2022 Year End Report & message from Executive Director Kimberly Wallgren
2022 Year End Report & message from Executive Director Kimberly Wallgren
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Mission: Committed to improving the care and outcome of people with ependymoma through community support and research efforts

Image of Sharon and Finn looking at one of Finn's photos together. Finn is an ependymoma survivor.
As I reflect back on this year, it is with great humbleness that I send this email. I hope you all got a chance to view the Ependymoma Awareness Day video. While hope is the core theme each year, a second underlying theme uniquely emerges every time. This year the theme that kept appearing through our planning was the power of sharing your story. While COVID presented many challenges, it did not stop us from sharing our stories. We turned to new ways and familiar ones to do that. Some of us share our stories publicly on blogs and social media, and some of us prefer to share with family and close friends in private settings.
You see, either way, there is great power when we share our stories, as you have certainly experienced in your own life. Our stories motivated us to be here today, and our stories inspire small acts of kindness that can go on to make great change. They encourage others to keep going. They bring comfort to those facing challenges.They ignite a flame under researchers and clinicians. They connect us. Everyone in this community has a story. What is truly beautiful is that when we connect with other people, their stories become a part of ours. Our experience with others shapes us, and we no longer operate alone but move forward connected. When we share our stories, we invite people to be a part of something larger than themselves — a remarkable occurrence in this day and age.
And maybe the most important part of it all is our stories never truly end. It’s even true for those loved ones who are no longer physically with us. Their stories never actually end when we keep sharing their stories. The memories and love continue on in new ways because story sharing is essentially story living. It isn’t a linear process. It is constantly evolving and growing in ways we sometimes can’t even imagine.
Our hope today is that our stories will impact the lives of people living with a brain or spinal cord tumor and bring forward new treatments so others don't have to experience what we have gone through. We know it is possible to get there, or none of us would keep trying. Is it difficult? Yes, very. But it’s possible. What we are doing together truly matters in the lives of people diagnosed with brain and spinal tumors today and for those people who will be diagnosed in the future.
On behalf of ependymoma families around the world, thank you for your ongoing support and dedication.
Sincerely,
Kimberly M. Wallgren
Executive Director of the CERN Foundation, a program of the National Brain Tumor Society

2022 CERN Foundation Year-End Report

The CERN Foundation, a designated program of the National Brain Tumor Society, celebrates 16 years of serving the international ependymoma community through community support and research efforts. Because of your generous support, we were able to accomplish the projects and programs listed below. A sincere thank you to all of the advisors, board members, NBTS staff, volunteers, survivors, and care partners who make these efforts possible.
Please visit www.cern-foundation.org for more information. Best wishes for a safe and healthy 2023!
 
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With your generous support, we will continue to expand our efforts to improve the care and outcome of people with ependymoma.
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The CERN Foundation and the National Brain Tumor Society have joined forces to help people with ependymoma and advance ependymoma research toward the development of new and better treatments through the creation of the Ependymoma Fund for Research and Education. Today, the CERN Foundation is officially a designated program of the National Brain Tumor Society. Donations to the Ependymoma Fund for Research and Education will be made on the NBTS website and used to support research efforts that will benefit both ependymoma patients and research through CERN. Emphasis will be placed on CERN’s historical model of supporting work that translates basic science into clinical practice. The Fund will also address overcoming barriers to clinical trial accrual and the development of new clinical studies for ependymoma patients. Additional funds will be used to support educational efforts through print, media, and awareness events. The new collaborative Ependymoma Fund will continue CERN’s practice and tradition of involving and collaborating with other scientists, medical providers, foundations and supporters of ependymoma research.
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