KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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According to Children’s Cancer Cause, around 9,600 children ages 0 to 14 and 5,300 teenagers ages fifteen to nineteen were diagnosed with cancer.
It’s a statistic Janell and Keith Royer of Shawnee, Kansas, know too well. Their middle child, McKenna, was diagnosed with a rare, incurable brain tumor in August of 2023. Doctors worked to resect it totally, but it still wasn’t enough.
"We essentially were sent home to make memories,” Janell Royer said.
But the Royers didn’t give up. McKenna didn't fit the criteria for a trial medicine in the U.S., so their family spent the next several weeks in Germany, where she could get that medicine. It worked for a while until it didn't.
"She passed in Germany before we could even get her home in a matter of days,” Keith said. "She was beautiful, super outgoing, very athletic, hilarious, adventurous."
Through their own grief, an idea was born.
"Keith and I talked a lot about what other families are going through and what we had with our care team and how really special and unique that was,” Janell said.
The National Children’s Cancer Society said the average cost associated with childhood cancer is $833,000 to families. This doesn't include outside costs families are already paying, like mortgages, utility bills, and more.
“We'll just speak from our seven-month experience alone, between having to have a total resection, so a surgery, and then outside the United States having to pay fully out of pocket, we're upwards of about $600,000 billed to us that we would have to pay for out of pocket. But the actual billed amount is in the millions,” Janell said.
Janell said a lot of their costs were covered with the help of fundraising.
Knowing the grief, stress, and financial hardships firsthand, the Royers felt called to start the Brave Like McKenna Foundation. It helps families of kids fighting pediatric cancer across the country through child and family support, advocacy, and research.
Janell said the foundation has helped 31 families across the country since just last summer alone, highlighting the need for donor resources to keep the foundation going.
"Without funding from the KC community, we wouldn't be able to help support these families that are going through the unthinkable,” Executive Director Ashely Daher said.
Ashley’s daughter was McKenna’s best friend.
“My daughter and McKenna are four days apart and became fast friends, celebrating many birthdays together, playdates, slumber parties,” she said.
This work is for McKenna and kids like her. But it's also helping other families be brave like McKenna.
"It's hard some days to wake up and, you know, choose positivity, but helping other people really helps me do that,” Keith said.
The Brave Like McKenna Foundation is hosting its first-ever golf tournament on Friday, May 16, at 8 a.m. in Kansas City, Kansas, to continue to raise money for the families it supports.
To learn more about the foundation, to be connected with its resources, or to donate, you can visit their website.
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