Can you help me by donating $11 for our 11th birthday?
by Julia Grant,
Hi, this is Julia. Three years ago on January 22, my twin brother Grant died from Medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. It was the saddest day of my life. I miss Grant every day.
Last year with the help of Grant’s Wolf Pack, we raised $64,000. That was enough to fund an entire research grant for Grant. This year, I want to raise enough to fund another two grants for Grant and I think we can do it.
Our 11th birthday is on February 11th and it is our golden birthday this year. Can you help me by donating $11 for our 11th birthday? We will need a lot of people to donate, so please tell your family and friends.
My family now knows a lot of kids with cancer. We need more research for cures and also for treatments that aren’t so hard on kids’ bodies and brains.
All the money will go to The Cure Starts Now. 100% of the money funds brain cancer research. Thank you for remembering my brother and helping me fund a grant for Grant.
About the charity:
The Cure Starts Now is the largest funder of DIPG research in the world and also provides research funding for other brain cancers such as medulloblastoma. Children are diagnosed with cancer every day and The Cure Starts Now is in the forefront of finding and funding a cure. This research focuses on innovative researchers, efficient funding and effective results.
Can you help me by donating $11 for our 11th birthday?
by Julia Grant,
Hi this is Julia. Three years ago on January 22, my twin brother Grant died from Medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. It was the saddest day of my life. I miss Grant every day.
Last year with the help of Grant’s Wolf Pack, we raised $64,000. That was enough to fund an entire research grant for Grant. This year, I want to raise enough to fund another two grants for Grant and I think we can do it.
Our 11th birthday is on February 11th and it is our golden birthday this year. Can you help me by donating $11 for our 11th birthday? We will need a lot of people to donate, so please tell your family and friends.
My family now knows a lot of kids with cancer. We need more research for cures and also for treatments that aren’t so hard on kids’ bodies and brains.
All the money will go to The Cure Starts Now. 100% of the money funds brain cancer research. Thank you for remembering my brother and helping me fund a grant for Grant.
About the charity:
The Cure Starts Now is the largest funder of DIPG research in the world and also provides research funding for other brain cancers such as medulloblastoma. Children are diagnosed with cancer every day and The Cure Starts Now is in the forefront of finding and funding a cure. This research focuses on innovative researchers, efficient funding and effective results.
Loveland, Ohio – Ray Wene, graduated from Loveland High School in 1991 and he passed away in 2019 from brain cancer. His wife Tina has started a non-profit foundation in his name to raise money for brain cancer research at Jewish Hospital; money for local youth sports and families that may not be able to afford the costs involved, and a local church youth group. These were some of the most important things to Ray and we hope to carry his legacy on by providing support for these organizations.
They are having their first golf outing at Hickory Woods and would like to reach out to the local community for interests.
This man here is Ray Wene, the face of The Ray Hope Foundation.
As stated above, Ray was diagnosed with Grade IV GBM in June of 2017. He fought a long and hard 29 months, and in November of 2019, “the Lord brought him home”. Ray’s faith was unshakable throughout those hard times; nothing broke him. Through his testimonial journey, he wanted to change the lives of others by bringing them closer to God. Ray was a passionate, loving man. He cared deeply about the youth programs held in church and kids who couldn’t pay to play. He desired to support them in any way he could, whether that be; financially or spiritually. Lastly, Ray’s biggest goal was to bring awareness to brain tumors and further research in the medical field. The proceeds will be donated and used to further his request for The Ray of Hope Foundation.
The number one goal for this foundation is to honor the life of Raymond Wene. “We will be supporting local youth faith-based programs, community youth sports, nurses education, and cancer research at The Jewish Hospital Brain Tumor Center.”
Dale Berger (right) is Ray’s best and lifelong friend who presented Ray with the very first Ray’s Battle Band.
Dear Loveland Magazine Readers,
There are moments in life that stop us in our tracks and hit us like a ton of bricks. These moments send a shockwave through our very being and make us question why and what it is that we truly believe; some might call them “Come to Jesus” moments. For my siblings and I, the most profound of these moments came on a late June morning when we first heard that our brother, Raymond Wene, was diagnosed with a grade 4 Glioblastoma; an incredibly aggressive form of brain cancer with an extremely grim prognosis. It is for this reason that we are sharing his story and asking for help for the man that we have looked up to, not only as an older brother, but as an example of what a dedicated husband, father, Christian, and man of extremely high moral principles looks like.
“Raymond Wene has an incredibly aggressive form of brain cancer with an extremely grim prognosis.”
Raymond is a brilliant example of how a man should live his life. He has always been known as the life of the party given his larger than life personality and sense of humor, two of the traits his children love the most about him. He is the oldest sibling, one of four, the one we all look up to. He is our rock and the glue that holds everything together. We all know at any moment, on any given day, we could ask anything of Ray and he would drop whatever he is doing to be there for us. He has always been the type of person to accept others right where they are in life, and for that reason people have sought him out to confide in him and seek his counsel. He is easily one of the most kind, selfless, and generous men that we know, willing to help out whenever the need presents itself. These traits, which seem to come so effortlessly, have only developed more as he has continued to cultivate his relationship with God over the years.
Ray and his Wife Tina
His home has long been the family gathering place not merely for the immediate family, but for aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, strays, you name it. He married Tina, a woman with a huge heart who not only allowed and put up with Ray’s open door policy, but welcomed it with open arms. This perhaps was best exemplified about ten years ago when my parents moved in with Ray and Tina, adding to a home that already had two young children. Alex, now 15, and Ella, now 13. They are a strong and vibrant Christian family, actively attending and serving at Branches Church in Loveland.
Ray and his Family (wife Tina, daughter Ella, and son Alex)
Raymond’s influence however, far exceeds what he has done inside his own home. He’s been an inspiration to countless others in various roles within the Loveland community. He has coached both youth football and basketball teams and though it has been several years, the impact he had on those young men couldn’t have been more evident than the moment that nearly the entire football team, now high school graduates, came to visit him in the hospital just before his surgery to remove the tumor.
Ray’s Former Loveland Football Team Members Visiting the Day Before His Surgery
Simply put, Raymond has touched, positively influenced, and impacted more lives in his forty-four years than most people have in a lifetime twice as long. We are so thankful that he has been in our lives to give us brotherly, fatherly, and godly advice throughout the years. Thank you Raymond. It is an honor and privilege to call you our brother and we love you more than words can ever say.
Sincerely,
Ray’s younger siblings, Teresa, Nikki, and David
If you want to help support Ray’s Battle and the entire Wene family, we are calling all prayer warriors to lift him up in prayer and add him to your prayer lists. You can also help by making a donation to Ray and Tina’s Go Fund Me Battle Fund at https://www.gofundme.com/ray-and-tinas-battle-fund.
If you would like a battle band, which reads, “Ray’s Battle” “Win the Battle”, all you have to do is make a donation to the Go Fund Me page and contact Dale Berger at dberger@wondoor.com. Dale is Ray’s best and lifelong friend who just presented Ray with the very first Ray’s Battle Band. He is calling on all of Ray’s warrior friends, family, and community to wear your Ray’s Battle Band throughout the duration of his treatment to help him “WIN THE BATTLE!”
