Our Story
The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s story begins with friends helping friends. When a colleague’s child was diagnosed with a brain tumor, motorcycle enthusiasts Mike Traynor and his wife Dianne Traynor wanted to do something to help. In 1984, they joined other dedicated volunteers to organize a motorcycle charity ride in Atlanta, to raise money for childhood brain tumor research.
The first Ride for Kids raised $4,000, which was donated to Emory University. Riders gathered again the following year, and the concept soon spread to other cities. American Honda signed on as a national partner of Ride for Kids in 1991, the same year the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation was established. Today, Ride for Kids is the longest-running, most successful motorcycle charity program in the nation.
In 2014 and 2016, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation merged with the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children, Inc.® and We Can Pediatric Brain Tumor Network to equip families with the information, financial relief, and emotional support resources needed to navigate their child’s brain tumor journey. Following the expansion of family support programs across the country, we joined forces with A Kids’ Brain Tumor Cure in 2018 to fund more research for every type of pediatric brain tumor.
Today, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s family support, research funding, and advocacy efforts at both the national and state levels lead the way in ending childhood brain cancer. Dedicated wholly to addressing this rare but devastating disease and guided by the experiences of patients, survivors, their parents, and siblings, we are the only organization to meet families’ needs along every step of their cancer journey.
The largest patient advocacy funder of pediatric brain tumor research, we also fund and advocate for innovative projects that lead to vital discoveries, new clinical trials, and better treatments – all bringing us closer to a cure. We’re able to do that because of people and partners committed to supporting families and defeating this disease.
From raising money through our community fundraising, Ride for Kids, Vs. Cancer and PBTF GameON programs to advocating, donating, and volunteering, there are many ways you can make life better for children with brain tumors and their families. Get involved today so that, one day soon, we will all live in a world without childhood brain tumors.