Today we’d like to introduce you to Annette Leslie.
Hi Annette, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My dear son Carson was a 14-year-old freshman at the Covenant School of Dallas. He was busy with high school, football, baseball, golf, and girls when one morning he said mom, I think I’m seeing double. So, we jumped in my car, threw on the flashers, and headed to Children’s Medical Center emergency room. One Xray and 2 hours later, we were invited down the hall to a private room where the doctor showed us the Xray that had a golf ball sized tumor in Carson’s brain. Then she and started saying words like brain tumor, cancer, neurosurgeon, oncologist, chemotherapy, radiation; I dropped to the floor and wept, knowing that my boy was at the center of those words broke my heart.
We pressed through 3 long years trying to rid Carson’s brilliant brain from medulloblastoma, the most common type of childhood brain cancer.
During his valiant cancer journey, Carson kept a journal of his thoughts, fears, dreams, and loss of dreams. As Carson juggled high school and cancer, he negotiated with his English teacher if his journal could count as his passing grade for freshman English. His negotiated English assignment grew into a book he titled Carry Me, with his teacher helping him to dig deep and put his heart into words.
Carry Me was published 6 days before he died, it’s on the hallowed shelves of the Library of Congress. We receive letters and emails telling us the impact Carson’s words have had, including from doctors and nurses that it helps them better understand how to care for their patients. We’ve heard from others how it has helped them stay steadfast in friendships, and coaches across our country have taught their teams about character from Carson’s words in Carry Me!
Treatment was brutal on Carson’s young, innocent growing body and brilliant brain.
He was ravaged by treatment and cancer then when treatment failed him and his days were few, he whispered words I’ll never forget.
“Mom, I thought I was going to make it,” I know, buddy, me too … “Mom,” Yeah, “don’t let them bury me,” I won’t let them bury you bud, I promise. “Mom, make sure they study those tumors in my brain because if those tumors can help some kid someday not die from cancer like I am, I’d like that; it’s hard to have cancer.” I’ll do that, I promise, I will do that.
His whispered words are the guiding force of our Foundation.
• Mental Health support of Kids in the battle
• Federal, State, and Local Advocacy Awareness and Action
• Medulloblastoma, brain cancer research.
Mental Health:
The will to live is integral to a child’s survival of cancer; mental health support is integral to our mission.
Carson was 14 when diagnosed and 17 when he died. We lived the void of encouragement of teen cancer patients, so we launched a now very popular Jordan Spieth Family Foundation sponsored Under Armour Backpack Project (UA-BP) specifically for newly diagnosed teen cancer patients across the Lone Star State. We fill Under Armour Backpacks with items for lengthy hospital stays and throw in a harmonica just for fun!
We launched a monthly Hearts of GOLD hootenannies at Children’s Dallas, where every month we act like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause and deliver unexpected surprises to each child who is hospitalized battling cancer.
We also filled the void of teen cancer patients and built Carson’s Corner, the teen room at Children’s Dallas. We keep it filled with the newest video games, gaming system, art supplies, Lego kits, and occasional parties!
Federal Advocacy:
The founder of the bipartisan Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus, Congressman Michael McCaul of Texas received a copy of Carson’s book Carry Me and in 2010, he invited me to share Carson’s story at the inaugural Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus gathering in his Washington, DC home. Since then, together with bipartisan support and the wider childhood cancer community we have successfully built an UNSTOPPABLE Collaborative GLOBAL childhood cancer movement. Our nation has new laws benefiting the overall state of childhood cancer and each September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we host an GOLDEN TOAST in Washington, DC. to celebrate the collective accomplishments of the bipartisan Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus and the childhood cancer community.
State Advocacy:
I have the honor of serving on the Advisory Council for Childhood Cancers of Texas’ $6B Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, known throughout the cancer community as CPRIT.
CPRIT is the 2nd largest funder of cancer research outside the federal government. They named their conference room Carson Leslie Conference room! And during my service on the council, CPRIT made childhood cancer research an institutional priority increasing their investments in childhood cancer from a mere 3% to a whopping 12%.
