Tumor Survivor Honored as Ambassador to Brain & Spine Center

Sean Ries of Mount Tabor was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was just 5 years old. 

Six weeks after two uncertain surgeries, Ries participated in the Miles for Hope 2012 and later joined the Children’s Brain Tumor Project as an Ambassador for the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center in New York City.

He was honored for his work in helping families at the second annual Miles for Hope event in Flushing Meadow Park on Saturday, July 27.

“The event was dedicated to a little girl named Caitlin Downing, who was the first child treated in an innovative new clinical trial developed by Dr. Mark Souweidane,” said Roseann Foley Henry, marketing manager for Weill Cornell's Department of Neurological Surgery.

The trial was for DIPG, a rare and inoperable brain tumor where there's simply no hope of survival.

“It's a terrible thing for a family to hear this diagnosis and it took an amazing amount of courage for Caitlin and her family to be the first one,” said Henry.

She was posthumously awarded the first-ever Rainbow Award for her family's courage in looking beyond the storm to see the rainbow.

TEAM Sean attended the event wearing rainbow socks in support of Denise Downing, Caitlin's mom.