Advocates

Patrick Sullivan is a passionate childhood cancer advocate, the President and a founder of the Team Finn Foundation, and Co-Founder of Ac2orn. Patrick became an advocate after his twin son Finn was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma in 2007 and heard the word “incurable” for the first time in May 2008. His desire to make a change in cancer research is in part an effort to pay an un-payable debt to his son Finn and to Change the Stories of other Finn’s.

Patrick participates in several national and international initiatives that include Chair of the Bio-CanRX Cancer Stakeholder Alliance, member of the AACR Pediatric Cancer Working Group, Director of Childhood Cancer Canada, Director of Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, Director on the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance, Co-Lead of the Terry Fox Research Profyle initiative, member of the CTCG Lay Representative Committee, and Lead Advocate on the St. Baldrick’s/Stand-Up to Cancer Immunogenomics Dream Team.

By profession, Patrick is a securities and corporate-commercial litigator and one of the founding partners of Taylor Veinotte Sullivan. Patrick is the proud father of three remarkable children, Baird, Sarah and Finn - and would do almost anything for the simple pleasure of holding Finn’s hand again.

In 1988, Kelly was diagnosed with ALL and received a bone marrow transplant from her brother, Adam. The experience sparked Kelly’s commitment to advocate for children with cancer. While still in the hospital for her transplant she created a fundraiser for childhood cancer research, while in high school she and her mom created a book by and about children with cancer entitled “Kids with Courage” and, while in college, in collaboration with the pediatric oncology team at UW-Madison, she developed an online resource for survivors of childhood cancer called “Outlook: Life Beyond Childhood Cancer.” After graduating from law school, Kelly served as director of legislative affairs for the Children’s Oncology Group/CureSearch, where she helped raise national awareness and secured federal funding for childhood cancer research. As a member of the NCI Director's Consumer Liaison Group, Kelly worked to engage advocates to accelerate research progress. Kelly and her husband, Bill, live in Illinois with their two boys, Enzo & Mateo.

Kelly Forebaugh is the Director of Hero Funds and Memorials for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Her 14-year-old son, Jackson, was diagnosed at 15 months with a malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney and treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She has been volunteering at Seattle Children’s as a family advocate and fundraising with St. Baldrick’s and the hospital since 2006.

Melanie is the Advocate for Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. She is the mother of Alexander who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2006. Alex participated in the HEROS (Her2 Car T-cell) trial which was an integral part of his treatment and gave hope for the future in advancing targeted therapies for the treatment of childhood cancers. Melanie currently resides in North Carolina.

Bambi Grilley has worked in oncology for over 30 years, the last 20 years spent in the area of oncology research with an emphasis on cellular and gene therapy. Although trained as a pharmacist and practicing as the Director of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs, she has been a member of IRBs and Data Safety Committees for many years and her interest in patient advocacy has spanned her entire career. She is extremely proud to be a member of the patient advocacy committee for the Pediatric Dream Team.

Gavin Lindberg is president and co-founder of The Evan's Victory Against Neuroblastoma Foundation. The organization was established in 2011 in memory of Evan Lindberg, the only child of Gavin and his wife, Wendy. Evan passed away at the age of seven in 2010 after courageously battling stage IV, n-myc amplified neuroblastoma for four years.

The EVAN Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Maryland that funds basic, translational and clinical research on high-risk neuroblastoma. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than $600,000 to support innovative neuroblastoma research projects at institutions across the United States. This includes the Evan Lindberg Neuroblastoma Research Scholars Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which supports talented early-career scientists in the hospital’s acclaimed neuroblastoma research laboratory.

The Foundation also sponsors the weekly "Treats & Treasures Carts" program at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC. Every Wednesday evening, Gavin and Wendy visit each room on the inpatient oncology floor with two oversized carts full of toys, games, stuffed animals, candy, chocolate and other fun items. Patients, parents, friends and family members all choose what they want at no charge. Since 2012, the Lindbergs have made over 10,000 visits to young cancer patients enduring long-and-difficult stays in the hospital.

In recent years, the Treats & Treasures Carts program has expanded to serve childhood cancer patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI and two Children’s National Hospital outpatient oncology facilities in Washington, DC and Rockville, MD.

Prior to establishing The EVAN Foundation, Gavin was the founding president of the Band of Parents, a New York based neuroblastoma research organization. He served on the board of directors from 2007-2011. He currently serves as a member of the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy Consortium’s Parent Advisory Council (2011-present), and as the Parent Advocate for the National Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Immunotherapy Discovery & Development Network (2019-Present).

