Children's Cancer Research Fund

Sue Hodder threw the best 4th of July parties, cared deeply about her community and supported childhood cancer research throughout her life.

After she was diagnosed with cancer, she named Children’s Cancer Research Fund as the beneficiary of her memorial fund.

When Sue passed away in 2012, her family went on to create the Children’s Cancer Research Fund/Suzanne Holmes Hodder Chair in Pediatric Cancer Research at the University of Minnesota.

Now held by Logan Spector, PhD, the Chair helps fund his research team. They study epidemiology; the reasons why some kids get cancer. With funding from the Hodder family, Dr. Spector is able to hire and lead experts to help make discoveries, access and process immense amounts of data, and cover a wide range of diseases from leukemia to bone cancer.

In honor of Sue Hodder’s legacy and support, Children’s Cancer Research Fund hosts an annual Flag Day celebration at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital for patients, staff and partners to enjoy a patriotic ice cream social.

George and Lori Olson’s son, George, fought neuroblastoma from the day he was born until he passed away before his 13th birthday.

Seeing the critical need for research as their son endured treatment, they decided to include a gift in their wills in addition to their monthly contribution.

“We contacted CCRF about our wishes, and they made it very easy for us to put our planned gift in place. We also have peace of mind knowing that we can contact them any time to change our gift for any reason. We especially love that we were able to direct our planned gift to fund neuroblastoma research!”

— George and Lori Olson, Nisswa, MN