It’s impossible to see acres and acres of glorious solar-loving sunflowers in Avon and along the Cedar Point Causeway and not be moved by their beauty and mystique. The Prayers From Maria Fields of Hope are so much more than just joyful flowers that turn their faces toward the sun.
The sunflowers represent many things to so many people. They are a visual reminder of a little girl who lost her life to a brain tumor, but who never stopped thinking of other children fighting similar battles. The flowers also express the love and hope of family members of other children who have passed or who are still fighting.
Maria McNamara was 7 years old in 2007 when her parents, Ed and Megan McNamara, said goodbye to their only daughter, losing her to a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). When the McNamaras learned that funding for children’s cancer research in this country is very limited, they established the Prayers From Maria Children’s Cancer Foundation.
Today, the nonprofit foundation provides research dollars to medical institutions and individual researchers who are on a mission to prevent, treat and eliminate childhood cancers. The money is far-reaching, supporting studies and programs at Northeast Ohio medical facilities, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Alabama and My DIPG/DMG Nurse Navigator program, which provides nationwide support to patients and their families facing a pediatric brain tumor, as well as other locations.
“DIPG is a disease for which there has been no progress for the past 70 years. It’s as lethal then as it is now,” says Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, a nationally known pediatric oncologist who serves as the chair of Prayers From Maria’s Scientific Advisory Board. “Ed and Megan realized the statistics are unacceptable. Their question was what could be done? No one foundation is going to cure this disease. It’s going to take all of us.”
Dr. Kieran says the McNamaras have been able to raise awareness about childhood cancer and continue to raise funding for a variety of research methods and goals — including finding out “what does and doesn’t work, which is just as important.”
It goes without saying that medical research is extremely expensive. Prayers From Maria relies on two major annual events that boost the foundation’s account for researchers.
The Sunflower Soiree is Friday, July 12, at The Foundry, a nonprofit rowing, sailing and STEM education school in the Flats of Cleveland. Megan McNamara says the evening honors and celebrates researchers from across the country as well as VIP donors who represent many of Cleveland’s well-known names in philanthropy, business, arts and culture, entertainment and sports. The Soiree is by invitation, but it is also a ticketed event for the public.
“We love The Foundry. And by having our event there again, we hope we are supporting their organization as well,” says Megan McNamara.
The Sunflower Summer Wine Festival, Saturday, July 13, will attract thousands of people to Depot Street in Rocky River. Entertainers include Ed Purcell Music, featuring a solo acoustic cover artist, and Billy Morris and the Sunset Strip, an ’80s tribute band.
“We always like to have a few new surprises at the festival, so this year we are going to have a small private bourbon addition,” says McNamara. “When we look at pictures from past festivals, we have to smile because everyone in the pictures is smiling.”
McNamara says Prayers From Maria media screen presentations and signage around the festival “help thank people for coming and explain our work.
“We call all our events win-win situations for everyone involved, and we want everyone to be happy,” Megan adds.