Local families filled the community room at Palisades Village for the Wendy Walk Carnival, a fundraiser for sarcoma research in honor of Palisadian Wendy Landes who passed away in 2013 after a battle with liposarcoma.
Children of all ages were elated to find various games like ring toss and a bean bag toss, snacks including candy and popcorn, a face painting booth, and costumes to bring some light to what was shaping up to be a rainy Sunday.
Ali Landes, daughter of Wendy and executive director of Wendy Walk, was behind the organization’s 10-year celebration and was responsible for bringing the community together for a good cause.
“We wanted to do something different and do something to celebrate where we started and where we came from, and since we are a Palisades family, this seemed really appropriate,” said Ali, who was 22 when her mother was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer, a disease that attacks bones, and connective tissues such as fat and muscle.
“Over the years, the Palisades has been super supportive … I feel like this is a culmination of 10 years of support behind my mom and my family and sarcoma cancer,” she said.
Wendy Walk has been busy fundraising for treatments and research of the rare disease, and is now looking to partner with “like-minded organizations” to get matching grants to make their dollar go further, according to Ali.
“We’re looking for innovative doctors, and we want to be a place to support more patients and more families as much as possible.”
The director was thankful to the community for “showing up and supporting our family and supporting this cause and caring about a rare disease because it needs funding and it’s also a very prevalent pediatric cancer, which people don’t know about, so it’s good to know about it and to get involved because kids do get sarcoma.”
For more information about the next Los Angeles Wendy Walk, scheduled for June 9 at Hotel Casa del Mar, visit wendywalk.org.
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