This fundraising is a Smiles From Sean project for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Our goal is to create a fund that will help families with incidental expenses while in the hospital.

We are establishing this fund to honor Sean Rovers and to remember Kaylee Kruise.

Sean and Kaylee were childhood cancer patients, who share the same birthdate, that met while going through cancer treatments. Both children had infectious smiles, big hearts, and resilience in their fights against brain cancer.

Sean is currently approaching his 5-year cancer-free milestone while Kaylee gained her angel wings in 2021.

Below are Sean and Kaylee's stories:

Sean was 2 months shy of his 10th birthday in October 2017 when he was diagnosed with rare pediatric brain cancer- a type of central nervous system sarcoma. Sean was the first patient the hospital had for the specific type of cancer that he had. His cancer recurred in March 2018 and had second brain surgery on April 17, 2018, followed by 30 rounds of radiation treatment.

Sean used his smile throughout the fight of his life, and when getting through his pain. After his cancer treatments in 2018, Sean wanted to put a smile on the face of the children staying in the hospital, so he started collecting smiley items for the patients at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and we called our little project - Smiles from Sean. The following year, Sean, through his Smiles from Sean, donated more smiley items to the hospital's Child Life Department. In addition, Sean's Smile from Sean organized its first coin drive where all the proceeds were donated to the hospital. In 2021, amidst of pandemic, Sean's Smile from Sean raised over $7100, and proceeds were donated to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, and in addition to this, with the help of Kaylee's mom Smiles from Sean donated power wheels to the radiation oncology department, and gift cards for the families in the oncology floor. To date, Sean's Smiles from Sean had raised over $13K for the children and families receiving care in the hospital.

Kaylee Kruise was diagnosed with a brain tumor (medulloblastoma) on May 8, 2018, Kaylee completed surgery, 30 rounds of radiation, and 4 rounds of chemo and was deemed, Ned. About 1 year later Kaylee’s cancer relapsed in her spine and she began hard treatment again. Completing 3 rounds of hard chemo and a stem cell transplant. In December 2020 her cancer came back again, spread quickly and she passed on 2/12/21. Kaylee is known for her contagious smile and has been and continues to be an inspiration.

During the turnover of our 2022 donation to the hospital's foundation, we made a decision that we are going to create a fund honoring the two childhood cancer heroes that met while going through cancer treatments coincidentally share the same birthdate, became friends, and hoped that their story can inspire others.