Shane’s Future Days is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation, whose mission is to raise awareness, research funds and assist families currently battling high risk childhood cancers. We are holding our 5th annual Celebration of Life on June 15, 2019, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a day of advocacy and awareness for childhood cancer and to recognize those children who lost their battle and are currently fighting non-curable childhood cancers. 

Our community event begins with a soccer friendly involving elite youth teams in our area. The event includes raffles, silent auction, inflatables, face-painting,  and live music. This is our fifth year hosting this event. Each year it grows bigger and our reach in our community widens, raising awareness for children and families affected by childhood cancer. In these five years, our COL has raised $80,000.

Shane’s Future Days was founded by my husband and I in memory of our son Shane Joseph Metzgar. Shane was diagnosed with stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma at 8 months old. He fought bravely for one year and two days until he passed away at 19 months old on March 30, 2015. 

Events like this enable our foundation to provide research funds to assist with purchasing of laboratory equipment, as well as funding pediatric preclinical and clinical cancer trials and tumor donation program. To date, we have assisted bringing a phase I rhabdomyosarcoma clinical trial into a national trial. It is now in a Phase II trial and present in hospitals nationwide. Our son's donated tumor cells were part of this research and it's empowering to continue to help fund research for rare cancers so that other families have hope for a cure. 

Our event also supports local children's hospitals and their palliative care teams who provide the world’s best care to patients with currently non-curable childhood cancers. This team includes professionals who go to the homes of children and families diagnosed or those who recently passed to support them through their diagnosis or bereavement. We provide financial assistance to those families, as well as equipment and supplies to create memory gifts.

Additionally and most importantly, it permits us to expand our footprint, enabling us to provide for families affected by rare childhood cancers with support that they need along their journey. This past year, our foundation was able to support six families in our area this holiday season by purchasing all their holiday gifts. We are also able to donate gift cards and provide household support to families affected by rare childhood cancers.