Nicholas Weis chased the ball across the grass in the shadow of the Duke Chapel.  His parents smiled and watched as their exuberant seven-year-old laughed and hammed it up for the camera.  But this young family didn’t come to Duke that day to play and enjoy the March weather.  They came to say thank you to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, whose donations to the Duke Children’s Hospital helped to save Nicholas’ life.  And we were there to tell their story.

Bclip Productions began working with the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) in 2004, promoting their primary funding endeavor, the Ride for Kids®.  Today we create video and radio commercials promoting the motorcycle charity ride event in over 30 cities across the country.  The money raised at these events, along with their other fundraising efforts, is donated to cancer research in an effort to find a cure for childhood brain tumors. 

Today there are four Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institutes around the world working to find a cure.  This year Mike Traynor, one of the founders of PBTF, met with Nicholas and his parents on the eve of the foundation’s second gift of 6 million dollars to Duke Children’s Hospital.  We were there to interview some of the doctors, patients and volunteers so closely associated with this donation, and create a video that would share their story.

"The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute at Duke is the largest basic research collaborative in existence for pediatric brain tumors," Traynor said. "It brings together established brain tumor researchers and scientists using platform technologies developed for other cancer types. Their work utilizes the disciplines of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, cell biology and developmental biology to better understand childhood brain tumors."

The PBTF Institute at Duke is directed by one of the world's pre-eminent brain tumor researchers, Darell Bigner, M.D., Ph.D. "We're working first to unravel the molecular mechanisms that drive these cancer cells," Bigner said. "Then we can develop new treatments that won't damage the brain the way older treatments do."

But the heart of stories like this are the children who have another shot at life thanks to the work being done in the halls of medicine.  Children like Nicholas Weis.  Nicholas asked us questions about our camera.  He wanted to know how the microphone worked.  And he wanted to make sure we got his good side.  We tried to explain to him that there isn’t a bad side to a boy so full of life.  But we told him that we would let him see the video so he could make sure.

Nicholas saw the video, along with hundreds of thousands of others as we helped the PBTF launch a media blitz to share these stories with the world.  We created multiple videos for use online, in video news releases, and fundraising events across the country.  When the first video was proofed to PBTF, we received an email from Mike Traynor: “I would like a copy sent to each PBTF Board Member, and if my mother was alive I would want her to see it too. Maybe you will send it to your loved ones to show your great work!”

Occasionally in our line of work we have an opportunity to work with foundations like PBTF that are genuinely helping to make the world a better place.  We conclude these jobs with smiles on our faces and a sense that maybe we helped in some small way too.