Kids Count on Research: Daniel’s Story

In 2018, when Daniel was 11 years old, he achieved an amazing feat: he rode his unicycle to the top of Pikes Peak, one of Colorado’s famous 14ers. But just three months later, Daniel‘s left foot was going numb, he had pain behind his eyes, and he was vomiting multiple times a day. While on vacation, his condition dramatically worsened. His family took Daniel to a hospital in Arizona, where doctors discovered—and removed—a tumor in the right side of his brain. It was half the size of an adult fist.

After the family returned to their home in Colorado Springs, they learned that the tumor was a fast-growing, aggressive form of brain cancer: a Grade 3 anaplastic ependymoma with RELA fusion. A subsequent MRI at Children’s Hospital Colorado showed that portions of the tumor had regrown in less than a month. Daniel immediately had a second brain surgery at Children’s Colorado, followed by a month of radiation.

Nearly seven years later, 17-year-old Daniel passed away, four days shy of his 18th birthday. Daniel did not get to have a typical childhood; his life revolved around treatments to control tumor growth, including 58 days of radiation and seven brain surgeries. Every time Daniel’s cancer was treated, tumors eventually start to grow back.

Promising Research for Challenging Cancers

A cancer research discovery had been the teenager’s best hope. In early 2025, Daniel became the first patient at Children’s Colorado to receive CAR-T cell therapy for a brain or solid tumor. CAR-T stands for chimeric antigen receptor T cells, a treatment that adds a gene to the body’s cancer-fighting white blood cells, known as T cells, to help the immune system detect and kill cancer cells more effectively.

CAR-T cell therapy has shown promise for halting pediatric cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems, such as leukemia and lymphoma. These results have encouraged pediatric oncology researchers, like Daniel’s neuro-oncologist, Adam Green, MD, to explore CAR-T cells’ effectiveness in other kinds of cancers, including brain and solid tumors.

This kind of research wouldn’t be possible without philanthropy from the community, including a visionary multi-million gift from Foundation Trustee and Hospital Director Laura Barton that is helping fund cancer discoveries. Dr. Green’s lab is part of the Morgan Adams Foundation Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program and has received significant funding from philanthropic partners and foundations, including the Morgan Adams Foundation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, and the Olivia Caldwell Foundation, just to name a few.

“Colorado without support from donors,” said Dr. Green. “In the current federal funding landscape, these investments are critical. They make it possible for us to not only study challenging brain cancers like Daniel had, but to find new therapies that can give patients and families hope for better outcomes and more options when standard therapies have failed.”

Despite the potential of this groundbreaking treatment, tumors in Daniel’s brain continued to grow. “Children’s Colorado is on the cutting-edge of technology and treatments,” said Torie, Daniel’s mom. “We always felt like they have worked to find something to keep hope alive through clinical trials and studies. Research is what gave us the possibility for another day with Daniel. Without it, we had no other options.”

Torie says discovering therapies that don’t work is just as important as finding ones that do. The results and outcomes pave the way for future breakthroughs — and one patient must go first, as Daniel courageously did with the CAR-T cell trial for brain tumors. Daniel and his family were counting on these kinds of research advances to move forward as fast as possible.

Quality of Life with Care Close to Home

Daniel, who served as a 2020 Patient Ambassador for southern Colorado, received a lot of his care at our Anschutz Medical Campus hospital in Aurora and had some of his brain scans and therapeutic infusions at the Colorado Springs hospital.

One of the greatest comforts to Daniel was his dogs, goldendoodles named Aspen and Bella. Getting home quickly after treatments to be with them brought him joy and relief. “The most important thing to Daniel was being close to home near his family and his dogs,” said Torie. “It was amazing to not always have to go to Denver and to not have to travel. It’s made a huge difference in quality of life for us.”

Quiet Courage in the Face of a Storm

To pass time while in the hospital, Daniel and his mom loved to watch the TV series “Survivor.” Their goal was to watch all 48 seasons together. Daniel said he enjoyed watching the contestants overcome tough times, because he knew that their personal challenges were far more difficult than what was shown in each episode.

“They only show a small bit of the storm,” Daniel said, in an April interview a few months before he passed away. “But [competitors] are out there — and it’s storming all through the night. You just get a little glimpse of what their journey is.”

It was a perceptive observation and paralleled Daniel’s own incredible spirit and persistence. Most people only see a small part of the day-to-day hardships he faced. But Daniel’s optimism, faith and medical team helped him every step of the way.

Torie is continuing Danie’s legacy with the 8th Annual Walk, Run, Roll in celebration of Daniel’s life and benefitting Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation to support pediatric brain cancer research and patient care.

Philanthropy Fuels Research

Research is at the heart of what we do and critical to how we care for patients like Daniel, who needed new treatments and cures today. Our research mission has a tangible impact on many lives, and we are deeply grateful for the community that keeps our work moving forward. Right now, philanthropy for research is more important than ever, as it helps stabilize and smooth ebbs and flows in funding. Pediatric clinical trials, such as those for new CAR-T cell treatments, rely on federal funding and philanthropic investments to move forward.