Rylee's Story

Rylee passed away in January 2024 after battling 3 primary cancers for almost 5 years.  Rylee battled brain cancer (astrocytoma), bone cancer (osteosarcoma), and a soft tissue cancer on her ovary (angiosarcoma).  

Rylee's cancers were all driven by her Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS), a rare inherited genetic disorder that greatly increases the risk of developing several types of cancer. Rylee, her sister, and her father were all diagnosed with LFS in 2013, after her father, Ryan's, third cancer diagnosis in his lifetime.  LFS is not curable, nor are there currently any treatments, the only course of action is hyper-vigilance, with annual screenings (brain and full body MRIs primarily) to catch cancer as early as possible.

Fundraising for Breakthrough Research:

Rylee took on each new battle head on, without complaint, never cried once, and was usually more concerned about the well-being of her treatment team and family.  Our family fights LFS together and we are a super close and resilient family, but LFS families are often left off the priority list when it comes to receiving research dollars to find better solutions.

After our experience and the realization that treatment options would only materialize with research dollars directed towards LFS and the cancers that affect not just LFS patients but also many, non-LFS pediatric cancer patients, we decided to found Rylee's Legacy Foundation (501c3 Non Profit) to honor Rylee's memory.

“Our mission is to transform the future for families and children with cancer predisposition syndromes by investing in research and spreading awareness, ensuring they receive the knowledge and treatment options they deserve.”

THANK YOU for supporting Rylee's wish to help kids with cancer!  Pediatric cancer research is the greatest hope families with LFS.  When you are diagnosed with cancer, your only hope is that the doctors have a great treatment option for you. Money raised goes to funding cancer research in Rylee's memory at Children's Hospital of Philadealphia (CHOP) and other organizations helping raise awareness of research to support cancer predisposition syndromes like Li Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS)!