During the firestorm of 9-year-old Lucy’s battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma, the Little Warrior Foundation was formed. On hospital WiFi, Lucy’s mom, Maggie, worked quickly to get all banking and legal paperwork in place, while Lucy’s dad, Piero, engaged top doctors and scientists to find promising research that needed funding. And Lucy’s godmother, Emily, created a brand, website, and fundraising tools.

We started Little Warrior Foundation as an act of defiance – teetering on the edge of petulance – over the state of childhood cancer treatments. The Ewing’s protocol is over 40 years old, it’s absurdly toxic, and – and for so many kids– it’s ineffective. In short, it’s unacceptable.

So we launched with a mission of finding and funding a lasting cure for Ewing Sarcoma. Our slogan in those early days could have been “FINE! I’LL FIX IT MYSELF! <angrily slams door>" And frankly, we thought we would be doing it ourselves.

But then something happened…

Our family said, “We’re IN.”

Our friends said, “Count us IN”

Warrior families went ALL IN.

Our communities rushed IN.

Businesses joined IN.

Docs and researchers jumped IN.

Perfect strangers were IN.

And suddenly, this little foundation got mighty and big. In just 4 years, Little Warrior Foundation has raised over $4.6 million to fund high-impact research and clinical trials serving little and not-so-little-warriors diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma.

Our base camp is in Wisconsin, but our footprint is truly national, and our grant-making capabilities are geographically limitless. We’ve partnered with Cleveland Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Levine’s Children, Georgetown University, Boston Gene, and more to ensure the brightest minds in oncology are working towards a lasting cure.  We’re humbled by the support and the progress.

Despite our growth, we’re still the scrappy team we’ve always been:

• We still have board meetings around our kitchen tables. 

• We still don’t pay a cent of rent.

• Our volunteer list still closely resembles our family tree, with bonus branches for our fellow Warrior Families (who are for-real-family at this point).

• We’re still laser-focused on funding life-saving research and clinical trials.

• And as founders, our sleeves are still rolled all the way up.

When we said “Fine! I’ll fix it myself!” to the universe, we couldn’t have imagined the amazing people the universe would bring us to tell us – “You are not alone. There’s an army waiting.”

Whatever your reason, THANK YOU for being IN, too.

Swords Up!  

Maggie, Piero, Emily &
The Little Warrior Team