Christian divenly works through us; helping so many kids like him Victoria accomplished her chemotherapy treatments at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) due to being diagnosed in 2010 (at age 21) with a cancerous childhood brain tumor, Medulloblastoma. It was pretty normal that Victoria and her Mother would spend an hour (sometimes more) in the waiting area before she started a round of chemotherapy. During this time, they met many amazing and resilient children and their families. They would bring small toys/gifts in for the children undergoing treatments. Victoria loved talking with the children, making them laugh, and inspiring them through positive affirmations - telling them they were strong and brave! Seeing the joy on their face meant the world to her, and it really helped her battle her own cancer physically and emotionally. She wanted them to look up to her; to be an example for them; showing them if she can do it, YOU CAN DO IT! Victoria felt a certain way being 21 years old in the same department as those precious kids. Seeing some of them with no hair, tubes in their nose, and crying in visible pain, all while gaining close relationships with many of them, and then sometimes not seeing them ever again due to this disease, was extremely hard for her. Due to that specific part of her journey, plus an 8-year-old stranger at the time, Christian (who had the same type of brain cancer as her), is why she runs this program. Christian and Victoria had the same radiation schedule (across the street from CHOP at Penn Medicine; 8 weeks Monday through Friday), and she and her Mother would constantly run into him and his parents at CHOP Oncology for over a year; they became family. They would bring Christian a gift every so often, and his face would light up. Victoria became very attached to him. He was more than just a friend to her; he was a pillar of inspiration and hope. During most of Victoria's treatments, she would pray that God would take the cancer toxins out of her body as well as all the brave, courageous kids in the department. She would always say a separate special prayer for her buddy, Christian, asking for healing and admiring his perseverance, fearlessness, and sweet innocence. This gave her even more motivation to continue to fight. As they finished their last radiation treatment, Victoria was honored to ring the bell with him! Months later, his health began to decline as he was not responding well to his chemotherapy treatments. Victoria and her Mother would visit him as he was inpatient at CHOP in between Victoria’s small breaks between her chemotherapy and blood transfusions. They tried to visit his room as often as they could (God willing, Victoria wasn't feeling very sick that day). When Christian’s short journey ended in 2011, and he passed on to get his wings in Heaven, he left an indelible mark on Victoria’s heart. She found out the devastating news during a chemotherapy session and was instantly struck by a plethora of emotions that were unexplainable at the time A few weeks later due to her low blood counts, Victoria had an overnight stay at CHOP and she remembers lying in bed at 2 AM and making a promise to God that if she was blessed enough to beat this disease and be able to function again, that she would one day try to… A. give back to those suffering from cancer in her community and B. continue doing what her and her Mother did for back in 2010 for those courageous children like her guardian angel, Christian. After years of pain, anguish, sadness, and just feeling like “why him and not me, God?”, she now looks at it in a different light; having to go through that devastating loss, while she was battling to survive, was divinely motivated for her to live life to the fullest FOR HIM and help others who are battling this disease like Christian. He is the soul of this organization. He is the one who brings hope through their programs. Christian is an integral part of this Nonprofit as every single day that Victoria is blessed to wake up and walk, she knows he is there as her guardian angel, guiding, pushing, and motivating her to continue the Victoria Rose Fund mission in honor of him. Victoria lost her beloved Father and the matriarch of this Nonprofit in 2022 from heart complications. In 2023, she was praying to the miraculous St. Padre Pio for healing from the pain of this loss, and she suddenly heard a brief whisper of her Father saying an endearing word of encouragement with a push to do something bigger in the name of all the sick children she met, and that that was God’s plan for her. Contemplating on what her Father spiritually said to her, the brave kids from the pediatric oncology department, and Christian’s impact on her life, she decided to implement the UPLIFT program. In October 2023, she started out with five small items from the Dollar Store and a St. Peregrine card. She put one small package together for a sweet 4-year-old girl named Oakley who was battling Leukemia in CA. At the time, she had no idea what she was starting. It then became about 2 or 3 packages per month and eventually exceeded as months went on. They are now at a remarkable 350+ packages. It’s absolutely amazing to see how far this simple idea/gesture has come. It's more than just a package; it's the hundreds of stories of the resilience and courage of those children she met at CHOP years ago, especially her buddy Christian, that metaphorically fill the patient’s package with hope and simple UPLIFT.