The Tyler Foundation is dedicated to making life better for kids with cancer in Japan and their families and is supported entirely by private and corporate donations. The idea for the foundation was inspired by Mark and Kim Ferris’ son Tyler’s two-year battle with infant leukemia. Even though Tyler received fantastic care at the National Center for Child Health and Development in Japan, we realized there was still much to be done to make life better for kids during treatment and make life easier for the people supporting them.
Children undergoing treatment for cancer in Japan are generally hospitalized for long periods of time – at least nine months and often much longer. This puts an incredible burden on the family supporting them. Most mothers go to the hospital daily, from early morning until their child goes to sleep at night. By necessity, their world becomes the hospital, even if this is at the expense of spending time with their other children. Another issue is that for the most part, in spite of undergoing cancer treatment, these children are happy and playful, and really want nothing more than to do normal kid things. So being in the hospital for such a prolonged period is both boring and isolating for them.
Drawing from the personal experience of the Ferris’, and with the guidance of a quality Japanese medical advisory team, the Tyler Foundation has identified the following goals though which we aim to make a difference:
- To empower children with cancer and their families through:
- Counseling
- Education
- Club Activities
- Sibling Support - To realize excellence in medical teams and treatment by:
- Providing additional medical staff
- Enabling collaboration among medical teams
- Supporting targeted research - To raise awareness of childhood cancer in the community through:
- Academic circles
- General public volunteering
- Corporate sponsor involvement
The Tyler Foundation has established current programs to meet these goals to make the fight a little easier and the future much brighter for the kids and their families. Currently implemented are:
- Shine On! Counseling and Support Program– Tyler Foundation flagship program, the first and only of its kind in Japan.
- Shine On! Pediatric Oncology Medical Support Program
- Shine On! Childcare Program
- Certified Nurse Specialist Scholarship Program
Japan Pediatric Leukemia Study Group Support Program
- Shine On! House Phase I
Most of these programs have started out on a small scale and were launched at Tyler’s hospital, The National Center for Child Health and Development in Setagaya-ku. Our long-range goal is that these programs will serve as a model to be replicated at other hospitals. We hope that if other hospitals realize what is possible to accomplish, they too will want our help in implementing programs.
In addition to these up-and-running programs the Tyler Foundation has plans for future programs that include:
Shine On! Beads of Courage
- Started on September 2009 at Ibaraki Children’s Hospital
Shine On! Therapy Dog Program
In Japan, the number of registered nonprofit charities and fundraising organizations is increasing monthly, but NPOs are still a fairly new concept here. We hope the Tyler Foundation can be a pioneer in Japan - helping kids with cancer as well as demonstrating that a nonprofit organization can make a real difference in people’s lives.