The Hyundai Hope On Wheels foundation and Westchester-area Hyundai dealers this week awarded a $250,000 grant for pediatric cancer research to Dr. Mitchell Cairo, physician-researcher at New York Medical College and chief of Maria Fareri Children”™s Hospital”™s pediatric hematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation team in Valhalla.
New York Medical College officials said the funds will support Cairo”™s work to develop novel targeted therapies for Burkitt”™s lymphoma. The medical college is one of 41 recipients of the automaker”™s 2013 Hyundai Hope Grants, which fund research projects with the greatest potential to improve the lives of children battling cancer.
“This grant will fund important research to develop treatments for Burkitt”™s lymphoma,” Cairo said in the award announcement. “Children cared for at Maria Fareri Children”™s Hospital for Burkitt”™s lymphoma will be among the first in the nation to benefit from research results.”
At an award ceremony Tuesday on the Grasslands medical campus, children affected by cancer  placed their handprints dipped in colorful paint on a white 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, the official vehicle of Hope On Wheels. The ceremony, and others like it across the nation, celebrates the courageous lives and individual stories of children faced with cancer.
Hope On Wheels this month is conducting a social media campaign inviting the public to join the pediatric cancer fight and share stories of children battling cancer to raise awareness about a disease for which nearly 15,000 children are newly diagnosed each year in the U.S. An app on Hyundai”™s Facebook page allows visitors to add their handprints to an interactive map of hope as well as watch and read children”™s stories.
The Hope on Wheels nonprofit is funded by Hyundai and its U.S. dealers. With every new vehicle sold in the U.S., Hyundai and its dealers make a contribution to the foundation.
This is amazing. My daughter Joy was born at 23 weeks last year. Due to modern medicine, prayers and the wonderful doctors at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, she is doing great today. I hemorrhaged at 17 weeks for the first of 4 times because of 100% placenta previa, which turned into placenta accreta (which I believe was caused by 3 prior c-sections). After she came home from 121 days in the NICU, I wrote a memoir called “From Hope To Joy” about my life-threatening
 pregnancy and my daughter’s 4 months in the NICU (with my 3 young sons at 
home), which is now available on Amazon. It was quite a roller 
coaster that I am certain some of you have been on or are currently riding on. My mission is to provide hope to women struggling with
 high-risk pregnancies, encourage expectant mothers to educate themselves before 
electing cesarean deliveries, provide families of premature babies a realistic 
look at what lies ahead in their NICU journey, and show that miracles can 
happen, and hope can turn into joy.
 Please see my website http://www.micropreemie.net and http://www.facebook.com/jenniferdegl

Thank you.