The Serenity Foundation

Born on July 6th, 2006, Serenity, the youngest of 8 children, was almost 2 years old when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on May 24th 2008 - permanently changing her and her parents life.  In the weeks that followed she fought for her life receiving over a dozen blood transfusions, multiple medications, having a port catheter installed and starting chemo.  By the time she turned 2 years old she was bald, couldn’t walk anymore due to the chemo, steroids and leukemia and had endured medically more than both her parents had in their combined lives.

She is a fighter, she has never really given up to the cancer or to the treatments - as worn down as she gets she still finds energy to bounce back and participate with her family when things are going on. 

She will be on chemo until she is almost 5 years old.  By then her body will be so riddled from the treatment of her cancer that she will most likely be suffering from multiple long-term or permanent side effects.  When she dies, especially if it’s in the next 5 years, it will mostly likely be either from her cancer or from the treatment of her cancer - in short - this thing will probably kill her eventually.  For now, we fight daily to keep her here with us and each day that we win is a blessing and is celebrated.

Her trials have been heavily documented - her entire treatment process, pictures and more can be found on her cancer blog called Lifting Up Serenity.

Her dad, Phil Burns, decided to start The Serenity Foundation as a legacy project for her - and for him.  One of the goals of the foundation is to reach the point financially that he can work for it full time as the Executive Director and dedicate his remaining life to Serenity and the Foundation.