The Live Like Madison Foundation, Isabella Santos Foundation and Move For Jenn Foundation have joined forces to honor Madison Fedak who lost her life to osteosarcoma at the age of 7 on Dec. 21, 2019. All three organizations are teaming up to fund a $250,000 childhood cancer clinical trial out of Nationwide Children’s in Ohio focused on creating a new way of treating kids fighting relapsed sarcomas.

“We are so excited to be able to give $125,000 on behalf of my daughter Isabella,” said Erin Santos, executive director of the Isabella Santos Foundation. “Madison reminded us so much of Isabella. She not only looked like her, but she had that infectious spirit.

“When Madison passed away, I really took stock in what we were doing at ISF,” she added. “Unfortunately, because she had a relapse in the brain, she was ineligible for so many trials, and we experienced that too with Isabella. So my goal was to find something for kids with osteosarcoma or other sarcomas that would give them options when they ran out.”

Each year, more than 500 children are affected with relapsed sarcomas or refractory tumors. Beginning in 2021, Nationwide Children’s TINKS clinical trial will help researchers test and learn more about how the Natural Killer Cell survives and functions in patients with relapsed sarcomas. Levine Children’s Hospital is one of 26 trial sites from across the country that will be participating.

Jenn Andrews, sarcoma survivor, founder and executive director of Move For Jenn Foundation who is contributing $25,000, said, “I think one of the coolest parts of this, aside from getting to be a part of a huge research opportunity that has the potential to literally change the trajectory for how sarcoma patients are cared for, are the partnerships with the other foundations that we have so much respect for.”

“Last year, we sat with Madison and made a promise that we would continue the fight,” said Laura Fedak, executive director of Live Like Madison and Madison’s mother. Live Like Madison is contributing $100,000 toward the Nationwide Children’s clinical trial.

“I wanted Live Like Madison to do something really incredible and to find something out there that would give other kids the chance that Madison didn’t have,” said Fedak. “We never thought we would ever be able to come close to raising the amount of money that we have raised, and I say ‘we’ because I mean all of our supporters and all of our donors.”

Throughout her 18-month battle, Madison touched countless lives. Not only those who knew Madison, but also those who watched her journey from afar were inspired by her courage, her insistence on enjoying life and spreading happiness, despite cancer.

The Nationwide Children’s clinical trial will ultimately have an impact on the way treatment is provided to sarcoma patients and improve survival outcomes. Learn more about the trial.