Molly McCabe with her mother, who she lost to cancer when she was 13.
Molly McCabe, Undergraduate Researcher
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To help spread awareness of the different cancers that impact children, we will be profiling a different researcher each week to talk about the cancer they study, their motivations for doing this research, and how they hope their research will help in the fight against childhood cancer.
What motivates you to do this research?
Cancer has impacted me deeply. I lost my mother to melanoma when I was 13 years old, and my now-14-year-old brother is 10 years Medulloblastoma free. Working for the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative, Olena Vaske, and Anouk van den Bout has allowed me to understand the disease further, and made me feel like I am contributing to making the lives of cancer patients and their families better. I am so grateful to be a part of the important work Treehouse is doing!
Outside of my research, I am also very involved in the cancer community. I was the director for Camp Kesem this year, which was very special to me. Due to his medical needs post-cancer, he hasn’t been able to go to camp or other kid’s activities. Our team made it possible for him to come.