AUGUSTA, Ga. (Aug. 8, 2024) – With courage that belies her 15 years, Harper Mathis stepped to the podium at Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia and spoke to visitors from Hyundai, Wellstar Health System, Wellstar Children’s, Wellstar Georgia Cancer Center and Augusta University. When she finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
“This is my second chance at life,” she told them. “Without this trial, I don’t know if I would be here today. I just got the best MRI I’ve gotten in a while.”
On Thursday, Harper and other patients at Wellstar Children’s made their mark for kids battling cancer across the country by pressing their paint-covered hands onto white stickers, which were then placed on a new white Hyundai Santa Fe. The effect is a custom handprinted paint job to commemorate Hyundai Hope on Wheels’ $400,000 grant for pediatric cancer research.
Each year, Hyundai Hope on Wheels visits children’s hospitals across the U.S. to donate a two-year Scholar Hope grant to researchers working to improve outcomes and treatments for children diagnosed with cancer. The annual event also raises awareness for pediatric cancer research.
The $400,000 Scholar Hope grant will fund Dr. Ted Johnson’s research project titled, “Novel measurement of molecular immune activation to predict response to pediatric immunotherapy.” Dr. Johnson is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Wellstar Children’s and co-director of the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program at Wellstar Children’s and Wellstar Georgia Cancer Center.
Dr. Johnson and his research team are working to define the mechanisms that suppress the body’s immune response and allow tumor survival, so they can identify ways to counteract those processes and fortify the immune system to fight the tumor instead.
“This grant represents another critical pledge in our fight against pediatric brain tumors,” Dr. Johnson said. “This investigation is important because the more we understand about how these tumors quietly advance, the closer we will get to developing better treatments and therapies. This could positively impact care for children with brain tumors by improving their quality of life.”
This is the fourth Hyundai grant awarded to Dr. Johnson, who has received a total of $925,000 in Hope on Wheels funding since 2011 for his pediatric immunotherapy studies. The current Scholar Hope grant will fund research to measure the immune system’s activation and response to pediatric immunotherapy.
Harper and her family, who are from Michigan, have spent nearly six months at Wellstar Children’s to participate in the study.
“It means the world to me that Dr. Johnson has made his life all about this trial because I needed it so badly and so do other kids,” Harper said. “So many people don’t understand how meaningful this all is and how grateful and thankful we are."
Hyundai Hope on Wheels is a nonprofit organization committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. The organization provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing critical research aimed at improving treatments and saving lives.
