AYA means Adolescent and Young Adult and YA means Young Adult.

Our age range is 16-36 for our Life Interrupted Grants. The age range for YAs varies in general rule within a few years. Our inspiration Ally was diagnosed at 25 years old and found it hard to relate to others who were like her in treatment and hard to find resources in this age group.

Active treatment for cancer is a treatment that aims to cure the cancer and remove it from the body. It can include therapies, medicines, and surgeries, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, anti-neoplasm drug therapy, and maintenance therapies. This does not include long-term treatment such as hormone medication, which may be taken for several years to maintain remission.

Rare cancers are those that affect fewer than 40,000 people per year in the U.S. As a group, they make up just over a quarter of all cancers. Because rates of cancer in children are very low, all children’s cancers are considered rare. A quarter of all cancer deaths each year are due to rare cancers. AWF uses the word ‘rare’ to shine a spotlight on many unknown cancers. We have assisted patients with 75 different kinds of cancer diagnoses. In young adults, almost ALL cancers are considered rare. Each situation is reviewed and considered.

No. This is a process and can take up to 3 months. If you need immediate assistance, this may not be the right ‘fit’ and we suggest you speak to your team locally for immediate assistance.

Our all-volunteer grant committee groups together applications and goes through biweekly to make decisions. The committee tries as hard as they can to rotate and award as they go. As more applications are reviewed, applications are tiered. The committee gives time to some applications that are lower tiered to hopefully award at the end if funds are still available. This gives us the best chance to reach as many as possible.

No, all applications are considered on their own merit and information presented. Each applicant will be assigned an AWF liaison from the grant committee to advocate for them. Each year, unfortunately, some applicants are turned down for a variety of reasons including funding.

Follow eligibility and exclusions guidelines. Fill out all the paperwork requested and send it in together so papers do not get lost. Don’t go over the time or word limits. Help the committee get to ‘know you’. 

You can be 10 months post-treatment to be considered for a Life Interrupted Grant.

Medical receipts can be a direct bill, an explanation of benefits, a specialist co-pay, integrative therapy, and therapy.

The short answer is yes, but this depends on your circumstances. I.e. If you moved back with your parents or lived with your parent (s) and one parent had to stop work, the bill does not have to be in your name. There must be a need for the grant that can be shown.

AWF receives over 500 inquiries while we are ‘shut down’ from September through May. On our vacation notice email- we update the system to let inquiries know of the next opening to mark your calendars; in that short time opening to request, we receive more applications than we can handle.

If we are receiving too many requests, we unfortunately will have to close down. We as a group would rather do that than turn down so many applicants that we cannot grant due to funding issues.

Our board and team at AWF are all volunteers and work hard all year to secure donations and plan events. Our endurance team members are essential in helping others as well as private donors and sponsors. Our hope is that when a person is well and cancer-free or in remission they give back and pay it forward to keep the Circle of Giving continue.

Yes, you can; but you need to be listed on the application and the relationship to the applicant. If under 18 years of age, a parent license is required and their information. The applicant must sign off on the document. You should also be familiar with all eligibility and exclusions to the Life Interrupted Grant.

We would love to have a caregiver/loved one of a patient involved in our pursuits. We welcome assistance in many capacities. Join us on social media @allyson.whitney.foundation or Facebook Allyson Whitney Foundation. Just ask us how to get involved and be in the ‘circle of giving’.