A message of thanks to Saline with exciting ChadTough news!

In September of 2014, after we learned our youngest son, Chad, was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), the Saline community surrounded our family with an extraordinary level of compassion and support. During his 14-month battle with DIPG, the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer with a nearly 0% survival rate, the support for our family just seemed to grow and grow. Toward the end of his battle, when we knew the outcome would not be what we so desperately prayed for, we made the decision to start a non-profit in Chad’s honor. And thus, The ChadTough Foundation was born.

One of our favorite things that was started just weeks after Chad’s diagnosis was a run that is now known as RunTough for ChadTough. A group of friends quickly pulled together an event that brought families together to show their support and to help raise money for a cure for our baby. I remember feeling so much love that first run weekend. Chad was surrounded by family and friends and we felt so supported. We couldn’t believe that so much had been planned and 500 people had been brought together to support our family in just 2 weeks. That group of volunteers, along with some new ones, has continued to host RunTough every year since, and now the funds raised go to support research into DIPG at institutions around the world. Right around Chad’s birthday in September, even this past year when it had to be fully virtual, people come together to honor Chad and so many DIPG angels. It gives our family a chance to do something productive around a really difficult time of the year and the Saline community always rallies. In the past 6 years, that event has raised well over $1 million for research! We are so hopeful that we will all be able to come together in person this year to run together and grow that funding number even more.

The Saline community provided the start for our foundation. It has been the heart of our foundation since the beginning. Now, almost 6 years later, we have become the leader in DIPG research funding, and continue to be blown away by the incredible amount of growing support. We will forever be grateful to the Saline community for the overwhelming support it has provided since day one. We sincerely hope our community will stick with us as we transition to the next phase of our journey.

Yesterday we announced a major step forward that elevates and amplifies our impact on finding a cure for DIPG. Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation, led by Michael’s parents, Jenny and Mark from Maryland, have decided to join our efforts. Together, we are now the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation.

Please take a moment to learn about our efforts to become even tougher together by watching our announcement video at https://chadtough.org/introducing-the-chadtough-defeat-dipg-foundation/

And thank you so much for helping us turn the pain of losing Chad into something that is truly changing the world!

Sincerely - Tammi & Jason Carr