Kyra’s Hope Foundation launches grant program to accelerate childhood cancer research

Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, May 27, 2026

With its goal of accelerating cures for incurable childhood cancers and funding more research, Mercer Island’s Kyra’s Hope Foundation has launched the Kyra’s Hope Research Grant Program.

The new initiative’s early emphasis will be placed on Ewing sarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that continues to have devastating outcomes for children, according to the foundation.

The May 26 launch announcement coincides with what would have been Kyra Gupta’s 13th birthday.

“Kyra, a Mercer Island child remembered for her extraordinary courage and optimism, lost her life to metastatic Ewing sarcoma after a three-year battle that included surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple relapses. She was treated with the same old and toxic chemotherapy regimens that were developed more than 40 years ago,” reads a press release.

The release adds that in the last six months, the Mercer Island community has lost two children to Ewing sarcoma, including Kyra.

“Ewing sarcoma strikes hundreds of American children each year; that two of them lived in one small community, and were lost within months of each other, is the kind of loss that no family and no neighborhood should ever have to absorb,” the foundation said.

The program combines research funding with embedded engineering and AI expertise, placing engineers, AI specialists and data scientists directly alongside research teams to support data analysis, computational modeling and research infrastructure.

Gautam Kumar, co-founder of Kyra’s Hope Foundation and Kyra’s father, said this research will be taking place while the foundation remains “deeply connected to the children and families living through this reality every day.”

Added Shireen Ganapathi, pediatric oncologist and Ewing sarcoma researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Lab: “Focused initiatives like these are critical for accelerating research and advancing transformative discoveries in honor of Kyra and all the children, adolescents, and young adults, whose lives were lost far too early.”

Since its founding on Nov. 19, 2025, Kyra’s Hope Foundation has supported more than 300 families with children facing cancer through Hope Boxes, milestone celebrations, financial assistance and community care initiatives designed to bring comfort, dignity and hope during treatment, the foundation said.

Alka Kumari, co-founder of Kyra’s Hope Foundation and Kyra’s mother, said her daughter taught people about courage, resilience and hope.

“Even while enduring unimaginable pain, she continued to dream, smile, and care about others. This foundation exists so that more children have a better chance at life, and so families feel less alone while walking this journey,” she said.

“The Kyra’s Hope Research Grant in Memory of Kyra Gupta” inaugural award will be announced in the fall. The foundation said that each future grant will honor children whose courage continues to inspire its mission.

For more information, visit www.kyrashope.org.