For the past decade, the Making Headway Foundation has awarded college scholarships to survivors of a childhood brain or spinal cord tumor. This award-winning non-profit organization recently announced 14 winners for this fall, including local student Georgie D’Avanzo.
Georgie is a 2018 graduate of Fox Lane High School in Bedford Hills. She was named to the High Honor/Honor Roll each year of high school and twice won the Cheerleading Spirit Award for Exemplary Sportsmanship and Enthusiasm. This fall, Georgie will be attending Syracuse University, with plans to major in communications and rhetorical studies.
Georgie was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma tumor and hydrocephalus at age 5. This category of tumor is one of many type of pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, also known as Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors. Pediatric CNS tumors are more common than any other type of childhood cancer and cause more deaths than any other childhood disease. Thousands of children in the U.S. receive this diagnosis each year, changing their lives – and the lives of their families – forever.
Georgie wrote in his scholarship application: “I’m a fighter, not a quitter, and I’ve proven to myself that if I put my mind to whatever I want in life, I can do it… I’m grateful that I’m able to live the life that I do and I’m looking forward to continuing to push myself and live life to the fullest.”
“Georgie is a unique young woman with a bright mind, a cheery smile, and an artist’s eye,” said Jessica Mineo, a counselor at Fox Lane High School. “She is resilient, independent in attitude, thoughtful, considerate, and academically solid. Georgie displays a wholesome and refreshing spirit, which is highly appreciated by her teachers and fellow students.”
Since 1996, the Making Headway Foundation has been supporting families of children diagnosed with brain or spinal cord tumors. During this time, it gas have thousands of families through difficult times, providing a wide range of holistic programs and services.
The Making Headway Foundation’s mission has been to provide care and comfort for children with brain and spinal cord tumors, while funding medical research geared to better treatments and a cure. Today, Making Headway continues its unique work, offering a continuum of services that includes individual counseling, educational advocacy, in-hospital quality-of-life programs, family events, medical research grants, facilitating clinical trials, neuro-oncology fellowships, college scholarships, and more.
In 2018, Making Headway expanded its scholarship program to include significantly more winners than any previous year. Making Headway funded 12 of the scholarships, with the Scott J. Reisser Fund providing funding for two more. The Scott J. Reisser Memorial Scholarship Fund was established by Fritz and Joanne Reisser to honor the memory of their 22-year-old son who succumbed to a brain tumor just short of achieving his dream of college graduation. To learn more about Making Headway, or to support its mission, visit www.MakingHeadway.org or call 914-238-8384.
