After receiving many orders throughout 2021, Elana was able to collect enough to make another donation to MGH, this time for $1,000. This will be funding Dr. Arrilliga-Romany's glioblastoma research at the hospital. Thank you to all who have contributed to this donation.

Elana promoted her bracelets throughout the holiday season of 2020 and received many orders and donations. She was able to raise over $3,500 for glioblastoma research herself, along with some of her father's best friends who were willing to match her efforts up to $2,500. She is thankful to have been able to start 2021 by donating $6,000 to Mass General Hospital. The support from family, friends, and strangers alike was incredible, as always.  Elana will continue to fight and create awareness for glioblastoma until that cure is found!

The majority of Elana's donations have all gone directly to her father's neurologist, Dr. Batchelor, at MGH, but he transferred to Brigham and Women's last year. She chose to continue making donations to MGH, as her dad received great treatment here and she wants to support their research efforts. This donation specifically went to Dr. Isabel Arrillaga-Romany, the associate clinical director of neuro-oncology, who conducts research into finding drugs to target the genes within glioblastomas and Dr. Julie Miller, a neuro-oncologist who conducts research on metabolism in gliomas and glioblastomas, particularly those with IDH1 gene mutations.

Due to her donation in the winter and another one over the summer, Elana was featured in Mass General's biannual newsletter, Everyday Amazing. You can read the article they wrote about her here.

When Elana was a senior in high school, her school submitted her as a nominee for the Prudential Spirit of Community award for her work through Beading for Brain Cancer. She was recognized as a Massachusetts state finalist for this award. You can learn more about the award and its recipient's here. In addition, she was presented with the President's Volunteer Service award for the commitment she has made to this project.

After taking a few years off from selling her bracelets to concentrate on school, Elana was ready to raise more money to find the cure. She launched this website in late September and received numerous orders and donations right away. Within two months another $1,500 was ready to be delivered to Mass General. The hospital was pleased to hear this and made arrangements for Elana and her mother to come up to the hospital and make the donation in person. To see someone of a young age continue to pursue a project like Beading for Brain Cancer for all these years meant a lot to MGH. For Elana and her mother, this was an emotional visit to the hospital. They went mack to Mass General for the first time since Jack had passed away. Here they visited the Stephen E. and Catherine Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology, where Jack was treated for his cancer, and presented Jack's doctor, Tracy Batchelor, with a check for $1,500 for his glioblastoma research. 

Just like her brother her two years earlier, Elana was nominated by her school to be a recipient of the 2014 JFK Make a Difference award in Boston. This award is given to up to 100 middle schoolers across Massachusetts each year who have made an impact in their communities through service projects. Elana was honored that her work through Beading for Brain Cancer earned her this award.

Elana and Jack Sargent were nominated to be one of the 100 honorees in Mass General Hospital's annual The One Hundred gala in 2011. This gala is an awareness and fundraising initiative that honor's people whose commitment to the fight against cancer is inspiring. Elana and her brother became one of three featured nominees at the event for their fundraising through Beading for Brain Cancer. Many wealthy donors attend this prestigious event, as all the money raised goes to the Mass General Cancer Center. Jack and Elana were asked to make 800 bracelets, their largest order yet, to be given to every person who made a donation at the gala. Elana teamed up with the event because they believed that after the attendees heard Elana's story, more people would be willing to donate and earn themselves one of her bracelets. The One Hundred raised more money for cancer in 2011 than any other year ever has, $270,000, in large part to the Sargent children and their beautiful bracelets.

Check out www.theonehundred.org to read about the gala and other nominees. Click here to read Jack and Elana's story.

Like his younger sister, Jack Sargent also raised money for glioblastoma research. He organized a floorball game at his middle school when he was in seventh grade. All proceeds from this game were donated to Mass. General Hospital. His whole school came together to support Jack and his family and together they were able to raise around $1,000. Jack's amazing fundraising efforts allowed him to receive the JFK Make a Difference award later that year. You can read more about Jack's game and his award here.

Elana's father changed to have his treatments at Mass General Hospital from Lahey Clinic, so Elana began to donate the money raised by her bracelets to this hospital instead. After her first donation to MGH, her father's doctor, Dr. Tracy Batchelor, honored her for her charities. Check out the write up the hospital did for her as well as the large check they presented her to represent the donation she gave to MGH.