-hosted by the La Mirada Kiwanis Club and the Greater Whittier Kiwanis Club, lots of volunteers helping out, lots of participants walking, running, cheering, and in general – having a great time!  The list of “Thank yous” is very lo-o-ong!

As a part of the Serve Week-end Project at Whittier Community Church, the Junior Hi students sponsored a car wash benefiting From Maddi’s Closet with the Maddi’s Closet Books for Patients project. Fun was had by all as students, group sponsors, and families jumped in to help! Thank you!

CHLA works hard to make sure the newly diagnosed children and their families are informed and prepared for the process they will be going through by providing them with a copy of the Childhood Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors: A Guide for Families,Friends and Caregivers written by Authors: Tania Shiminski-Mayer; Patsy McGuire Cullen, Maria Sansalone

The paperback book costs around $30.00 each. From personal experience, we can tell you that the book helped us through our experience, answering many questions along the way.

If you would like to help with this project, please mail a donation to us. Or, you can pick up a copy and mail that to us. We have been able to take 30 copies to CHLA. We need to provide at least 30 more. Let us know if you have any questions.

Raising public awareness
May 5, 2008
LOS ANGELES, TRIANGLE RIDE FOR KIDS® EVENTS COMBINE TO RAISE $401,000
http://www.rideforkids.org/
10-year-old Mark Holmes rode in the Los Angeles event in memory of his sister, Maddie.
Motorcyclists in southern California and eastern North Carolina teamed up over the weekend to raise more than $401,000 for childhood brain tumor research. Both Ride for Kids® events set individual fundraising records for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.
Los Angeles revs up for the kids
The 17th annual Los Angeles Ride for Kids® raised $263,192, topping its previous record by more than $16,000.
The 900 participants met at American Honda Motor Co. headquarters on a bright, sunny morning before the riders and their patient family passengers departed on a coastline-hugging tour of Rancho Palos Verdes.
Fifteen Ride for Kids “stars” were honored during the Celebration of Life program. Younger patients like Regina and Alex, 8, joined older survivors like Amanda, 21, on stage to give fundraisers a glimpse into what it’s like to fight a brain tumor.
“I have the best job today,” said Kathy Riley, mother of 20-year-old Peter. “I get to thank all of you riders who have been there for us.”
Dr. Anat Erdreich-Epstein and Dr. Jonathan Finlay of the PBTF Institute at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles spoke about the importance of brain tumor research.
Bill Boyer of Lomita was the event’s top individual fundraiser with $38,826. Members of the Honda Employees’ Rider’s Club turned in $54,895 to earn the top chapter/club spot, and the top motorcycle business was L.A. Honda with $21,867 in customer donations.
The grand prize, a new Honda motorcycle, went to Kelly Byrne of North Hollywood.
Huge thanks went to L.A.’s hardworking task force, led by visitation leader Louis Vanderveen, Jeniffer McMullen, Steven Squire and Brian Tinkler. Together with their event volunteers, they made this a ride to remember.

The Videos for Heroes Project, headed by Maddi’s 12 year-old cousin, Nick Picarella, was a wonderful success! He delivered over $1,600.00 worth of new or gently used video systems and games to Childrens Hospital 4th Floor, establishing a game library for the little patients in 2007. Our hats off to Nick!

ANYONE wanting to add to the video game system and game library at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles can donate new or gently used systems and under age 12 appropriate games by mailing to:

From Maddi’s Closet
% Nick Picarella Games for Heroes Project
15519 Surrey Lane
La Mirada, California 90638

Donations by check that you wish to be used specifically for this program should be noted on the check. If you have any questions, please call us (562) 943-3684

From Maddi’s Closet
Medical Advisory Board
Director, Dr. Jonathan Finlay, Neuro-Oncology
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Moise Danielpour, M.D., Pediatric Neurosurgery

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Jonathan Finlay, M.D., Neuro-Oncology
Barbara Britt, RN, MSN, Pediatric Oncology nursing
Karla Garcia, LCSW, Neuro-Oncology social worker
Sharon O’Neil, Ph.D., Pediatric Neuro-psychology

Childrens Hospital of Orange County
Lennie Sender, M.D.,Pediatric Oncology

City of Hope National Medical Center
Michael Jensen, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara
Daniel Greenfield, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

Kaiser Permanente-Sunset
Robert Cooper, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

Loma Linda University Medical Center
Albert Kheradpour, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

Miller Children’s Hospital/Long Beach Memorial Hospital
Jerry Finklestein, M.D., Pediatric Oncology
Joel Cherlow, M.D., Radiation Oncology

UCLA/ Mattel Childrens Hospital
Joseph Lasky, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

UC-San Diego
Rich Kadota, M.D., Pediatric Oncology

From Maddi’s Closet depends on volunteers and donations to make each of the following events a success. The patients, parents, and staff definitely look forward to the visits. Our commitment is to provide for 100 patients with each activity. This keeps us pretty busy!

January – Break after holidays

Ongoing Special Needs & Donations

February – Valentines celebration with chocolates and and cards

March – Maddi’s Special Coloring Pages (crayons and colored penscils)

April – Cutest Lil Bear Puppet Show

May – Books, books, lots of books

June – 18th Annual Celebrate Life Event – Maddi’s Closet Booth
Maddi’s Western Hoedown

July – Chocolate for Moms

August – RN and Staff Appreciation
(Card making) – Cookies and coloring supplies

September – School Daze Craze

October – Theme Event – Take me out to the ballgame”! – Peanuts, Cracker Jacks, Baseball Cards, Baseball Hats, Pictures of Dodger and Angels Baseball players

November – 5th Annual Mad Dash Community Friend Walk
December – Holiday Break. Respond to special needs and donations

Through our Rainbow of Hope Program, Maddi’s Closet supports efforts to improve the quality of life for children suffering with cancer.

In 1991, Dr. Jonathan Finlay, Clinical Director, Neural Tumors Program, Children’s Center for Cancer & Blood Diseases, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, developed one of the highest profile treatment protocols for yourng children:

Saving Lives, Saving Neurons: The Head Start Treatment Program for Young Children with Malignant Brain Tumors

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Institutions around the world participate in this program, including 40 institutions from throughout the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Argentina. Many other centers have adopted or adapted treatments based on the Head Start regimen. Their shared goal is to improve survival rates, minimize the damaging effects of treatment on the intellectual development, and sustain the quality of life of these little patients.

To this date, they have participated without any financial support. However the cost of participating in such studies is increasing year by year, due to dramatic increase in federal and institutional regulatory requirements; as well as increased costs of data management and clinical research support.

Each year thirty-five patients are enrolled in the program. In three years there would be 125 patients being followed for many years to assess both cure rate and late effects of treatment and quality of life. The cost for each patient covers the entire period of time that the patient is treated and followed, to hopefully cure and beyond! The cost for all thirty-five patients to participate each year is $70,000.