Few things in the world are more inspiring than a 12-year-old winning the life and death battle with cancer. Hannah Boorse is legend at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatric unit. Her grit in the face of the world’s scariest disease impressed the doctors and moved her entire town to support her.

So it was a pretty cool day to shoot a soccer game fundraiser where Hannah’s entire community came together and wore gold for pediatric cancer month.

A few years earlier, when Hannah was first diagnosed, Ringwood, NJ circled the wagons around the Boorse family. They brought food, gifts and most of all, gave Hannah that normalizing social embrace. It was the acts of everyday friendship that helped ward off the heebee jeebies; preventing the isolated feeling that you’re separated from the healthy world, which makes cancer so much more terrifying. I got to meet and interview Hannah while shooting her story. She is a pint-sized dynamo, well postured, articulate and very sweet. I also met Hannah’s mother Catherine, a woman with an arsenal of superpowers; warmth, humility and grace, and more strength than I could imagine.

I was impressed by Hannah’s nurse practioners, MSK’s Jessie Hillsberg and Paulette Kelly. They were both at the game and it was clear to me that these women care deeply about their patient.

More than $6,000 was raised for Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatric Cancer. All factions of Hannah’s community shared the love.

But there’s one fact I can’t let go of. Childhood cancers only receive 4% of the US federal funding for research. Research and development in the pharmaceutical industry is close to 0%. We need to do better for these kids. Not every child has a strong community. Not every kid has the turnout. Not every kid will beat it.

Hannah was declared cancer-free in February of this year, thanks to her medical team. On this Saturday, Hannah’s home team, the Lady Lancers won the game. Here is our piece: