The mission of Chase After a Cure is highly personal for founder Whitney Ringler. At the age of three, her son Chase was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the sympathetic nervous system; thankfully, he has been out of treatment for four years. The experience inspired Whitney to organize a fundraiser as a thank-you to Chase’s doctors at MUSC Children’s Hospital. When the first fundraiser was successful, she organized another, and then another, eventually founding Chase After a Cure in 2009. Since then, the organization has raised more than half a million dollars for ongoing cancer research at MUSC Children’s Hospital, the only pediatric-focused research lab in the state. “After seeing firsthand what pediatric cancer can do to families and children, I want to help find a better treatment, a better outcome, and less long-term side effects,” Ringler says. www.chaseafteracure.com
