Photo Courtesy of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, by JNP Studios.
3:06pm | A young cancer patient from Long Beach will be one of just five to serve as an Ambassador Kid for the highly-regarded St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which funds grants and research for institutions researching cancer.
Julia Hernandez, 16, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) the day after Valentine’s Day last year. A regular patient at the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, Hernandez is now in remission and working on getting her driver’s license. Finished with treatment, Hernandez will still have to have regular blood checks for the rest of her life.
“I was excited to be chosen as a 2011Ambassador Kid for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation because I’m not afraid of being known,” Hernandez says. “I felt that if someone wanted to hear about childhood cancer that they would want to hear a success story.”
Hernandez is one of the lucky ones – one in five children diagnosed with cancer will not survive – and she will now be one of the faces of an organization dedicated to improving the lives of other cancer patients who might not be as fortunate. As an Ambassador Kid, she will represent St. Baldrick’s at local events and speaking functions.
“It is such an honor that the St. Baldrick’s Foundation chose one of the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Miller Children’s Hospital patients to be an Ambassador Kid for their organization,” said Jerry Z. Finklestein, MD, and founding Medical Director of the JJCCC.
“Julia is such an amazing girl and has an equally amazing story. She is the perfect example of a teenager overcoming cancer. She has a great heart and a wonderful spirit. I am very proud of Julia.”