You help kids like Bella
Bella has a vibrant personality and a big smile that lights up any room. She also has a complex set of medical challenges that requires cutting-edge care. Bella was born with cerebral palsy, which impairs motor skills and causes other issues like breathing problems.
When Bella was 9, genome sequencing at Boston Children’s uncovered another diagnosis: a rare genetic condition that can lead to developmental delays. Bella also has a rare intestinal disorder that causes severe abdominal pain and digestion problems. A team of specialists at Boston Children’s works together to help Bella stay healthy—offering the latest diagnostic tools, leading-edge treatments and support services. This advanced, comprehensive care means Bella can continue to be a bubbly teenager and celebrate special moments like her 15th birthday quinceñera.
You help desperate families find answers
By supporting Ride to Cure Kids, you fuel medical discoveries and research breakthroughs for patients at Boston Children's Hospital.
Every dollar you raise goes to the Boston Children’s Research Accelerator Fund, fast-tracking promising research into treatments and cures for sick kids worldwide. Examples of these breakthroughs include:
- Defeating deadly cancers: Creating a therapy that uses cells from a child's immune system to attack neuroblastoma. Clinical trials, starting late 2023 or early 2024, could lead to better treatments and outcomes for a range of cancers.
- Predicting autism early: Developing tools to detect autism in babies, before symptoms appear, to begin early interventions for skills like speech and language.
- Combatting genetic diseases: Creating and administering a now FDA-approved gene therapy to fight CCALD, a devastating disease that causes kids to grow blind and deaf and lose muscle control.
- Saving children in utero: Designing and performing a groundbreaking brain surgery on a baby in the womb who had a rare blood vessel abnormality.
- Finding novel solutions to heart disease: Developing an artificial heart valve that grows as young patients grow, eliminating the need for multiple open-heart surgeries to replace valves.
- Tackling the mental health crisis: Teaming up with Franciscan Children's to create a new home for pediatric behavioral health care in Boston. It will reduce wait times for care and advance research into better treatments.
- And many more...
Why Boston Children's?
Much more than your local children's hospital, Boston Children's has saved millions of kids' lives through its groundbreaking research. Some of the world's best weapons against disease were developed here: vaccines for polio and measles, the first successful chemotherapy treatment and successful congenital heart repair, and so much more. A combination of unmatched scientific talent and innovative tech is just one of the reasons Boston Children's leads the world in pediatric research. A few others:
- 3,300 scientific staff pursuing cures
- 300+ clinical trials offering hope
- World's largest research enterprise at a pediatric hospital
- 1 million square feet of research space for collaboration with clinicians
- 25% of inpatients transferred here for care no one else can give
All of this leads to solutions others can't offer. That's why kids in every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries come to Boston Children's for care and why we share our discoveries worldwide. Let's ride and rally to give some of the world’s sickest kids a second chance at life!
