Ambassador Family Program
Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer’s Ambassador Family Program is comprised of children from all three Dallas-Fort Worth area hospitals with pediatric oncology units: Cook Children’s Medical Center, Medical City Children’s Hospital, and Children’s Medical Center.
WOKC serves as a support group for the Ambassador Families and treats them to special events held in their honor throughout the year, giving the children a chance to just be kids and forget about cancer for a few hours each month. Annual events can include a Dallas Mavericks’ basketball game, Fish Camp, a Dallas Stars’ hockey game, a Texas Legends’ basketball game, a holiday party with presents for the entire family …. and more! These events also provide a support system for the entire family by connecting them with other families battling the disease. Over the years, WOKC has served over 300 families through the Ambassador Program. Some Ambassador Families say that the program not only saved their child, it saved their family.
Buddy Bag Program
Each year over hundreds of families in the Dallas/Fort Worth area receive the devastating news that their child has cancer. The diagnosis is usually accompanied by an immediate and unexpected admission to a pediatric hospital for treatment, leaving families unprepared and without the items needed for a lengthy hospital stay.
Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer started the Buddy Bag program as a way to reach out to these newly diagnosed families as they attempt to comprehend the cancer diagnosis and treatment options.
A WOKC Buddy Bag is given to each family admitted for cancer treatment at Children’s Health System Dallas/Legacy, Cook Children’s Medical Center Fort Worth, and Medical City Children’s. The Buddy Bags are designed to ease the transition from home to hospital for both the child and parents, and are filled with over 30 items including basic toiletries and comfort items. All items in the Buddy Bag are the result of a thoughtful collaboration by moms of kids with cancer, who know better than anyone which items, might be needed at that time of crisis.
If you would like to help the WOKC Buddy Bag program, we’re always in need of specific items for the bags or funding to sponsor the Buddy Bag program.
Research Program
More than 15,000 children are diagnosed with pediatric cancer each year. Everyday, 43
families hear the devastating words, “Your child has cancer.” Cancer is the leading disease killer of children in the United States, claiming the lives of almost 1,800 children annually. Children are fighting valiantly to survive cancer and we need to fund generously to cure it! In it’s 37 year history, WOKC has provided millions of dollars to fund critical research initiatives specifically for pediatric cancer. Survival rates are slowly on the rise, but we want more! Our mission is simple: to work relentlessly for a day when ALL children are living cancer free. Join us in funding pediatric cancer research – even just one child with cancer, is one child too many.
The Facts
12,000
Children diagnosed with cancer yearly
- Cancer is the #1 disease killer of children in America, and the #2 after automobile accidents. More children will die from cancer than from AIDS, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and asthma combined.
- There are 5 children diagnosed with cancer for each 1 diagnosed with pediatric AIDS, yet only $20,000 is invested in cancer research for each $595,000 invested in pediatric AIDS research.
