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Emily Beazley wanted to help cure cancer for others, even as she battled it herself. Her wish was to start a foundation that would fund research for pediatric cancer.
The 12-year-old from Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community also wanted to be a pediatric oncology nurse when she grew up.
She died in May after a four-year battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Two years before that, she came up with the idea for a foundation named Kures for Kids. She drew a logo, which is now used by the foundation.
On Sunday, hundreds of people helped make her wish come true.
“She never wanted anyone to go through what she was going through,” said Emily’s mom, Nadia. “At the end, she said she wanted it all for research.”
More than 2,800 people RSVP’d on Facebook for the 2015 Emily Beazley’s Kures for Kids Fair, and more than that were expected to show up Sunday, said Brenda Bokowski, a volunteer who helped organize the event.
The festival featured local restaurants selling food, more than 50 vendors, a petting zoo, bouncy houses and raffles to raise money, Bokowski said.
Proceeds are going to Cure It Foundation’s Emily Beazley’s Demand for a Cure chapter and will directly fund cancer research selected in consultation with Dr. Jason Canner, a pediatric oncologist at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn and one of several physicians who treated Emily.
The festival, hosted at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, is more than just a fundraiser, said Emily’s father, Ed. It’s a chance to give the same attention that Emily received to other pediatric cancer patients as a way to help them cope.
“(Emily) was humble about everything, who she met and what she did,” Ed said. “But she loved seeing the support she got.
“My last act as her father is not going to be carrying her out of the house,” he said. “It’s going to be fighting for her dream and for the other kids.”
After an initial diagnosis in 2011, Emily endured 21/2 years of chemotherapy that ended in July 2013. The cancer came back and Emily again started treatment in March 2014, including a stem cell transplant from her sister Olivia in August 2014. A scan in January revealed new spots in her chest and, in April, the family was told that the cancer was growing despite more chemotherapy. Emily died on May 18.
Research into pediatric cancer research isn’t funded as aggressively as research for other cancers are, something Ed and Nadia say needs to change.
Nadia said part of their motivation to raise money for the foundation, and continue the festival in the coming years, comes “out of anger and desperation” from what she says is a lack of funding for research for pediatric cancers.
A grass-roots group to support Emily during her treatment, Emily’s Entourage, grew into an international movement before her death.
Ten-year-old Emma Bartlett, from Chicago Ridge, was one of many people wearing “Emily Strong” T-shirts at the festival on Sunday.
Like many people both in the Southland and around the world, Emma learned about Emily as she fought cancer. She came to the festival with her family to support Emily’s dream.
“If she was still here, I would have liked to have met her,” Emma said.
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Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.