On January 4, 2021, 6 year-old Jacob Senediak of Pittsburgh, PA died due to complications from his fight with DIPG, a deadly childhood brain cancer which spares mercilessly few of its victims. His father, Mark Senediak, joins us on Childhood Cancer Talk Radio to begin a discussion about efforts his family and others connected with “Jacob’s Fight,” the fledgling foundation developing through this mission, are undertaking to build a one-of-a-kind monument to all children present, past, and sadly, future who have fought pediatric cancer and lost their battles. “These brave hero’s, like my Jacob, fought bravely and were, are, and will always be the forgers of the roadmap to a cure which will one day exist. While some pediatric cancers have become more treatable through the bravery of those in the past, others like DIPG have not.”
Submissions for the design of “Jacob’s Monument” are being accepted through September 15, 2021, Jacob’s 7th birthday, and must meet three requirements:
- A drawing, picture, model or other rendering of a physical structure displaying the etched names of the honorees, expandable to accommodate additional submissions from the past, present, and future.
- A plan for an online database where the stories of the honorees will be told by, pictures, text, audio or video submitted by their families
- A plan for interactive access to the honoree’s stories from the physical structure of the monument by mobile device.
Jacob’s Fight has already received an abundance of plans from the local high school in Pittsburgh and is considering 12 finalists, but is still accepting submissions to the selection committee at [email protected].
Mark Senediak generously shares his story with Childhood Cancer Talk Radio, the bravery of his son and others like him who, unknown to most, face impossible odds to survive simply because our society does not invest adequately into research for cures for children with cancer.
“Jacob’s Monument will provide recognition to all those children across the US who fight this WAR AGAINST CANCER and provide an innovative and interactive way to honor their sacrifice… will preserve their legacies and tell their stories both as warriors against cancer and as the amazing, talented, hopeful, and brave boys and girls that they were.” –Mark Senediak
Some examples of submissions from high school students:
