After Losing Daughter, Wayne Couple Raises Money for Cancer Research

By Bonnie L. Cook, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Mar. 23–Before age two, Miriam Quigley of Wayne seemed like any other healthy child.

A pixie with brown eyes, Miriam doted on the family cat. She loved to play, wearing sunglasses and big hats, said her parents, Helena and Bill Quigley.

But at 2 1/2, the toddler couldn’t stop vomiting, and playtime suddenly ended.

The couple rushed Miriam to Bryn Mawr Hospital, and from there to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where doctors found brain cancer. They saved her by operating immediately.

Then, a medical team led by Peter C. Phillips, director of the hospital’s neuro-oncology program, declared war on Miriam’s cancer. Using experimental drugs, the team kept the cancer at bay, giving Miriam the chance to attend pre-school and visit Disney World.

When Miriam died on Oct. 26, 2005, at age 5 1/2, her parents felt lucky to have had those three extra years, and they wanted to give back.

“She had a great quality of life,” Helena said. “And CHOP gave us that,” Bill said.

The Quigleys have created the nonprofit Miriam’s Kids Research Foundation. It aims to raise money for brain cancer research at CHOP, so that other sick children can receive the gift of time.

Next Saturday, the Quigleys will hold a dance-a-thon from 1 to 4 p.m. at St. Katharine of Siena Parish Center in Wayne. The event, open to the public, is the third since the Quigleys began fund-raising in 2006.

“It takes a lot of people to help you out,” said Helena, 42. “You just can’t do it by yourself.”

They raised $70,000 in 2006, and $106,000 last year, although under what was then Miriam’s Kids Research Fund. The couple upgraded to a foundation this month, thinking it would be a better vehicle for approaching large donors.

Saturday’s event isn’t a marathon; it’s just a dance with a disc jockey, a chance for kids and their parents to have a good time, the parents said.

Helena Quigley is a photographer turned fund-raiser; her husband co-owns a commercial construction firm in Bala Cynwyd. The couple have two daughters, Alexandra, 11, and Shannon, 9.

Helena Quigley enlisted sixth graders at St. Siena to lead the charge. They taught other children how to ask for money, telling Miriam’s story to each prospective donor.

“I was trying to find something that kids could do to raise money, not the golf outing or black-tie event,” Helena Quigley said.

The children were so effective in reaching their $30,000 goal that school principal Bud Tosti had to submit to having his head shaved, as he had promised.

“It’s all in good fun,” said Tosti, 55. “We really had a good time with it last year, and it’ll be better this year.”

During their seesaw battle with Miriam’s cancer, the parents relied on many departments at CHOP for her care.

“Everyone was pulling for her. They knew how sick she was,” Bill Quigley, 46, said of the hospital staff.

Miriam could be seen at times cruising the halls on her tricycle, while a parent followed with an IV pole.

When Miriam was in remission and could go home, Helena Quigley learned to tend to the little girl herself. The couple filled several notebooks keeping track of her care.

“Dr. Phillips was with us every step of the way,” Bill said.

“What was great was that he was doing the research there,” Helena said of CHOP.

But Phillips, 56, and his colleagues are fighting an uphill battle to attract research dollars for pediatric brain cancer.

That’s because there are fewer cases of the disease, compared to cancers of the breast, lung, colon and prostate, and Phillips said pharmaceutical firms don’t see a viable market for new brain cancer drugs.

Miriam’s Foundation money is “critical” because it allows doctors at CHOP to build a body of knowledge about the unique qualities of brain tumors in children, Phillips said. Once that happens, the research team can attract big grants for in-depth studies.

Over the past 50 years, researchers have looked to kill tumors by identifying and disrupting their DNA, Phillips said. That was done by bombarding tumors with a broad spectrum of drugs.

Now, though, in a method called targeted therapy, researchers are identifying the chemicals and protein pathways in malignant tissue. Once the pathways are found, they can be interrupted, killing tumor cells.

The researchers do this for clusters of patients with similar manifestations of disease. The work is time-consuming, expensive and complex.

“When we block a particular pathway to kill cells, it could cause a problem with bone cell development,” Phillips said, citing an example. “It wouldn’t be a problem for an 18-year-old, but it could be a problem for a 2-year-old.”

Phillips said Miriam was a rare child with an “indomitable spirit” that seemed to say, “I’m just going to go ahead.”

The Quigleys never raised the subject of dying with Miriam, but somehow she knew.

“The angels are coming to take me away,” she announced to her mother one afternoon, out of the blue.

“Where are the angels?” Helena asked.

“In my room,” Miriam replied.

One month later, she slipped away while sleeping in her room.

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If You Go

The third annual Miriam Quigley Dance-a-thon will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the gymnasium at St. Katharine of Siena Parish Center, 104 S. Aberdeen Ave., Wayne.

There will be dancing to a DJ, food, raffles, a silent auction, face painting, crafts and games. School-age children can be sponsored for the event, or pay $5 per person at the door. Proceeds benefit pediatric brain tumor research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

For more information, call 610-688-7218, e-mail helena@miriamskids.com, or visit www.miriamskids.com.

Contact staff writer Bonnie L. Cook at 610-313-8232 or bcook@phillynews.com.

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