Health care providers in hazmat suits, needles, and a hospital room in Vancouver. These were the usual sights for three-year-old Rylie instead of her friends, toys and playground in her hometown of Kelowna. In 2021, the once energetic toddler was diagnosed at BC Children’s Hospital with stage four metastatic neuroblastoma – a rare, high-risk form of cancer.
Rylie’s treatment plan required 18 months of intense care at BC Children’s Hospital, which included chemotherapy, high-dose radiation therapy, two bone marrow transplants and two stem cell transplants.
Toni, Rylie’s mother, painfully remembers. “You feel like you’re torturing your kid sometimes because you’re doing the best for them but they don’t understand everything. As a parent, that was one of the most difficult things. We are trying to do everything possible to save her but we had to put her through some very dark days.”
Survival rates among children with cancer have dramatically improved over the decades. However, one in five kids with cancer will not survive.
In 2020, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation - through the Crystal Ball community - made it their mission to raise urgent funds for an overarching $35 million initiative to support oncology research for the hardest-to-cure cancers. Instead of using traditional methods, the novel research aims to find unique, personalized ways in treating rare childhood cancer. For example, by reprogramming the child’s own immune system to fight the disease. The advanced research also aims to avoid relapses and life-long side effects so the survivors can fully go back to enjoying their childhood.
“Every single child I look after, their tumour is slightly different from another child with the exact same tumour,” said Dr. Rod Rassekh, pediatric oncologist and investigator, Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Research Program at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, who is also Rylie’s lead oncologist. “That’s the mystery we can solve with research—how do we best treat each child’s tumour. That’s what I love about the science we’re doing now, it is directly benefiting an individual, not just the population.”
With giving back ingrained in their culture, Nicola Wealth has been actively and financially supporting communities and organizations like BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. The 36th Annual Crystal Ball Gala in November 2022, presented by Nicola Wealth for the fourth straight year, raised over $4.5 million for life-saving oncology research.
“A lot of us who have kids have been fortunate enough to receive care from BC Children’s Hospital. We’re only trying to give back what they’ve given us,” said Timothy Cuffe, Co-Chair of the Crystal Ball Gala 2022 and Head of Marketing at Nicola Wealth.
More than 350 guests at November’s Crystal Ball enjoyed a series of passive and interactive art installations. These installations included a blown glass sculpture depicting cancer on a cellular level, 3D messaging reflecting the event’s purpose, a woven blanket of beads depicting children’s cancer journeys and a collage of artfully augmented radiation masks depicting strength and resilience.
But what stood out and pulled heartstrings was the sharing of the story of Rylie’s personal journey after her cancer diagnosis. Rylie’s mom Toni bravely thanked everyone in the room, saying, “Without your help, Rylie would not be at home playing happily today.”
