Cheryl and Phil Yagoda of Sandy Springs created Ian’s Friends Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to raising funds for pediatric brain tumor research, after their son was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
Ian was just two years old when Cheryl noticed something was wrong. Their twins were born first and a little early and didn’t meet their milestones initially.
“They’re perfectly normal girls, but I was never worried about them,” she said. “But with Ian something just felt wrong.”
Initial medical checkups didn’t reveal any problems, nor did a CAT scan. When an MRI was performed, the parents heard words Phil said no parent ever wants to hear: “We think we found something.”
An inoperable brain tumor was what the MRI revealed back in 2006. And that started their search for some way to treat their son. They started with the City of Hope in Los Angeles, the University of Chicago, Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Johns Hopkins, NYU Cornell, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Toronto Sick Kids and Boston Children’s Hospital.
They learned that this was the most common cancer cause of death for children under 20.
“But there’s so little public funds that are given towards it just makes no sense,” Phil said.
When they asked doctors where research stood, the Yagodas were told “nowhere.”
“So we started IFF, or Ian’s Friends Foundation with the sole purpose of funding research for children diagnosed with brain tumors,” Phil said.
Since they began their efforts to fund pediatric cancer research, Ian has started his freshman year of college. In the years between his diagnosis and today, Phil estimates Ian’s Friends Foundation has helped generate $30 million for research.
The projects the foundation helps fund have realized a 40 percent success rate in getting designated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for grants that support health-related research.
One project the foundation backed at Duke University received FDA breakthrough status.
Research has led to children being diagnosed much earlier, Cheryl said.
“I’ve got to tell you the truest heroes are the people who lost their battles but are so involved at the foundation to make sure it doesn’t happen to other people as well as those that have actually done well and want to make sure it still doesn’t happen to people,” Phil said.
