Treasure Chest Foundation Opens 58th Program at Mayo Clinic

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) recently reached a major milestone with the opening of our 58th Treasure Chest Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing.

Each new Treasure Chest Program is opened in honor or in memory of one or more individuals whose lives have impacted the success and influence of our Foundation. This Rochester program is being established in memory of Tyler Duelm, a childhood cancer patient who lost his battle and who is continually remembered in his hometown La Grange, IL community for courage in the face of tremendous adversity. Through annual toy drives and numerous fundraising efforts, Tyler’s parents, Brent and Laura Duelm, have continued to support children and teens fighting cancer across the nation during the past 13 years.

Treasure Chest Foundation Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said, “Our most recent opening reflects the Foundation’s enormous growth during its 23 years of dedicated service to children and teens fighting cancer. This newest Treasure Chest Program also reminds me that we are truly blessed to have your ongoing and generous support. Thanks to caring people like you, we now serve more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 20 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia every month and we continue to grow.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 58 cancer treatment centers in 20 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Ms. Kisel discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain, noting that when children are diagnosed with cancer their world soon becomes filled with doctors, nurses, chemotherapy drugs, surgeries and seemingly endless painful procedures. Martin celebrated his 26th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2019.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s web site at www.treasurechest.org.