Support The Scholarship Fund

Join The Dwyer Family and help make this possible! No gift is too small.

A diagnosis changes everything, including plans for the future. Those applying for this scholarship share a resilience that most people will never understand. They have sat in hospital rooms, navigated impossible decisions, and found ways to show up for each other when showing up took everything they had. We know this because we’ve seen it up close:

Stephen Dwyer’s Leukemia diagnosis interrupted his high school graduation, but he went on to receive a scholarship, attend Lake Forest College, and become captain of the swim team.

His sister Brennan, watched her family navigate childhood cancer firsthand, and scholarships made it possible for her to pursue a career in social work. Today, Brennan is Lighthouse For Hope’s Program Director, showing up every day for families fighting the same battle her family once faced.

And then there’s Kylie. Kyle’s path to school was shaped at every turn by her diagnosis. In between relapses, treatment, and relentless interruptions that cancer brings, she kept her eyes on the horizon. She made it to the University of Washington where she majored in psychology. While being treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital for relapse, she helped design 2 studies examining how mental support for teen cancer patients makes a difference in their well-being and survivorship. Kylie found her purpose at school, and in the final years of her life, she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

Investing in these futures sends a profound message. It says: we see what you’ve been through, and we believe in where you’re going. It says that Kylie’s belief in people, her daily insistence on being good and doing good, is still alive and making a difference.