My name is Dan Sims and I have started this fundraiser in order to provide a permanent source of funding for pediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. My daughter Janie was diagnosed with leukemia at 4 years old and passed away at 5 years of age. I set a goal of $10 million dollars. There are 5 million people in the State of Alabama and only $2 dollars per person would achieve the $10 million dollar goal. Larger donations will multiply the effect many times over, so please donate what you can!

As part of this campaign, I am hiking from Alabama to Maine for a distance of over 2,600 miles. When Janie was first diagnosed with leukemia, I heard the phrase, "This is not a sprint; it's a marathon" to prepare me for the ups and downs of the arduous treatment journey ahead. The journey I am undertaking on my hike is not a marathon, but rather a hundred marathons and demonstrates that we must continuously fight to find cures for pediatric cancers no matter the obstacles. 

Please join me by donating. I have started the donations with $2,000 dollars, which represents $2 dollars for the approximately 1,000 pediatric cancer patients that are being treated in Alabama at any given time. The State of Alabama has debated whether or not to have a lottery for decades. Many people travel to surrounding states to purchase multiple $2 dollars lottery tickets. $2 dollars from every person in Alabama is a small fraction of the amount of money that is collected daily by surrounding states. Let's flip the odds in favor of our children fighting pediatric cancers. This is a "lottery" in which you can't lose because all of the funds raised will contribute to a permanent source of funding for pediatric cancer research in Alabama.

Thank you for helping.