farragutpress

Local children with cancer treated to holiday celebration

December 23, 2025 by Tammy Cheek

Nineteen West Knox County youngsters, who are battling pediatric cancer, and their families were treated to a special holiday gift this year.

They celebrated the season with Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and around 50 members of the community. Rally families and volunteers gathered for a holiday party at Westgate Church along North Campbell Station Road, Tuesday, Dec. 16.

One such child was 9-year-old Chance, a Farragut Intermediate School student, who was diagnosed five days before turning 5.

“He just finished at St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis for medulloblastoma,” his mother, Trish Adams said. “It’s an aggressive brain cancer. He was referred there by East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.”

The trial is in Phase 2, and “it’s really showing some promise,” Adams said. “We were really excited to be part of that and to celebrate Christmas again.

To have such a part, “it’s really exciting because any time we can be with other families who really get how special every holiday is for us — I mean, everybody loves Christmas, but when you’re unsure if you’re ever going to celebrate that again with your child — it’s really extra special. And, when you can be with other families that get it, it’s really, really nice,” Adams said.

“It’s nice to see them like normal kids, another parent said.

“Rally Tennessee is committed to creating moments of joy for families who are walking through the hardest experiences of their lives,” Rally Tennessee director Elaine Kay said. “These events give families a chance to breathe, connect and feel supported by their community.”

In addition to funding cutting edge childhood cancer research, Rally Tennessee provides families with meals in the hospital and hosts community events that offer encouragement and hope.

Maryann Appert of Farragut, organized the Dec. 16 party, which included dinner, treats, hot cocoa, cookies to decorate, games to play and a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, crafts for children to do and even an opportunity to see the lights in Founders Park at Campbell Station.

“This is all being done by volunteers,” she said. “I am incredibly grateful to the Farragut community, all the people who have pitched in to make this possible — contributing their time, talents, making donations, the food the crafts, Santa, Mrs. Claus. This has been a wonderful thing for everybody to come together to do.

“Everything has been donated,” Appert said. “They’re getting gift bags with $30 gift cards to Walmart; they’re getting a Teddy bear; and from the Town of Farragut, they’re getting the glasses to go see the lights. They’re going to go over to the park afterward.

“This has been a community coming together, just to love on these families because, by going through it myself, the holidays are particularly challenging when you’re carrying that burden of a sick child and the uncertainty,” said Appert, with her voice breaking with emotion. “It’s just a beautiful thing to see everyone coming together and doing this for these families.

“My son, now 29, is a pediatric cancer survivor,” she said. “I connected with the Rally Foundation for Cancer Research when we lived in Atlanta, and I did a lot of volunteer work with them.

“I know the founder and CEO,” she said. “It’s a fantastic organization. They’ve raised over $40.5 million for grants for childhood cancer research because it is so underfunded that an organization, like the Rally Foundation, has to come in and help fill that gap.”

Additionally, Appert said Rally helps families that have financial needs.

“For example, if they have to go from Knoxville to Nashville or Memphis for a bone marrow transplant and they need help with gas money or hotels or they need a bill paid, Rally Foundation will support them,” she said. “They also do another program where they are bringing meals to the oncology patients and their families once a month at the [East Tennessee] Children’s Hospital,” Appert said. “So, it’s all about supporting families and children battling cancer.”

In that light, “they asked me to help with this party, and I was very excited,” she said. “We make sure we love on the entire family — the siblings and the parents — not just the child who is going through cancer.

“We just want them to feel loved and supported,” Appert said.

For a family of a sick child, such as Appert, “it is incredibly important [to have an organization like Rally] because so many families, after they hear the words, ‘Your child has been diagnosed with cancer,’ they run out of options for treatment because the cancer is so underfunded,” she said. “The Rally Foundation is funding critical research. They are getting grants out to research facilities around the country and making a significant impact so we can get better treatments, fewer side effects and hopefully, ultimately, better cure rates.

“We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary,” said Shelley Logan, volunteer and Rally board member in Atlanta, Georgia.

“We’re helping support everything here in Knoxville.

“I believe, this year, we awarded $5 million, just in grants alone,” she said. “But, our CEO and a group from Rally are always in contact with Washington, and we have some Congress members. They are huge advocates for childhood cancer funding through the Department of Defense and other government arms and have unleashed an enormous amount of money through government funding for childhood cancer research.

“I’ve been with Rally for 15 years now,” Logan said. “My son is also a pediatric cancer survivor, and he’s 28. He’s 16 years out now from his last treatment. He’s doing great.

“We started working with Rally right after he finished his treatments,” Logan added. “It changed from Rally Nashville to Rally Tennessee, and we are feeding children in the hospitals [Chattanooga, Nashville and in ETCH in Knoxville] and also doing the Family Emergency Fund.

“Research is so critically needed,” she said, adding the government funding helps fill the gap”