Meet Megan

One day after school, Megan, then age 10, told her mom that she wanted to help cure brain cancer when she grew up. Her dad had died earlier in the year of glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer. “That’s great,” said her mom, Jenny. “What do you have in mind? Are you interested in being a doctor, a nurse, a researcher?”

“No,” replied Megan. “Other people can do those things. I want to use my art skills to raise money for brain cancer research.”

They talked a bit more, and Jenny reminded Megan that she had been interested in having a booth at her school’s upcoming St. Nicholas Bazaar. “Maybe I could make some Christmas cards and sell them and donate the money to Dr. Cobbs,” said Megan, referring to her dad's neurosurgeon at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.

Megan went off to her room and got to work. She came back with a half-dozen designs and asked her mom to figure out how to turn them into cards she could sell.  Megan and her friends made some posters and decorated a coffee can to put out for donations. Megan had her first booth sale -- and raised $500 for brain cancer research.

Jenny arranged for them to attend a tour of the research lab at the Ben and Catherine Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at Swedish. She knew that this would give Megan a chance to give Dr. Cobbs the donation in person – something that was important to Megan.

Megan was thrilled with the chance to make a difference in the fight against brain cancer. She decided not to wait until the following Christmas to make more cards. Megan made some more designs – this time for note cards – and Jenny put up a little web site.  With that, Megan’s Cards for Cancer was born.

Megan continues to sell cards and make donations to support Dr. Cobbs' brain cancer research. She doesn’t want other families to have to go through what she did, losing her dad at the age of 9.

When Megan was 10, she told her mom she wanted to help cure cancer when she grew up. Her mom told her she didn’t have to wait.