Local Advocacy:
In 2021 Lyda Hill Philanthropies selected 15 nonprofits to move into their Pegasus Park WaterCooler space; we were honored to have been chosen! “We are excited to soon welcome this impressive list of tenants to Water Cooler at Pegasus Park,” says founder Lyda Hill. “We have long believed that co-locating a diverse group of exceptional nonprofits could help advance inter-agency collaboration to solve some of the most challenging community problems.
CPRIT recruited, who I believe to be the top medulloblastoma luminary in the world, Dr. Michael Taylor, to move his lab from Canada to Texas Children’s. Dr. Taylor brings a Preventative Pathway for medulloblastoma, and our Foundation is eager to support his differentiated approach.
The hard cold fact is, brain cancer is the deadliest disease of our Nation’s children, and medulloblastoma is the most prevalent type of brain cancer in children. We are the only nonprofit with an exclusive research focus on medulloblastoma and we are beyond excited CPRIT recruited Dr. Taylor!
Our Foundation’s research funds will support his preventative approach and he recently share his enthusiasm about his recruitment to Texas, “Texas is the place to it because a lot of places if I tell people a great big challenge like this they say, oh Michael that’s so much, how are you going to do THAT, but in Texas when you tell people you have a great big idea, they say, let’s do this ..”
Annette Leslie annette@
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it’s not been a smooth road, but a promise is a promise. I’m keeping my promise to Carson.
Obstacles are part of life. It’s been remarkable how many doors have opened that were beyond my expectations.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When treatment failed Carson, his whispered words were my marching orders, “Make sure they study those tumors in my brain because if those tumors can help some kid someday not die from cancer like I am, I’d like that; it’s hard to have cancer.”
So, I went on a quest seeking solutions to the horrific problem that brain cancer is the deadliest disease of our Nation’s children. I sought trailblazers, influencers, principals, and mentors for advice and guidance in the space known to me only through Carson’s valiant fight for life. A few months after Carson’s death, I was invited to serve on the $6B Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Advisory Council on Childhood Cancers.
Still deeply in grief, serving on a Council filled with Chiefs, Directors, and Professors, I was now surrounded by the experts I sought. So, I attended every CPRIT meeting possible, talked about childhood cancer every chance I had, and told Carson’s story to anyone who would listen.
A few months later, CPRIT announced Carson Leslie Awards for Pediatric Brain Cancers and CPRIT’s Chief Scientific Advisor wrote, “It is rewarding to work with Annette Leslie and the Carson Leslie Foundation to help stimulate submission and facilitate rigorous reviews of high-quality research proposals delving into the mysteries and potential treatments of pediatric brain cancers. We earnestly hope for exciting results from these talented investigators who are pursuing these most important problems.” Since then, CPRIT, the 2nd largest funder of cancer research outside the Federal government has made childhood cancer a top priority and named their conference room the Carson Leslie Conference Room. “We named CPRIT’s conference room after Carson to honor his memory and to inspire us with a tangible reminder of the courage and hopefulness he showed in his fight against cancer. CPRIT has made childhood cancer a priority. Our increased grant support is intended to accelerate progress for prevention and research of pediatric and adolescent cancers and to help Texas become a global leader in childhood cancer research.” – Wayne Roberts, CEO – CPRIT
Pricing:
- Copy of Carson’s book, Carry Me = $20
- Sponsor items for our Jordan Spieth Sponsored Under Armour Backpack = $500
- Sponsor a hootenanny at Children’s Dallas = $2500
- Invest in medulloblastoma research.
- Join Club 25, donated $25 per month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carsonlesliefoundation.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrymecarson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carsonlesliefoundation
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-leslie-20726225/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/carsonleslie3
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/carsonlesliefound
- Other: https://carsonlesliefoundation.org/gallery/clf-cprit-researchers-roundup/
