Perry's bell, our promise: $1 million to Blood Cancer united

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 A two-year-old should be worried about which crayon to use. Perry Oviedo was worried about staying alive.

One month after her second birthday, Perry was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A Fort Worth girl, a few weeks past the cake and the candles, handed a fight most adults will never face. Years of treatment followed. Years her family spent in hospitals instead of at dance class, at birthday parties, on the trips other families take for granted.

On April 17, Perry rang the bell. End of treatment. Her mom, her dad, and her older sister stood beside her. She did the thing every family in that fight prays for and too few get to do.

I wanted you to know her name before I told you anything about a check.

The Unleashed Brands Foundation gave $200,000 to Blood Cancer United, formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The gift supports the Dare to Dream Project, a pediatric blood cancer initiative built around research, family support, patient education, and advocacy for kids navigating leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers.

That is the headline. Here is what it actually buys.

It buys research aimed at safer, less toxic treatments designed for children, not scaled down from adult medicine. It buys the PedAL trial, a pediatric acute leukemia master study. It buys guidance for parents who got a diagnosis they did not see coming and have no map for what comes next. It buys the quiet things. The phone call that explains a word the doctor used too fast. The reminder that a family is not walking this alone.

A childhood cancer diagnosis changes everything. It changes routines. It changes plans. It changes how a parent thinks about tomorrow. We are in the business of helping kids become life-ready. You cannot do that work and look away from the kids fighting just to see another birthday.

The week after Perry rang the bell, we brought her and her family to Orlando for UBCON, our annual conference where franchise owners and brand leaders from across Unleashed Brands come together.

We put Perry on the stage. The full community celebrated her. We told her she was the ultimate comeback kid, and we meant every word. Then we told her one more thing. The next morning, she was going to Magic Kingdom. All of it. The VIP experience, the whole day, on April 21.

I asked her who her favorite princess was. Ariel, she said. She got to meet her.

Here is what I keep coming back to. The families in this fight miss the ordinary celebrations. Disney trips. Normal birthdays. The small ceremonies of a regular childhood. They miss them because they are spending those days in the fight of a lifetime. So when we celebrate a comeback kid, we are not staging a feel-good moment. We are giving back a day that cancer tried to take.

Perry's story is hers alone. But her courage looks like the courage of thousands of kids and families in this same fight. She reminds us why this work matters. She reminds us why hope matters.

The $200,000 is not the whole promise. It is the first part of a five-year, $1 million commitment from the Unleashed Brands Foundation to Blood Cancer United and pediatric blood cancer support.

I want to be clear about why we put a number and a timeline on it. Kids facing adversity deserve more than sympathy. Sympathy fades by the next news cycle. They deserve action that shows up again and again, the kind you can plan a research program around. A one-time gift is a moment. A five-year commitment is a partnership.

Since we launched the Foundation in 2023, the mission has stayed the same: invest in today's kids and tomorrow's leaders. This is what that mission looks like when a real kid needs it.

Comeback stories take all of us. If Perry's story moved you, here are real ways to stand in this fight, whether you are a franchisee, a team member, a guest, or someone who just read this and wants to do something.

Sock It to Cancer. Our Foundation program raises awareness and funding through specially designed socks and community participation, with proceeds helping support the Dare to Dream Project.

Round Up at checkout. Guests can round up purchases at participating Unleashed Brands locations. Small acts, repeated by enough people, move real money.

The Teddy Bear Program. Franchisees, team members, and communities build bears that go to kids facing illness, a reminder that someone cares.

Share the mission. Awareness matters. Sharing a story like Perry's helps another family feel seen.

You can learn more and get involved at InvestInKids.org.

The fight against pediatric blood cancer is bigger than one donation, one company, or one bell on one April afternoon.

But I watched a little girl ring that bell. I watched her meet Ariel. I watched a family get back a day that cancer tried to steal. That is not abstract to me anymore. It has a name.

We are proud to stand with Blood Cancer United, the Dare to Dream Project, and every family fighting for a brighter tomorrow. Because every child deserves the chance to learn, to play, to grow, and to become the ultimate comeback kid.

The future is bright.