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In 2005, Shawnee Doherty’s daughter was born unexpectedly early at 24 weeks and survived for 14 hours. Reeling from the grief, Doherty turned to friends, who suggested she and her husband, Shane, get involved in March of Dimes.
“It helps you to deal with the grief to be around other families who've been through that, because anytime you go through a traumatic experience, if you can lean on other people, it helps,” she says.
The Dohertys went all in, fundraising, advocating and connecting with other families who understood what they had experienced. Along the way, Doherty learned how to raise money, speak publicly about something deeply personal and, perhaps most importantly, what it meant to have a community rally around a family experiencing tragedy. Years later, she would need those lessons again.
In March 2016, the Dohertys’ 7-year-old son, Hollis, was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, an aggressive pediatric brain cancer. He died Jan. 2, 2017, after a nine-month battle with the disease.
Once again, Doherty found herself turning toward advocacy, research and community.
“That really was what fueled us because that was such a huge part of who we were. Funding for research, fighting for advocacy—but also doing it with a group of other people who come along beside you and help hold up your arms and push you forward.”
Building Hope Through Hollis
The Hope Through Hollis Foundation, founded by the Dohertys, honors Hollis by raising awareness of DIPG and funding research aimed at finding a cure. The foundation has worked extensively with TGen, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, where researchers had been involved in Hollis’ care.
Doherty also helped bring other DIPG families together to support that research, and she participates in an annual scientific update with those families that is facilitated by TGen. Wendy Nelson, associate vice president of TGen’s Office of Philanthropy, says that those collective efforts have raised around $2 million over the past decade.
“She and her husband, Shane. They're incredible. There's no other word for them. They also make themselves available to other families when they unfortunately start this journey to help them through,” Nelson says.
Hope Through Hollis is part of a larger alliance of family foundations that pool resources to fund research, allowing even small organizations to contribute to major grants. Doherty says the community surrounding the work matters just as much.
She reaches out to families facing a new DIPG diagnosis. She advocates with lawmakers. At the foundation’s annual golf tournament, other DIPG families join the Dohertys to put faces to the disease, and a “warrior wall” honors children who have died.
"I look at the March of Dimes and everything they've done and think that because of all the research, the babies even born at 21 weeks are surviving now. That's why I keep thinking, if we keep fighting, if we get other families involved, maybe one day we'll see kids with DIPG have true hope."
—Shawnee Doherty
The relationships extend across the country and even around the world. At the time of Hollis’s diagnosis, Facebook groups often served as community spaces where families could build camaraderie and share stories about their experiences. It was in one of those groups that Doherty connected with the Cozzi family in Washington state. The Cozzis were getting ready to take their teenage son to Germany for medical treatment, and Doherty wanted to learn more about her options.
Ultimately, Doherty decided to take Hollis for treatment in Germany as well. She knew that her son’s diagnosis was terminal, but treatment in Germany offered Hollis a small reprieve in the form of “the most best days.”
“That became our mantra: ‘most best days.’ And in fact, the treatment did keep his tumor stable for months.”
The Dohertys also connected with the Cozzis in Germany. Years later, the families remain close and continue supporting each other’s fundraising efforts.
“It's just so important to be able to hug somebody who's been in your shoes and walked through the journey with you. Not only that, but we knew and loved each other's kids,” Shawnee says.
Nelson sees that commitment firsthand through Doherty’s work with TGen.
“She's absolutely tireless in her efforts. Even though she has been through the most painful thing anybody can go through, she makes herself available to the other families to support them,” Nelson says.
The Real Estate Community Shows Up
Doherty’s career as a real estate professional gave her the flexibility she needed to devote time and energy to the foundation, but it’s the support of her real estate community that really stands out to her.
When Hollis was diagnosed, real estate professionals throughout the Phoenix area rallied around the Doherty family. Some added riders to their yard signs pledging a portion of proceeds from sales to support the family. Others brought food, arranged housekeeping and stepped in wherever they could.
One fellow agent took over a transaction Doherty had just begun at the time of Hollis’ diagnosis, cared for her clients, walked them through the transaction and expected nothing in return.
“The real estate community was definitely and has continued to be supportive,” Doherty says.
Nearly a decade after Hollis’ diagnosis, Doherty is still working toward a future in which another family hears something different after receiving a DIPG diagnosis.
“If we keep fighting, if we get other families involved, maybe one day we'll see kids with DIPG have true hope.”
Shawnee Doherty of United Real Estate Specialists, Phoenix, helped build a network of DIPG families and foundations that has raised around $2 million over the past 10 years to support research.
