8-Year-Old Skips Birthday Gifts, Requests Donations For Nonprofit

COLUMBIA, MD — Two years ago, 8-year-old Ada Cottrell lost her father to colon cancer. Her dad Robert was an electrical engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and sadly, he passed away just days before her sixth birthday.

To honor her father and help others during the coronavirus pandemic, Ada didn't want presents for her birthday this year, but instead hoped people would donate money to her nonprofit, Ada Cottrell Foundation, to help other cancer victims and those with coronavirus.

“If you have a loved one who is sick, who has cancer, and if you have lost anyone with COVID-19, do not be discouraged because there’s a lot of people who are going through the same,” Joyce Cottrell told WJZ.

The foundation focuses on health care, health education, health research and innovation, and nursing and social work. Learn more about the foundation here.