History

The Susanna DeLaurentis Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity formed in 1999 to fund research directed at finding cures for life-threatening childhood diseases and to provide scholarships for college-bound high school seniors with superior academic and extracurricular achievements despite the challenges of a chronic disease or other serious health impediment.

The Foundation has raised more than $500,000 for these purposes from more than 3,000 donors. The Foundation honors the memory and spirit of Susanna DeLaurentis, who was ten years old when she died from complications of neuroblastoma, an aggressive, treatment-resistant cancer of the nervous system. Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid pediatric cancer, with about 600 new diagnoses in the United States every year.

Susanna’s surviving sister has cystic fibrosis (CF), the nation’s most common inherited disease. Despite enormous strides in available treatment therapy since the defective CF gene was discovered, there is no cure for cystic fibrosis.

For more about Susanna and her influence on others, visit www.friendsofsusanna.org.