TAMPA, Fla. — Dozens of Tampa families battling pediatric cancer took off from Tampa International Airport Wednesday morning for a trip to Washington D.C.
Once they touch down in the nation's capital, the families, all part of the 1Voice Foundation, will push Congress for increased federal funding for pediatric cancer treatment at this year's CureFest. They will be there from Friday to Sunday.
"We also display 1,800 pairs of shoes in front of the Washington Monument and we lead the walk to the White House this year as well in the evening with our candles in memory of the 1,800 children... all of the children we've lost to pediatric cancer," 1Voice Foundation Executive Director Mary Ann Massolio said.
Massolio said 1Voice provides educational, emotional, psychosocial and financial support for families struggling with pediatric cancer.
"When it hits, it hits hard," Massolio said. "We go through a lot of emotion, a lot of divorce, financial ruin...families can fall apart. So, we're proud to be able to help these families."
Massolio has been on that emotional journey herself, as she lost her son Jay to fourth-stage Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he was just 9 years old.
"Many of the organizations that we will see at CureFest are parents that have lost a child, that have started a foundation to make a difference," Massolio said.
Massolio added the end goal of 1Voice Foundation's trip to D.C. is to raise awareness for pediatric cancer, as only 4% of all the cancer research funding goes to pediatric treatment.
"We want people to know that it's not rare and that we need additional funding," Massolio said.
Christen Gray, a member of the foundation's Voices of Angels Bereavement Program, said this isn't her first trip to CureFest. But, it will be her first trip to the festival as a bereaved parent, as she recently lost her son, Finn, to pediatric cancer.
"The first time I traveled to CureFest, our son was a fighter and he had just relapsed with Ewing sarcoma," Gray said. "And then, the following year, I returned as a bereaved parent."
Gray said she takes pride in welcoming families going through the same situation and "giving them hope."
"When you become a bereaved family, you're kind of the 'worst case scenario' to the community around you're not really quite sure where you fit any longer," Gray said. "Never felt that way at the 1Voice Foundation."