Gavin is a graduate of Michigan State University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He and Wendy live in Germantown, MD.

Antonia entered the world of cancer in 2009 when her two year old son was diagnosed with stage IV high-risk neuroblastoma. Antonia is the Executive Director of Kindred Foundation, co-founder of Advocacy for Canadian Childhood Oncology Research Network (Ac2orn), and founder of Neuroblastoma Canada. She is Chair of the CHEER Patient and Family Advisory Committee, Chair of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) Patient and Family Advisory Committee, Community Member (pediatrics) for the Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board (OCREB), research advocate for the St. Baldrick’s-Stand Up to Cancer Phase 2 Pediatric Cancer Dream Team, BioCanRx board member, and volunteers for other cancer focused organizations and projects in Canada and internationally. Antonia holds a master’s degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo and lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband Aaron and three beautiful boys, Nate, Alex and Jonathan.

Kevin is a Colorado native and passionate advocate for cancer care. After retiring from a 13-year successful career of investment banking in the telecom industry, Kevin has spent the past eight years in advocate and governance roles with health organizations located on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In 2011, Kevin joined the board of directors of Children’s Hospital Colorado and he had the privilege and distinct honor of serving as the Chair of the Board from 2014 to 2016. Kevin also serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and the National Mental Health Innovation Center, both located on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Recently, Kevin advised the leadership and innovation team of CU Anschutz Medical Campus on the formation of a $50 million healthcare venture capital fund that will focus on early stage investments in digital health, therapeutic and, to a lesser degree, pharmaceutical businesses. Kevin serves as Director of LP Relations for the fund.

His fondness and devotion to Children’s Hospital Colorado emulated from his daughter Diana’s successful battle with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), which was diagnosed when she was 2 years old in 2007. After losing his father to throat cancer in 1982 and his mother to breast cancer in 1998, Kevin struggled with his daughter’s diagnosis of leukemia, but his fears were quickly alleviated by her oncologist who was leading the national ALL clinical trial and who clearly articulated the difference between pediatric blood disorders and adult tumor cancers, and more importantly the resilience of kids and their ability to tolerate treatment.

Kevin graduated from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado with a degree in accounting. Kevin and his wife Ann reside in Denver with their four children. Today, Diana is 7+ years from her cure date and she is a gift to those she meets. In additional to advocating for safer, more effective and advanced cures for cancer, Kevin and Ann are heavily engaged in the promotion, funding and growth of mental health services in the state of Colorado and beyond.

In 2006, we lost our youngest daughter to Acute Myeloid Leukemia. In 2013, we almost lost our son to refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Fortunately for us, we were able to get him into an early CAR-T cell trial at NIH, which led to a deep remission followed by a successful bone marrow transplant. At his first post-trial follow-up appointment we asked the team at NIH how we could best help them to help more kids beat cancer, which is how we became parent advocates for childhood cancer research. Most of our advocacy work has been with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center but we are happy to help any organization that is out there fighting for our kids. http://stbaldricks.org/phineas

I am a former patient family from American Family Children’s Hospital back when it was called the UW Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI. My 4-year old daughter, Kristina Schultz, was diagnosed with ALL, Philadelphia Chromosome Positive on August 20, 2001, on her 4th birthday. She battled for almost 6 years before she lost her battle. Kristina helped the researchers learn that Gleevec worked to put her type of leukemia into remission almost right away. Unfortunately, she relapsed and had to have a bone marrow transplant. This transplant worked for a short time and then she needed a stem cell transplant. She had an unrelated donor who has since become family. She fought long and hard and lost the battle on April 9, 2007. Kristina wanted to find a cure for childhood cancer so that no child would have to go through what she went through. She started a fundraiser for cancer research for our hospital called Caps for The Cure, and it is going stronger than ever to this day. Kristina’s sister and brother have taken over the campaign that is now throughout the state of Wisconsin and Illinois.

Fast forward to today and I now work for American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI in Development. I work with Community Partners to raise money for many of the programs we have in the hospital, but also for childhood cancer research. I work closely with our families and patients to make sure they are comfortable when at the hospital and to have them tell their stories at some of our events. I also work closely with our Dream Team to know what they are working on and what they need to keep their work going. I believe that I am the luckiest person to work at a job that fulfills my daughter’s dream and legacy.