Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/894985
FLAPPING SOFTLY IN a gentle summer breeze, a colorful flag that stands tall on an Ohio golf course green tells a story. The flag shares details of a fundraiser but, more importantly, it includes a striking image of a smiling, but very sick, little girl—her bald head and pale skin a jarring contrast to her pretty summer dress. The same little girl stands below the flag. She poses sassily for a new photo, hands on hips, curly dark hair blowing in the same slight breeze. Look at me now. Neuroblastoma started a journey that brought Sofia and her family to Ohio last summer to support the hospital that carried them through frightening surgeries, painful treatments and hopeful drug trials. The Speedway Miracle Golf Tournament is a fundraiser near Dayton, Ohio, for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, which supports Sofia's hospital: Johns Hopkins All Children's in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sofia, now in complete remission, proudly painted a picture and took it to Ohio, where it was auctioned off to raise money for children like herself at the dinner following the event. The piece is a fun and colorful picture of her aquatic life, with an apt title, "Just Keep Swimming." When Sofia was diagnosed, "We decided together to 'just keep swimming,'" her mother, Catalina, explains. The painting inspired a bidder to not only purchase the piece, but pay $10,000 to own it. That $10,000 makes its way back to Johns Hopkins All Children's through Children's Miracle Network to directly help patients such as Sofia, who still visits the hospital every few months for checkups. Catalina, Sofia's dad, Patrick, and her brother love to participate in fundraisers in hopes of inspiring more attention, more research and more funding to pediatric cancer in order to ensure Sofia has plenty of time to paint masterpieces like "Just Keep Swimming." "We see a bright future for our Sofia Strong," Catalina adds, using a slogan the family developed. "We're all still swimming toward it." Curing Pediatric Cancer One Painting at a Time Sofia and her family support the hospital through fundraisers near and far. Fall 2017 19 Faces of Philanthropy ■