MEET A HERO: Grant, 2 year old at diagnosis

"Upside down," said Grant looking at himself in the mirror and pointing at his Spiderman T-shirt while standing up on a hospital bed. Grant Gossling was 2 years old when he was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma and everyone at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospital knew him as Spidey, in honor of his favorite hero.  

Michael, Grant and June Gossling

Grant underwent almost 2 years of aggressive treatment, including chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, 2 rounds of high-dose radiation therapy, 6 rounds of immunotherapy. In between, he did his best to be a kid, pretending to climb the hospital walls and catching bad guys on his powerful webs. After 2 years of battle, Grant passed away on March 28, 2016.

Upside down is how a family's world turns when childhood cancer stands at the door. However, after grief or a new start, there is one thing in common within childhood cancer families: their passion and commitment to avoid other families going through what they went through. Since the beginning of Grant’s diagnosis, the Gossling family has continually advocated for other children battling and supported childhood cancer research.

"We have supported every aspect in childhood cancer, from funding research to improving healthcare facilities, from supporting clinical teams to advocating for more funding for childhood cancer in front of the US Capitol," said June Gossling, Grant's mother. "We felt Oncoheroes was the missing piece. We could finally contribute to accelerating drug development in pediatric oncology. There have already been enough families that have lost their hope waiting for better treatments." 

Michael Gossling, Grant's dad, is currently the chairman of the board of the Rally Foundation, a childhood cancer foundation that recently invested in Oncoheroes. Right after, Michael and June decided that they also wanted to be part of Oncoheroes. "Investing in Oncoheroes was not a hard decision for us; in the end, we are all going for a cure. Our son went through many aggressive and very toxic treatments, and despite all the pokes, Grant could always muster a smile. We are very excited that finally there is a company solely focused on developing new targeted drugs for children and adolescents, who deserve more effective and less toxic options. One step at a time, we will make it," stated Michael.