Kids Fight Cancer supporters raise $150,000

A fundraising dinner that started out 23 years ago with 150 people at Studebaker's in Schaumburg, now draws more than 1,000 people annually, and consequently needs one of the biggest venues around.

Its draw is simple: funding an activities center for the young patients at Children's Memorial Medical Center in Chicago.

This year's Kids Fight Cancer fall gala took place Oct. 20 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Once again, more than 1,000 people attended, from NBC-5 News anchor Allison Rosati, to elected officials, to loyal supporters.

Officials say, the huge crowd of supporters help to raise nearly $150,000 in one night, including approximately $22,000 in the piggy banks set out on each table, to enhance the medical center's stark procedure room.

At the podium, was the heart of the organization, Jim Pesoli of Arlington Heights, a four-time cancer survivor, who started Kids Fight Cancer back in 1985, after his second bout with Hodgkin's disease.

Through all of his early treatments, he kept thinking about the children who had to endure such procedures. When he approached Children's Memorial Hospital officials with the idea of funding some aspect of their pediatric oncology unit, they showed him the former playroom, which hospital officials had to close for lack of funding.

That was enough to host the first party, and inspire a nonprofit organization in its wake. Since its inception, Pesoli figures, the agency has raised more than $1 million for Children's Memorial, and now has broadened its scope. Along with sustaining the activities center, Saturday's dinner raised money for "Bridges," the hospital's palliative care team.

"We have hospice care for adults, but there's nothing in place that supports families with terminally ill children," Pesoli says.

Dr. David Steinhorn heads up the Bridges program at Children's Memorial, and he addressed the crowd on its impact on families. His team includes physicians, nurse practitioners, child life specialists, social workers and chaplains, who work with families to create an environment that maximizes the child's comfort and supports all members of the family during the end-of-life process.