Announcing our 2011 “Bayan Birthday Gifts”

Posted on December 26, 2011 by hesham

It is that time again! Thanks to all the generous support of those who donated to us, the Bayan H. Hassaballa Foundation announces our “Bayan Birthday Gifts,” which are donations to various non-profit organizations that support patients with A-T and children with devastating diseases and cancer. This is the mission of our Foundation, to help those who help others.

This year’s recipients are:

  1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in the amount of $2000.
  2. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Illinois, in the amount of $2000.
  3. Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois, in the amount of $2000.
  4. A-T Children’s Project, funding the research study: “Systemic Inflammation in Patients with A-T.” Our gift was over $1200

In addition, earlier this year, our Foundation donated an adaptive stroller to Easter Seals of Dupage County, to help another child who couldn’t walk, like Bayan.

Dr. Hassaballa in Easter Seals

Dr. Hassaballa in Easter Seals donating the stroller

Once again, thanks to all of you who donated and supported our Foundation during 2011. We pray you have a healthy, prosperous New Year, and we look forward to doing much more good in the years to come.

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Foundation Funds A-T Research

Posted on October 10, 2011 by hesham

One of the main missions of the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation is to fund critical research into Ataxia-Telangiectasia and its causes, in hopes of one day finding a cure, or at least to help relieve the suffering of children from this devastating disorder.

To that end, we are very pleased and proud to announce that the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation has awarded a $2000 grant to Johns Hopkins University, under the aegis of the AT-Children’s Project, to study systemic inflammation in children with Ataxia-Telangietasia. More specifically, it is looking into the role of IL-8 (Interleukin Eight) in this disease.

We hope and pray that this grant will help further the success of the project and one day lead to a cure or life-saving treatment. To help our Foundation make more such grants, please click on the “Donate” button at the side of the site.

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Congratulations to Our Runners For Bayan!

Posted on October 9, 2011 by hesham

Congratulations to our two runners for Bayan: Walead Anwar and Ayman Noureldin. They successfully completed the Chicago Marathon this year! Great job guys!

For awesome photos of the event, check out our Facebook Page.

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Bayan Hassaballa Foundation Donates to CureSearch for Children’s Cancer

Posted on September 9, 2011 by hesham

Part of the mission of the Bayan H. Hassaballa Foundation is to support those organizations that help fund a cure for cancer, especially in children. To that end, the Foundation has funded a wonderful organization: CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. It is an organization that, according to its site:

CureSearch for Children’s Cancer is a national non-profit foundation which funds the lifesaving, collaborative research of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), the world’s largest, cooperative children’s cancer research entity. Money raised supports bench-to-bedside research which includes developing studies, enrolling and treating patients and interpreting the results of the clinical trials.

The Board has felt that this organization is quite worthy of our support, and we hope that our humble contribution will help in the fight against childhood cancer.

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Thanks To All Who Came Out to “Birdies Fore Bayan” 2011

Posted on July 17, 2011 by hesham

The Welcome Table at Birdies Fore Bayan

Thanks to all those wonderful people who braved the cold and rain to participate in “Birdies Fore Bayan” 2011. It was a wonderful time with wonderful people. Thanks to the

generosity of dozens of donors and 24 golfers, we were able to raise over $10,000 for the Foundation!!!

We are already working on putting these funds to wonderful use. Stay tuned to this website for information. Thanks once again for all your support for our family.

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Announcing 2011 “Birdies Fore Bayan” Charity Golf Scramble

Posted on March 11, 2011 by hesham

Bayan with her Dad at Birdies Fore Bayan 2008

Start off your golf season doing something good! Sign up for the 2011 “Birdies Fore Bayan” Charity Golf Scramble.

In 2008, Dr. and Mrs. Hesham A. Hassaballa held a very successful charity golf outing, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the A-T Children’s Project. Bayan participated in this event, and it was a very happy day for her and the entire family.

Now, the Bayan H. Hassaballa Foundation hope to repeat this success with the 2011 “Birdies Fore Bayan” Charity Golf Scramble. It is to be held on May 18, 2011 at the Hilton/Chicago Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL.

“Birdies Fore Bayan” will be a four-person scramble, and prizes will be awarded for the foursome with the most “Birdies Fore Bayan.” Other prizes will be awarded as well for various on-course contests, such as Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, etc.

Prices are:

Lunch & 18-holes of Golf: $250/golfer; $1000/foursome

Lunch only: $50

Hole Sponsorship: $500 (sign placed at individual hole)

Silver Sponsor: $750 (Hole Sponsorship and event recognition)

Gold Sponsor: $1000 (2 Hole Sponsorships and event recognition)

All proceeds will benefit the Bayan H. Hassaballa Foundation.

Sign up below and join us for a day of great food, great golf, and an opportunity to do good. If you cannot make it, but would still like to support the work of the Foundation, please click on “Donate” at the side of the page.

We hope to see you on May 18!

