February 18, 2017…we’d planned a family ski trip that day.  But we were in the emergency room instead.  What we thought was a stomach bug in Tommy turned out to be much worse.  “The news is not good,” said the doctor.  I never found adequate words to describe what it is like to hear that your child has cancer, and I no longer try. 

 “This is the start of a marathon,” said Tommy’s surgeon that day.  He was right.  

Through so many surgeries, medicines, pain and tears, Tommy kept fighting.  He just wanted to get back to being a kid again, to lead a normal kid’s life.  So he would endure an operation and treatment and he would fight to get healthy enough to come home again, and sleep in his own bed, to be silly and play with his brother and sister, and to go back to school and be with his buddies.   

But cancer is insidious and unrelenting.  Tommy gave everything he could.  He was 6 years old when he passed away.  For two long years, Tommy fought his heart out.  He never gave up.  So neither will we.

WE CREATED THE TOMMY STRONG FOUNDATION BECAUSE…

We’ve seen how many people Tommy inspired when he was alive, with his bravery and his resilience, and we want his legacy to continue to inspire others.

We know the devastation that cancer causes, in the lives of the people it touches and their families.

We’ve seen – in Tommy and so many other young cancer warriors like him – an extraordinary will to fight to regain their normal lives, to be kids again.

We’ve met so many extraordinary medical professionals – doctors, nurses and the army of people who support them – who devote their lives to making kids well.

OUR MISSION IS…  

To put another shoulder into the effort to find a cure for cancer, with the everlasting hope that we will get to the day when young lives are not cut short because of a disease they don’t deserve.

The money that the Tommy Strong Foundation raises will support the efforts of the doctors and researchers who are working hard to find cures. It will support the amazing nurses, Child Life staff and the many medical professionals who care for the kids who are fighting a terrible and unwanted fight. And equally as important, it will support the children themselves and the parents, siblings and other family members who are at the center of that struggle. We are very grateful for your support.

We are very proud that the Tommy Strong Foundation is 100% volunteer based. This means that donations received go straight to funding childhood cancer research and patient and family support programs.