NEW ROCHELLE, NY — In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, on Sunday, September 17, Band of Parents hosted Put Cancer in the Penalty Box, a skating charity event at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon to help support research and treatment for children battling neuroblastoma.
The team behind the annual event are New Rochelle teens Ethan Cohen and his friend Josh Lebowitz, from Larchmont, who came up with the concept for the fundraiser last year as part of their Bar Mitzvah project. Together, they helped raise several thousand dollars on behalf of Band of Parents, which is the top independent backer of neuroblastoma research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Their first fundraiser was so successful the pair decided to make it an annual event. With the help of their supportive families, the annual fundraiser has now raised over $15,000 to help support Band of Parents’ courageous families.
Ethan’s mom, Jill Ostrager-Cohen is the president of Band of Parents and her son Andrew, 10, is a two-time cancer survivor who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma in 2010. In 2012, Andrew received a vaccine that the 501c3 organization, Band of Parents, helped fund. All proceeds from the fundraiser will be donated directly to Memorial Sloan Kettering to support childhood cancer research. Pediatric cancer research is woefully underfunded, and grassroots fundraisers help researchers do more to find cures.
In the past decade, Band of Parents has expanded its advocacy, pledging more than $6 million to fund neuroblastoma research in several major cancer centers throughout the United States. Band of Parents’ funding has helped increase survival rates to over 50% for children undergoing treatment for neuroblastoma.
For more information, visit www.bandofparents.org.