The Julien Collot Foundation is a non-profit, IRS credited 501(c)3 charity formed in September 2007, in honor of my son who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia at the age of 3.
Julien’s Foundation:
I made many friends during our battle, and many of us lost our children to cancer. There is nothing more difficult than trying to understand how this can happen to children. Our experience inspired us to fund research trials for pediatric cancers and to assist families in need as they fight their formidable fight. Our foundation made great strides in its first few years and supported families by buying gifts, clothes, medication and medical equipment. In addition, we funded trials for the treatment of leukemia. However the loss of our son in January 2011 led us to reevaluate our funding priorities. While all areas of pediatric cancer funding are worthy, there is still no “safe” bone marrow transplant. Our goal is to make transplant a safe reality for more children. To do so we need to find better ways to prevent and treat Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD). GvHD is a life threatening, often degenerative disease. GVHD is a consequence of bone marrow transplant. GvHD occurs when the new normal immune cells from the donor recognize the body they are now in as foreign and attack it.
Our primary goal is to fund the Bone Marrow Transplant Research Team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Without the money to support research trials new treatments for GvHD will not be developed. It was a trial of a novel agent that treated Julien for a life threatening liver complication after his second bone marrow transplant. We have seen miracles first hand, and we need to see more.
My son Julien was very brave. From the age of three until he was eight years old, he fought every day to survive. He longed for the day that children would suffer no more. Julien’s foundation is dedicated to help find a cure, to make a better world and to care for our future, our children.
For more information on who we support and what we are about, please feel free to visit our website, www.thejuliencollotfoundation.org
Jacqueline Cannon Collot, President