Cal’s Angels donates $4M to establish new leukemia center at Lurie Children’s Hospital

CHICAGO — A suburban non-profit donated $4 million to establish an advanced treatment and research center for leukemia at Lurie Children’s Hospital.

A ribbon-cutting took place Monday morning for Cal’s Angels generous donation aimed at helping some of Lurie’s sickest patients.

The downtown children’s hospital is now the sixth hospital in the country with a program aimed at improving outcomes children, teenagers and young adults battling aggressive forms of leukemia.

Prior to this program, families with children who have high-risk or complex leukemia would have to travel to children’s hospitals in other cities for care, including Philadelphia and Seattle.

“This Cal’s Angels program brings the money to Lurie to expand our availability of what we’re able to offer these patients, to hopefully decrease the financial burden on these families,” said program director Dr. Jenna Rossoff. “Which we know, even being treated close to home, is already way too much.”

In addition to the $4 million dollar donation, the hospital also raised another $1 million dollars for the program.