9-Year-Old Ohio Girl Raises $100k to Fight Brain Cancer in Memory of Twin Brother: ‘I Wanted to Honor Him’

A nine-year-old Ohio girl has raised more than $100,000 to fund research for brain cancer after her twin brother passed away from a malignant tumor last year, WLWT reports.

In September 2019, then-six-year-old Grant Wolf of Loveland and his family learned the awful news that he was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma. The Loveland community rallied around the youngster, becoming known as “Grant’s Wolf Pack,” but after battling the disease for over a year, Grant passed away on January 22, 2021 – weeks before he and his twin sister, Julia’s eighth birthday, according to WLWT.

“I couldn’t even bear the thought of having a birthday without my twin brother so I wanted to honor him while turning eight,” Julia recently told the outlet. 

In honor of Grant’s memory, Julia, with her mother Sarah’s help, established a Facebook fundraiser for the nonprofit The Cure Starts Now, hoping to raise around $240 in increments of $8 by their eighth birthday on February 11, WKRC noted. 

“[Julia] wanted to raise money to help find a cure for brain cancer so that no other kids have to go through this tough time,” Sarah said. 

The Loveland girl shattered her own goal, eclipsing $56,000 in donations for The Cure Starts Now. 

Sarah told WKRC at the time: 

We are so proud of Julia for thinking of both Grant and other kids during her birthday week. We are heartbroken she will be growing up without her twin brother at her side physically, but she has big ideas and a big heart, so we know this is just the first of many ways she will honor his memory while making a difference in the world at the same time.

For Julia’s ninth birthday this past February, she held another fundraiser for The Cure Starts Now, requesting donations be made in $9 increments in honor of her and Grant’s ninth birthday, the fundraiser page shows. She raised tens of thousands of dollars again, passing the $52,000 milestone, all of which will go towards researching brain cancer.

The inspiring nine-year-old urges other families who have a loved one battling cancer to maintain hope.

“I want you guys to know just always keep hope in your heart,” she said while speaking with WLWT. “Also if they do lose their loved ones, just know that they’re with you in spirit. I get thousands of signs every day from Grant knowing that he’s with us.”