Hi! My name is Iza Khowaja, and my mom, sister, and I are raising awareness and money for pediatric cancer research.  Let me first introduce you to my grandma, Maryam Ali (a.k.a Mary) who passed away on December 9, 2019 from Stage 4 endometrial cancer.  Endometrial cancer is a disease where cruel cancer cells form in the tissues of the uterus.  Because this was caught so late, there weren’t many treatment options for my grandma other than chemotherapy and some clinical trials. This meant a lot of doctor visits and I’m sure it was painful, but we admired her bravery and faith in Allah.  We knew how hard it was, but my grandma always kept a positive attitude and never gave up and so we were inspired to do something.  You might not know this but a positive attitude can change so much.  The doctor only gave my grandma one year to live but because of her fighting spirit, she lived well beyond that time.  The news about her cancer made me so sad and when I did more research, I learned that not only adults get cancer but every two minutes a child is diagnosed with it, as well.  That’s a REALLY scary statistic and that’s what inspired us to start Mary’s Fairies. Our nonprofit charity will plan and implement activities for kids to raise awareness and funds towards a cure for pediatric cancer research.  We're also a charity partner with Alex's Lemonade Stand so 100% of all proceeds will go directly towards the cause.  We are hoping to make the cancer journey for kids as pleasant as we can by helping them keep a positive attitude and giving them hope that a cure is near.