12-year-old helps raise money for leukemia research, treatment
BY ROBERT DICKS
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Leukemia survivor Grace Chen helped establish a nonprofit association that raises money for leukemia research through golf-related activities.
"It's a relief that I can do what other kids do."
Grace Chen, 12, of Sunnyvale, Calif., was discussing how, since recovering from childhood leukemia, she can go to school, hang out with friends, watch TV ? basically have a normal life. Well, mostly normal. There aren't many other girls her age who can hit a golf ball 230 yards.
With 25 trophies scattered around her house, it's obvious that Grace has the whole golf thing down. It's been that way since she was 6 and in recovery from years of treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, at the Bass Center for Cancer and Childhood Blood Diseases at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
"My wife, Ni, and I wanted her to start doing something that would help her physically and mentally," said Grace's father, Weixing Chen. "Team sports weren't best because of the requirements for physical activity and the possibility of germs spreading between kids. So we figured golf ? with open, fresh air and beautiful settings ? would be right for her, and she could do it at her own pace and get good exercise."
Golf quickly became something more than just exercise. When Grace was just 7, she won five medals in five categories in a national competition. Recently, she made her fifth annual trip to the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship at Pinehurst, N.C. Gary Dahl, MD, a physician at Packard Children's, is not surprised.
"Grace represents a very important trend in leukemia treatments," said Dahl, who also is a professor of pediatric hematology and oncology at the School of Medicine. "In the early 1960s, before chemotherapy was used, only about 3 percent of patients like Grace were long-term survivors. But in the late '60s and through the '70s, we made major inroads in treatment. ALL now has a cure rate of around 90 percent, and other types, such as acute myeloid leukemia, have improved to rates of 65 percent."
Grace's Birdie for ALL team, a group of junior Bay Area golfers, is part of her Gracious Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2009 to raise awareness of childhood leukemia diseases and research. Birdie for ALL has supporters throughout the Bay Area who donate money for every birdie or better made by Grace and other team members. The group also hosts fundraising activities and holds golf-related events at Packard Children's, Ronald McDonald House at Stanford and Camp Okizu, a camp for children with cancer.
To date, Birdie for ALL has donated more than $6,000 to fund leukemia research and treatment at Stanford. In recognition of her efforts, Grace was named recipient of 2012 Peggy Kirk Bell award at last year's U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Named after the women's golf pioneer, the award is given to a young golfer who is making a difference in his or her community.
Leukemia, a cancer of the blood that starts in the bone marrow, is the most common childhood cancer. It hit Grace hard at age 2. She was temporarily living in China with her grandparents while her parents, who were working in the Bay Area, flew back and forth. Her symptoms, including joint pain, fever and anemia, were classic. With a confirmed diagnosis, she flew to the Bay Area for treatment and came straight to Packard Children's from the airport.
"Grace couldn't speak English, and she was very frightened," Weixing said. "Once Dr. Dahl laid out the plan, she started receiving chemotherapy and dealing with all the side effects."
For Grace, the treatments and diagnostics could be unpleasant, especially the painful bone marrow aspirations to check the status of her blood cells. "I can't remember too much," said Grace, "but I remember the therapy, including the shots and then the ice cream afterward. I'm just really thankful to now be healthy."
With personal heroes like gold stars Yani Tseng and Phil Mickelson, is Grace envisioning a pro career? "I hope to play in high school, and my college dream is to go to Stanford, Princeton, Harvard or UCLA," Grace said. "For now, I think I want to wait and see how things go, but I do know one thing. I feel like golf has played a large role in helping me recover."
For more information about Grace Chen and the Gracious Life Foundation, visit http://www.birdieforall.org.
Robert Dicks is the senior media relations director for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsFromStanfordsSchoolOfMedicine/~3/6xoHmhekFc8/golf-0805.html
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