Birdies Fore Bayan

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Announcing the 2010 Bayan Birthday Gifts

Posted on December 30, 2010 by hesham

Part of the mission of the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation is to give annual gifts to various organizations which do great work on behalf of kids with AT and those with cancer. We give them at the end of the year, near Bayan’s birthday on December 30. It is with great pleasure that we announce this year’s recipients of Bayan Birthday Gifts:

1. A-T Children’s Project: This wonderful organization helps fund research into finding a cure for Ataxia-Telangiectasia, the disease from which Bayan suffered. It also helps parents and families of kids with A-T. We are always happy to gift this wonderful charity.

2. Make-A-Wish Foundation: This charity grants various wishes for kids with serious, life-threatening diseases. Bayan was the recipient of a wonderful adaptive bike from Make-A-Wish. Thus, the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation wanted to say thanks with a gift. We gave the gift to the Chicago chapter.

3. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: The chemotherapy protocol that Bayan received was modified for kids with A-T, and it came from St. Jude Research Hospital. It is doing great work in the realm of cancer research, and we wanted to say “Thanks” with our gift.

4. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: This is great charity that helps patients and families diagnosed with lymphoma. They gave Bayan a wonderful gift box, and thus, we wanted to give back.

Today, Bayan would have been 14 years old. It is still quite painful to live each day knowing that Bayan will never come back to us. But, we hope that through the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation, we can share Bayan’s radiant light with all others in this world.

It is through the generous support of people like you that make these Birthday gifts possible. Looking ahead to 2011, we wish to expand our good work by:

1. Hosting the First Annual Birdies Fore Bayan Golf Outing.

2. Fully funding a Wish for a sick child through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, just like Bayan received when she was with us.

3. Setting up a grant to help defray the cost of genetic testing for families with kids newly diagnosed with A-T.

4. Expanding the number of “Birthday Gifts” to deserving charities.

With your help, we can do all of these things and more. Please, support the Bayan Hassaballa Foundation with your tax-deductible gift. Click on the “Donate” button on the side of the page.

From all of us here at the Bayan. H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation, we wish you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

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Dr. Hassaballa and Mr. Anwar Run For Bayan

Posted on October 11, 2010 by hesham

Congratulations to Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa, Executive Director of the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation, and Mr. Walead Anwar, enthusiastic supporter of Bayan and her family, for completing the 2010 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in Bayan’s honor. Their recorded finish time was 5:37.

All in all, over $500 was raised for the Foundation. Congratulations to our runners for their amazing accomplishment!

Photos from the event will be forthcoming…

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Dr. Hassaballa’s Marathon Run Featured in Local Chicago Newspaper

Posted on October 6, 2010 by hesham

Dr. Hassaballa’s upcoming Run For Bayan was featured in this month’s Chicago Crescent, a local Muslim newspaper. The article is partially reproduced below. It’s not too late to donate for the Run. Click on the “Donate” button on the side bar.

Racing for a Cure

It has been almost 16 months since Dr. Hesham Hassaballa lost his 13-year-old daughter Bayan to lymphoma. In her memory, he is going to partake in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 10, which is a 26.2 mile race through the city of Chicago starting at Grant Park at 7:30 a.m. He will be running alongside his cousin Walead Anwar, who originally ran the race in Bayan’s honor last year.

At the young age of 6, Bayan was diagnosed with Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T), a rare, progressive, degenerative disease that affects a large variety of systems in the body. Children with A-T appear normal at birth and the first signs of the disease such as a lack of balance and slurred speech caused by lack of muscle control (ataxia) do not usually appear until the second year of life. Victims of A-T are highly susceptible to develop immunodeficiency and malignancies of the blood system causing early death. Children with A-T are usually confined to wheelchairs by age 10 and often do not survive their teens. Presently, there is no cure for A-T or a way to slow down the progression of the disease.

In order to raise funds to help find a cure for A-T, Dr. Hassaballa is running for two charities: A-T Children’s Project and the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation. There are a record-breaking 45,000 participants running for all different causes in the marathon this year. Although “Team Bayan” consists of only these two runners at this time, the team is still making a great impact and effort in raising awareness for this important cause.

“This is a way for us to honor our little angel Bayan, since she lost her ability to walk or run so early in life,” said Dr. Hassaballa. “We miss her terribly and the pain [of her loss] will never go away. I really wanted to do this for her”…

Read the rest of the article here.

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Foundation Donates Medical Supplies to Free Clinic

Posted on September 26, 2010 by hesham

The Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation received a generous donation from a patient of Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa, co-founder and Executive Director of the charity. Today, the Foundation is proud to announce that it has donated the large amount of medical supplies to a free health clinic on the Southwest side of Chicago, the IMAN Health Clinic.

Among the many items donated include:

-A nebulizer machines

-2 digital blood pressure machines

-Various other commonly needed medical supplies

“We are happy to support the free health clinic, bringing much needed aid to patients in need,” said Dr. Hassaballa. “It is part of the mission of the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation to bring Bayan’s joy to the rest of the world.”

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