Libby and Tony Kranz have transformed the pain of losing their oldest daughter to a vicious form of cancer into motivation to help unravel pediatric cancer across the country—for the sake of their three remaining children and others around the country.
Aug. 12 was the six-month anniversary of the death of their daughter Jennifer, known as JLK, and the Kranz family felt it was appropriate to formally launch their national nonprofit called Unravel Pediatric Cancer as a lasting tribute. The organization’s very creation was a result of Jennifer and her family’s struggle with disease and suffering.
JLK was diagnosed last year with a rare brain cancer called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma on Oct. 23—her sixth birthday. Her doctors gave her nine months to live, but she died on Feb. 12, 3.5 months from the day she was diagnosed.
Libby, co-founder and Unravel CEO, and Tony, co-founder and treasurer, hope to raise awareness nationwide of pediatric cancers and collect funds to support cutting edge medical research to treat the diseases—and one day find cures.
Even after her death, JLK has helped spur on the medical community’s research on DIPG. The Kranz family donated the tumors that ultimately killed her to researchers at Stanford University. Dr. Michelle Monje, who specializes in cancer research, has created cell lines from three tumors in JLK’s body, Libby told the Dispatch.
Most of the nation’s cell lines for DIPG came from Jennifer’s donation and it will help in the fight against the rare yet deadly disease. With the cell lines created, the disease can be cultured. Some day, scientists will be able to actually test various medications on DIPG tumors in animals to see which one will have an effect on the cancerous cells.
According to Libby, Dr. Monje’s research and that of her colleagues all tackling a variety of cancers at Stanford is the type of activity Unravel will help fund.
“The treatment for DIPG hasn’t changed in 30 years, so if I had it when I was (Jennifer’s) age, I’d have the same treatments and the same exact radiation-nothing has changed,” she explained. “What Dr. Monje is proposing at Stanford—which is the place to be for DIPG—they’re changing how they radiate these kids to a whole brain radiation treatment. If Jennifer had that, she might have lived longer. She wouldn’t have survived and it wouldn’t have cured her cancer, but she might have lived longer because it might have hit those places that the tumor progressed.”
Libby believes that if scientists begin to better understand the deadliest pediatric cancers, they’ll be able to better treat all types of cancer.
“Pediatric cancers are some of the hardest and most aggressive cancers because by the time most children are diagnosed, it’s already spreading,” she said. “If we could solve that and cure that—pull a thread out of the cancer ribbon—I think all of cancer would unravel. If we start with some of the hardest cancers, if we attack them, I believe we will have a huge impact.”
When Jennifer was first diagnosed, Libby said she didn’t understand much about pediatric cancer and figured the nation’s largest nonprofits, like the American Cancer Society, dedicated significant funding to better understand and treat sick children.
But that isn’t the case. One cent of every dollar donated to the ACS goes towards pediatrics, Libby said.
“I thought with all the government money, a huge chunk must go towards kids but it doesn’t,” she added. “Less than 4 percent of the government’s cancer research budget goes towards pediatrics. That’s split between 12 types of pediatric cancers. Kids have nothing.”
The Kranz family have taken their frustration with the lack of treatment options for many pediatric cancers and channeled it to help others. According to Renee Ridgway, a longtime friend to the Kranz family, Libby felt compelled to raise awareness about the ugly reality of pediatric cancers and encourage more research before Jennifer’s passing.
“Even while Jennifer was still with us, it was something she started talking about feeling compelled to do,” said Ridgway, also the secretary of Unravel’s Board of Directors. It wasn’t an option for her not to do it—she has to make some kind of difference. I think it’s helped her in certain times to cope and to have something to do that’s meaningful.”
Gilroy as a whole has helped the Kranz family cope from the time Jennifer was diagnosed to after she passed away. Libby said the family returned home one day and found votive candles full of glitter lining the walkway to their front door. Shortly after JLK died, someone replaced family’s front door mat with one that read “home of the brave.” These are small gestures Libby said she will not forget, and it proves that Gilroy is a community of givers.
“When Jennifer was diagnosed, Gilroy as a community picked up the slack when we were fairly new to the area and it really was a game changer for my family,” Libby said. “Gilroy is the epicenter for us because what they did for our family was a game changer and believe it can also be a game changer in the world of pediatric cancer.”
“Those people who care about the Kranz family now have this connection to pediatric cancer and can be inspired to help unravel it,” Ridgway added.
Unravel will be hosting a rummage sale on Sept. 27 in Gilroy and all proceeds will benefit supporting pediatric cancer research and awareness. For more information, visit unravelpediatriccancer.org, or to donate items for the rummage sale, email un************@gm***.com.
-Unravel Pediatric Cancer will be hosting a rummage sale Sept. 27 and all proceeds will support pediatric cancer research and raising awareness.
-To donate goods to the rummage sale, email un************@gm***.com or for more information, visit unravelpediatriccancer.org.
“Pediatric cancers are some of the hardest and most aggressive cancers because by the time most children are diagnosed, it’s already spreading. If we could solve that and cure that—pull a thread out of the cancer ribbon—I think all of cancer would unravel.”
Libby Kranz, CEO and co-founder of Gilroy nonprofit Unravel Pediatric Cancer
