On Thursday, Sept. 10, at 3 p.m., Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital will be celebrating a generous grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels with a special Handprint Ceremony. The ceremony is composed of brief remarks and young patients and their families dipping their hands in paint and leaving handprints on a Hyundai vehicle to symbolize their fight against cancer.
Hyundai Hope on Wheels’ grant is for $100,000 and helps to provide the cost of staffing for a Nurse Navigator to support the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) program at the Children’s Hospital’s Children’s Cancer Institute. The AYA program was first launched in 2024 with help from Hyundai Hope on Wheels. The program treats patients from the ages of 15 to 39 who have received a cancer diagnosis, with the intention of addressing the survival gap that exists amongst patients in this age group. The Nurse Navigator’s role is to focus on the unique needs of AYA patients, families and clinicians through increased levels of support, as well as coordinating care.
Hyundai Hope on Wheels has spent more than 25 years fighting to end childhood cancer, becoming one of the nation’s leading funders in pediatric cancer research. The organization works to power cutting-edge research, bring public awareness to the issue and work with leading partners to create a cancer-free world for children.
The handprint ceremony serves as a way to celebrate the grant, which will provide many benefits to Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and its patients. The grant is one of many moves that Hyundai Hope on Wheels has made over the years to combat childhood cancer, hoping to continue bringing positive change and shedding light on the issue.