Emily learned she had a brain tumor at the age of four. Following the diagnosis, her family spent almost a year in Milwaukee for Emily’s surgeries and ongoing therapy that helped her relearn basic functions such as swallowing, blinking and talking. To ease the DeYoung’s increasing financial burden of hospital and therapy bills, Children’s Cancer Family Foundation helped Emily catch up on schooling by paying, in part, for a tutor. Emily’s mother, Kate, credits CCFF with allowing Emily to flourish, and the family is “smiling and surviving” after all they have been through.