A 7-year-old Moorestown resident diagnosed with leukemia last February joined 12 other kids as a patient ambassador for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) 2024 Parkway Run & Walk fundraiser on Sept. 28.
Betty Ammon, daughter of Megan Young and Tim Ammon, and other ambassadors represent the thousands of children diagnosed with pediatric cancers each year. Last year’s 22nd annual event raised more than $1.95 million.
This year, Betty, Megan, Tim and many families in and out of the township came together again for the run and walk – presented by Citadel Credit Union – on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. It raised more than $1 million for breakthrough pediatric cancer research and care at CHOP.
“It’s something that you hope nobody ever has to go through,” Tim said, “but if they have to go through it, to have an organization like CHOP and to have the kind of support that CHOP provides … it doesn’t make it easier, but it certainly makes it much more manageable, and you come to appreciate how important that funding is for real science and real research and real support of the elimination of whatever the disease is.
“To have an opportunity to have even a marginal impact on that in some way is a really important and really useful thing.”
Every dollar raised for CHOP’s run and walk stays in South Jersey to directly helps families care for children with cancer. The event is a poignant finale to September’s National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Some areas funded by the run and walk include specialized treatment; innovative approaches, such as a yoga program that helps children with cancer cope with nausea and anxiety; training and education; support for survivors; and travel expenses, according to CHOP.
“We’re really lucky that this community in particular is as supportive as it is,” Tim observed. “The amount of support that we got from friends and neighbors and classmates was – frankly – a little bit overwhelming, and the fact that that support has continued through this year is a massively positive reflection on the community …
“We’ve been unbelievably lucky to have support from families who have gone through this, and they have helped us understand not only what we’re going through in the moment, but what we can anticipate and how we can prepare for it,” he continued. “How we can prepare ourselves for it, how we can prepare Betty for it …
” … And that to me is, ultimately, I think, a reflection of the generosity of the community more than anything else.”
The oldest hospital in the country dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, CHOP strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children. Since its founding in 1855, the hospital has supported some of the nation’s pioneers in pediatric medicine and continues to be a major training ground for pediatricians.
“It’s most difficult on the patients, but the fact that there’s an infrastructure around to support the families and everything else, is a recognition on their part about how intensely both personal this is to the families and how much support is needed because it is so cataclysmic when it first happens to you,” Tim pointed out.
“You recognize that this is a long-term challenge for everybody, and those long-term supports are there, but the only reason those long-term supports are there is because we get community support and we’ve certainly seen how deeply thoughtful and how deeply generous this community is to be able to help people like us who needed that kind of help.”
Betty is a second-grader who loves the Phillies, going on playdates with her friends, swimming, math, reading and art. Her favorite holiday is Christmas, and her favorite movie is the Netflix film, “KPop Demon Hunters.”
“I like spring,” she says, “but I also like winter because of snow.”
