Yahoo Employee Foundation Awards $22,000 Grant to Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation, Inspired by Devin Suau
Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG® Foundation is deeply grateful to the Yahoo Employee Foundation, a corporate advised fund with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, for donating $22,000 that will be dedicated to research for treatments and a cure for the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer: DIPG brain tumors.
Though it ceased operation earlier this year, the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF) was a grassroots, philanthropic organization that gave Yahoo employees easy and accessible ways to give back to their communities. YEF was 100% funded and led by employee volunteers, and funded causes that were most meaningful to the Yahoo employee population.
Earlier this year, Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation was grateful to be nominated for consideration for a YEF grant, as a direct result of the inspiration of Yahoo employees by a six-year-old boy named Devin Suau, whose father and uncle work for Yahoo. Devin was diagnosed in January 2017 with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a brain tumor with less than 1% overall survival that impacts 200-400 children each year in the U.S. alone. Devin’s family started the #whynotdevin movement, to involve others in Devin’s fight and to raise awareness of this devastating disease. Devin’s Army of family, friends and supporters believe any child should be able to beat DIPG, so why not Devin?
After watching Devin’s bravery, and learning about the significant need for more resources to improve the prognosis for children with DIPG, Yahoo employees advocated for the award of this important grant that will be dedicated to innovative research focused on DIPG.
We thank all who helped make this grant possible. For Devin, and thousands more who have faced and will face DIPG, our Foundation will remain steadfast in its mission to fund DIPG research and contribute to progress against this deadly disease. The Foundation expects to announce a new round of Defeat DIPG® research grants by the end of 2017.
Learn more by visiting DefeatDIPG.org or following us on social media at @DefeatDIPG. You can read further about Devin and follow his journey through the #whynotdevin Facebook group or @WhyNotDevinDIPG on Twitter. You can also learn more about Devin at https://defeatdipg.org/meet-the-kids/devin-suau/.
