Ragans fight kid cancer
James and Mecklin Ragan are a brother-sister duo from Duncan College who are reaching out and standing up for children with rare cancers. In 2009 they founded the Triumph Over Kid Cancer Foundation, aiming to raise funds for research and awareness of rare pediatric cancers, according to Mecklin, a senior.
James, a sophomore, said that he is currently battling a rare pediatric bone cancer known as osteosarcoma. James and Mecklin's cousin Mikhal Gongora Abou-Sayed created a Facebook event called "Let's help James get on Ellen!" that includes a link to the Ellen show website, encouraging supporters of the Ragans to nominate James to speak on the show about TOKC, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The Ellen show has a "Be a part of the show" section on its website that includes a tab asking viewers to nominate an inspiring person they know to be on the show.
As of Aug. 24, according to a comment from Abou-Sayed on the Facebook event, 1,000 people nominated James for the Ellen show using the form on the website.
According to Ellen Degeneres's Twitter page, Ellen tweeted to James on Aug. 30 stating, "Sending love to an amazing young man named James Ragan. Good luck with your surgery!"
James was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 13, he said. Within a year of being diagnosed and undergoing treatment, James decided that for his 14th birthday he wanted to throw a toga party, inspired by the toga party in the classic college movie "Animal House." James and his family turned the party into a fundraiser, and thus the Toga Party Fundraiser tradition began.
Mecklin said she thought the turnout exceeded expectations.
"In lieu of gifts, everyone donated $50, and the turnout was just incredible," Mecklin Ragan said. "I remember we said, 'If we could raise $20,000, that would be really good,' but then we ended up raising $42,000."
That toga party marked the beginning of James and Mecklin's fundraising and activist efforts for pediatric cancers and led them to found the Triumph Over Kid Cancer Foundation in 2009, they said. Since that initial toga party, James and Mecklin have planned and hosted about two fundraisers a year, Mecklin said.
According to James, the fundraisers have expanded to include not only the signature toga party, held in Corpus Christi, but also a golf tournament, silent auctions and major events in New Orleans. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has partnered with the Triumph Over Kid Cancer Foundation so that all money raised by TOKC is matched dollar for dollar by M.D. Anderson, Mecklin said. Past recipients of money raised through their endeavors include M.D. Anderson, the Sunshine Kids and Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Mecklin said.
Since coming to Rice, James has faced several recurrences of cancer as his osteosarcoma metastasized or spread. Mecklin said that the Rice community has been supportive throughout the entire time she and James have been here.
"Professors are always very understanding if we will be out for whatever reason," Mecklin said.
Most pediatric cancers only affect a limited number of people, meaning that pharmaceutical companies could only make a limited amount of profit from developing and selling drugs to treat patients, James said. Because of this, research to develop new treatments for pediatric cancers is underfunded and often forgotten, James said.
"The treatments that I'm having are the same treatments used on patients 30 years ago," James said.
This, James said, is why it is so important to get the word out about osteosarcoma and other pediatric cancers, so that more effort will be put into finding cures and treatments.
"My story is being told, but all my other friends battling cancer have passed away, so when I'm telling my story I'm not just representing myself, I'm representing the thousands of kids who have come before me," James said. "It's important that the work I do today will help the kids tomorrow. I don't want to be the face of pediatric cancer, because it should be the faces of the hundreds of thousands of kids who died."
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