Announcing $5000 Scholarships for Children of Parents with Rare Lung Cancer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Bill Westlake
treasurer@alkpositive.org
$5000 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITH RARE LUNG CANCER
College scholarship enabled by the family of Regina Dieker Kay & ALK Positive
Washington DC, March 15th, 2020 – The Dieker Kay family, in collaboration with ALK Positive, is pleased to announce the new ALK Positive Lung Cancer Scholarship, an Award Honoring the Memory of Regina Dieker Kay. For the 2020-21 school year, two $5000 scholarships will be awarded, on or around May 15th, 2020.
The applicants must meet the following criteria:
Parent (living or deceased) has been diagnosed with ALK-positive lung cancer.
Must be currently enrolled, accepted, or is currently awaiting acceptance into any trade school, two-year college program, or four-year undergraduate college program. (Graduate programs do not qualify).
Complete the online application, which includes a typed essay response explaining how having a parent with ALK-positive lung cancer has affected them (mentally, emotionally, socially, and/or financially), as well as how they have and/or are planning to use their experience with ALK-positive lung cancer to make a difference in the lives of their community.
Apply online https://bit.ly/2Q7mRdX on or before April 15th, 2020. Applicants will need a Gmail account to apply- the application is online only through Google Forms.
Regina Dieker Kay passed away from the rare DNA cancer mutation, ALK-positive lung cancer, in April 2019, at the age of 45. Less than 4% of all non-small cell lung cancers have the ALK cancer mutation. She left behind her husband and two children, one who was months away from going off to college. As she watched her child apply for financial aid and scholarships, she learned that there were many scholarships for children who had been cancer patients, but not for children who had a parent as the cancer patient.
As an active and well-loved participant in ALK Positive’s Facebook Support Group, Regina saw many patients and caregivers worry about not only their cancer, but their finances. Many of them had drained retirement accounts and children’s college tuition accounts, and were now in debt- just to get treatment.
It was Regina’s dream to help these ALK families worry about “one less thing,” as she would say, so she quietly left $10,000 for a scholarship fund. She didn’t mention a thing about the money until the day before she passed, when she handed her husband her journal and told him she thought it was time he read it. Months later, he came across that journal entry and approached the ALK Positive support group to make Regina’s dream a reality.
“We were excited when Regina’s husband came to us, asking if we could help,” said Bill Westlake, Treasurer of ALK Positive. “One of our key tenets is “support” of ALK-positive patients, so this is directly in line with our values.”
Apply at: https://bit.ly/2Q7mRdX
DEADLINE FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION - April 15, 2020
Awards will be announced on (or around) May 15, 2020.
If you should have any questions regarding this application, please contact Bill Westlake, ALK Positive Treasurer, at treasurer@alkpositive.org
About ALK Positive
ALK Positive, a group of highly motivated, passionate, and dedicated ALK-positive patients and their caregivers, wants to drive change in the ALK lung cancer space. ALK Positive members are committed to raising funds for research to increase ALK-positive lung cancer patients’ survivorship. The group’s three tenets are Information, Empathy, and Support. For more information about ALK Positive, please visit www.alkpositive.org.
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