Emily's Army
Fighting Childhood Brain Cancer Together in Honor of Emily Hood
Emily LOVED life; her goal was to always make people around her feel good about themselves. She commented often that it only took one kind word or act to make someone’s day. She enjoyed spending time in the theater, acting in several shows at The Madrona Children's Theater as well as the Wade James Theater in Edmonds, WA. Emily was an equestrian for many years and more than anything loved the company of any horse she had the privilege to ride. As a freshman in high school, she joined the wrestling team and later became one of the founding members of the first girls’ wrestling team at EWHS. After joining the swim team to increase her endurance for wrestling, she came to love swimming as well! Emily was an avid fan of The Office and Marvel comics, with a big soft spot for Spiderman. She owned a dozen pairs of Crocs and loved daisies, sloths, chocolate cream pie, and peaches.
After believing Emily had suffered a concussion during a wrestling match, just a week after her 17th birthday, we found out that it was DIPG, the most deadly, incurable form of brain cancer in children. She immediately took charge of her treatments, believing that God had a plan for her, and did he ever as she continuously shared her faith as she went through her journey. She took part in many different kinds of therapies, enduring a month and a half total of radiation with several different versions of chemotherapy. When the Brain Child 03 clinical trial opened up at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Emily became the first patient with DIPG to receive CAR T cells targeting B7-H3 AND the first patient with DIPG to receive intracranial CAR T cells. We are so proud of her incredible acts of bravery and selflessness; she is and will forever be our hero. Private funding for research is essential to finding a cure for DIPG and our family is committed to continuing Emily’s legacy of giving by supporting brain cancer research and families currently in treatment.
