2022 DDF Dream Makers Miracle Fund
Debbie's Dream Foundation is proud to offer our Dream Makers Miracle Fund for stomach cancer patients and families. The initiative is part of our Patient Resource Education Program and aims to spread joy within the stomach cancer community by providing patients and families with bucket-list-inspired experiences.
*** The 2022 deadline to apply has passed. Check back next year.
The Mckees Swim with Dolphins!
We are proud to have granted the wish of Lissett and Paul Mckee for our 2022 Dream Makers Miracle Fund! After beating breast cancer, Lissett was diagnosed with gastric cancer and her journey has been far from easy. Her lifelong wish was to swim with Dolphins in the Florida Keys, and DDF is proud to have helped her create memories that will last a lifetime.
Check out this video of the Mckees as they share their experience of swimming with dolphins and what it means to have their wish granted.
The Alcantar's Miami Dream Vacation
Congratulations to the Alcantar family for being selected as recipients of the 2022 Dream Makers Miracle Fund! Jessica Alcantar was the caregiver for her mother, Camen Muro, who was diagnosed on August 3, 2015, with stage IV stomach cancer. Carmen endured years of treatment and experienced many highs and lows before succumbing to the disease at the height of the 2020 global pandemic. Jessica, her husband, and two sons dreamed of sharing a family vacation in Miami, Florida, to honor her late mother, whose dream was to do the same.
Check out this video of the Alcantar family sharing what it means to have DDF to help make their dream come true.
The Fitzgerald Family Takes On Jersey Shore
DDF is proud to have granted more wishes in 2022 through our Dream Makers Miracle Fund! Our first recipient, Patty Fitzgerald, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in March 2022 at age 54. Patty had overcome a breast cancer diagnosis just 10 years prior. Following the news of her second bout with cancer, she dreamed of a week-long vacation on Jersey Shore with her three children to celebrate life, make precious memories, and display her strength to overcome this awful disease. Check out this video she and her children shared on what it means to have DDF help make her dream come true.
The Orths' Yosemite National Park Vacation Dream Comes True!
We’re proud to have selected Rachel Orth and her family as recipients of the 2022 Dream Makers Miracle Fund. Rachel’s stomach cancer journey began in December 2020 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer (signet ring cell) at age 32.
Before her diagnosis, Rachel lived a healthy and active lifestyle with her husband and three young children between the ages of five and ten. She had gone for her annual well-woman visit when doctors discovered a mass on her ovaries that doctors revealed to be Kruckenberg tumors. This led to surgery, a biopsy, and an official diagnosis.
Since being diagnosed, Rachel’s dream was to have a family vacation to Yosemite National Park to celebrate life, create memories with her children, and celebrate her 13th wedding anniversary.
Check out some photos and this brief video of Rachel sharing her Dream Makers Miracle experience.
2020 DDF Dream Makers Miracle Fund
Kenny's Skydiving Adventure
Debbie's Dream Foundation is proud to have made a wish come true for a 6-year stomach cancer survivor and South Florida native Kenny Rikard. Through our new Dream Makers Miracle Fund, sponsored by biopharmaceutical partner BeiGene, DDF selected Kenny as the first recipient to have one bucket-list wish fulfilled that would create lasting memories.
Kenny was diagnosed in 2014 with stage one stomach cancer. Following several rounds of chemo and a total gastrectomy, he can now eat and do almost anything he had done before. Kenny always dreamed of going skydiving and wanted to find a way to celebrate his 61st birthday and his six years of survivorship.
Kenny is grateful to be a survivor of this terrible disease and incredibly grateful that Debbie's Dream Foundation and BeiGene could help make his skydiving wish come true on Saturday, November 21, 2020. He is particularly proud to have had this experience and to help spread awareness about this disease during Stomach Cancer Awareness Month despite everything happening in the world.
Joey's Disney Star Wars Experience
Debbie's Dream Foundation sent 18-year-old Joey Siwe and his family to Disney World to honor his first stomach cancer anniversary.
For Joey Siwe, a stomach cancer diagnosis was the furthest thing from his imagination as a high school junior. His older brother (Billy) had unexpectedly passed away at age 20 from stage IV stomach cancer a few years prior. To his family's surprise, at 17-years-old, Joey was also diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2019, prompting him to undergo a total gastrectomy in early 2020, removing his entire stomach to avoid the risk of cancer spreading.
An avid fan of Star Wars, Joey's main wish for his first cancer anniversary was to go to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with his family for the full "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" experience. DDF had the honor of making his wish come true.
Debbie's Relaxing Retreat
Two-year stomach cancer survivor Debbie Ross and her husband were sent to Tulalip Casino & Resort in Tulalip, Washington, as part of her wish fulfilled through DDF's Dream Makers Miracle Fund. The couple enjoyed a relaxing one-night stay and dinner for two for Debbie's 54th birthday weekend. Debbie admits that the experience was just what she needed after undergoing stomach cancer treatments and a recent brain tumor removal.
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