Aidan’s Story

Aidan Brown was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma on May 20, 2010, just days before his fifth birthday. He relapsed shortly after his 10th birthday. The continuous support, prayers, and gifts from family, friends, and the community helped Aidan and our family during those dark days and years. We remain forever grateful to everyone for all they did for us. We are also thankful that their generosity inspired us to help others too. In this spirit, and with the help of our dear friends, Michelle Goyer and Seema Verma we established the Aidan Brown Foundation.

When we asked Aidan what children in the hospital needed, he answered “visitors.” However, the next thing on his list (and our list) was his iPad. Aidan received one of the first-newly-introduced iPads as a gift and it quickly became his constant companion. It helped to distract him during painful procedures and to keep him busy during all the waiting, receiving, and recovering from treatments. We loaded it with his favorite shows, songs, and games. We used it to read him well wishes from his CaringBridge site and to stay connected with his brother and friends. We filled it with photographs of happy times, fun places we planned to visit, and the smiling faces of his many visitors.

The Aidan Brown Foundation aims to help children with cancer stay positive by providing much-needed distractions and by helping them stay connected to the people, places, and things they love. We achieve this by raising funds to buy and give iPads to children, of all ages, undergoing cancer treatments in Indiana. Since beginning in July 2010, the Aidan Brown Foundation has gifted over 300 iPads. This is made possible thanks to countless donations and the creative fundraising efforts of Aidan’s family, friends, and community.

Aidan is now a happy and healthy 11th grader and a three-time cancer survivor.  He loves sports, stats, basketball, and especially the Boston Celtics.  Aidan has directly benefited from a research drug funded by Cookies for Kid’s Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Cookies for Kid’s Cancer is helping fund research grants to five of the nation’s leading pediatric cancer centers to advance the development of less toxic, more effective treatments for children battling cancer. You can learn more about this amazing organization at cookiesforkidscancer.org.  Aidan focuses his efforts to support the needs of pediatric cancer patients through his fundraising efforts for this organization and encourages you to donate to Cookies for Kids Cancer rather than the Aidan Brown Foundation.

The Aidan Brown Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.