Valley Children's Hospital receives big donation to help pediatric cancer treatments

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A significant donation will be used to help treat kids who are battling cancer at Valley Children's Hospital. The money will be used to keep life-saving care closer to home.

Valley Children's Hospital received a $15 million anonymous donation.

Eleven-year-old Noah Rodden is a sixth grader who loves his Bay Area sports teams. He's a big fan of the 49ers and the Golden State Warriors. He's also very bright and caring, with a big heart.

But In May 2019, Noah was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia.

"Hearing that news was just very, you know, frightening, and you know, scary," said Priscilla Rodden, Noah's mother.

Noah's family learned he needed a bone marrow transplant. Rodde said that because he was considered a high-risk case, they needed to go to UCSF's Benioff's Children Hospital in San Francisco for the operation.

"You know, you spend so much time at Valley Children's," said Rodden. "You build personal relationships with everybody."

Rodden said dealing with the distance was a challenge. She had to leave her husband and another son back home. But thanks to the $15 million donation, families like Noah's will soon be able to get this level of care closer to them.

"When they go for these types of treatments, they are gone from home for several months," said Dr. Faisal Razzaqi, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Valley Children's Hospital.

"Anywhere from a month to sometimes up to six months. It creates a huge stress on the family from a psychological standpoint, financial standpoint, and emotional. All of those things."

The money would be used for advanced bone marrow transplants and to create an advanced Cell Therapy Program. Dr. Razzaqi said this opens the door to more revolutionary and life-saving treatments.

"The future looks bright for a lot of different diseases, not just cancer," said Dr. Faisal Razzaqi.

"Initially, it's mainly towards cancer and other blood disorders. But the hope is that we'll be able to apply these technologies to these diseases outside the cancer realm."

The funds would also be used to recruit doctors and healthcare providers with specialized training and bring them to Central California.

"We would have to hire a bone marrow transplant or cellular therapy physician who has special training in this," said Dr. Faisal Razzaqi. "That's bringing talent that we don't have here anywhere in the Central Valley. When you bring good talent in, other talent follows, too."

Rodden believes having these treatments closer to home will be a game changer for families.

"What an amazing experience it'll be to that for families to then be able to stay here and not have to travel so far and to continue long-term care," said Rodden.

Valley Children's said this is the largest single donation in the hospital's 70-year history.

The hospital also adds that the money supports the creation and accreditation of the program, as well as funds its operational costs for the first 10 years.

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