Roger Daltrey, of the legendary rock band The Who, gave new hopes to young adults battling cancer in a Chicago hospital Friday.
The iconic musician and singer presented nearly $500,000 to Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital to help expand its adolescent and young adult cancer program. The donation was made by Teen Cancer America, which he helped start to help teenage cancer patients around the world.
"If adults have lounges and children have nurseries, what is there for this age group?" Daltrey said.
For many who have gone and are going through some of the toughest moments of their lives at the hospital, the gift means even more.
"I've had 10 surgeries this year," said adolescent cancer survivor Graham Ikler. "You go through so much. There are so many side effects."
The 19-year-old in a pediatric hospital spent much of his treatment in isolation, unable to relate to others his age as spent his teen years fighting for his life.
"It was hard to go into a children’s hospital and see these kids that were sicker than me and crying and you just couldn’t really handle it," Ikler said before breaking down in tears.
With the donation, Northwestern Hospital says they will be able to do more research for that age group.
"Since I’m a survivor, it’s good to see progress because it was so hard for me," Ikler said.
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The hospital plans to hire a navigator and program coordinator to help expand their program.
"We’re essentially feeding people poison so in order to be able to keep a positive attitude is really, really difficult on your own," said Dr. Jennifer Reichek, whose a pediatric hematology-oncology specialist in the adolescent and young adult cancer program.
