KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Big Slick KC is helping families fight childhood cancer.
Emily Omar is the mom of two-and-a-half-year-old Elaina, who has Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Doctors told the family that Elaina has a 30 percent chance of surviving but didn't let that stop them from finding the best treatment for Elaina - called CAR T-cell Therapy, where CAR stands for Chimeric Antigen Receptor.
"CAR T-cell therapy is when they take the patient's T-cells out then send it off," Omar explained. "They make the T-cells into cancer-fighting cells, which takes about a month. Then after a month, they put the T-cells back into the child's body and it fights off the cancer cells. We let this run for about four weeks before we start testing if she's in remission or not. Elaina has received CAR T-cell therapy twice."
Elaina is the first baby at Children's Mercy Hospital and one of the youngest in the nation to get the advanced type of therapy.
Omar said she has been in remission for 16 months
That type of treatment is possible thanks to donors and fundraisers, like Big Slick KC.
The Kansas City fundraiser was started by five local celebrities - Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Robb Riggle, Jason Sudeikis and Eric Stonestreet - to raise money to end childhood cancer and advance pediatric medicine.
Their annual fundraiser is virtual again this year, due to COVID-19. The event is called "The Big Slick Virtually Talented Show."
In a press release, Big Slick KC announced the five celebrities and 30 other famous faces will post an "hour-long, completely original production."
You can watch the event on their Facebook Page, Youtube Channel and Website at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The fundraiser has raised more than $12 million since its start.
