Little Warrior Issues $100,000 Emergency Grant to Continue Precision Medicine Program
We’re not the biggest foundation. We’re not the loudest. But we are probably the scrapiest. We don’t take “No” for an answer, and we don’t back down.
It’s why we love like-minded researchers and oncologists like Dr. Maggie Fader at Nicklaus Children’s. She is spearheading a clinical trial that uses personalized tumor testing to provide treatment options to kids who have, frankly, run out of treatment options. When the primary source of funding was lost, the entire trial was at risk of closing.
We knew we couldn’t let this trial — and the growing patient waitlist — fade away quietly. One emergency board meeting later, we issued a $100,000 grant to Dr. Fader to keep this trial open.
This trial is not theoretical. It’s not “maybe, one day” research. It’s giving families real, immediate, personalized options when standard treatments have failed. And that kind of hope? That’s priceless. That’s urgent.
We’ve seen this trial do amazing things for our buddy Sasha.
A fierce little warrior who had already relapsed multiple times. Every conventional option had been tried and she was referred to hospice. But she — and her family — refused to back down.
Working with her home care team at MD Anderson and Dr. Fader’s group at Nicklaus Children’s, Sasha’s tumor was biopsied and tested through the Functional Precision Medicine trial. What came next wasn’t just promising. It was extraordinary.
“All of Sasha’s treatments are now being guided by this molecular profiling,” says her mom, Julya. “Belinostat was one of the top-ranked therapies in her report, alongside Lurbinectedin. So we added it to her most recent high-dose ifosfamide infusion. Even though she only received two doses due to a platelet complication, the response was remarkable—her tumors flattened rapidly. Now, we’re incorporating belinostat into every future chemo block.”
Her tumors didn’t just stabilize. They shrank—even the skull metastases. This trial didn’t offer hope “someday.” It offered hope right now. And that’s everything.
What Makes This Trial Special?
This is not your standard tumor sequencing test. Dr. Fader’s team goes several steps further with a Functional Precision Medicine approach:
Functional: They don’t just look at the tumor’s DNA. They test live tumor cells in vitro against 120+ drugs—including off-label agents like montelukast and antibiotics—to see what actually kills that child’s cancer. Belinostat, for example, is an HDAC inhibitor, commonly used when treating certain types of Lymphoma.
Fast: From biopsy to results in just 10–14 days.
Flexible: The trial is open to kids nationwide. The results provide options and ideas to guide treatment rather than rigid trial guidelines and required medicine combinations.
Actionable: While not all drugs are covered by insurance, the data gives oncologists and families something they desperately need: informed decisions.
For more information, visit Clinical Trial NCT05857969 and read the team’s published pilot study in Nature Medicine.
We’re proud to back this trial—and even prouder to stand with the families who refuse to give up. The truth is, pediatric cancer research is often slow to change. It’s complex, individualized, and underfunded. But that’s exactly why we’re here. To push. To fund what others won’t. To keep the hope alive.
Thank you for enabling us to do what we do.
Swords up,
—Little Warrior Foundation
In addition to this trial, other pediatric precision medicine programs are making waves at BCC’s In:Formation, and through MSK/Columbia’s OncoTreat and OncoTarget.