New partner, same mission: Faster progress for kids with brain tumors
Thanks to you, The Morgan Adams Foundation (MAF) has funded groundbreaking research into one of the toughest childhood brain cancers, ependymoma, since 2004. Now, with a new partnership with Links Fore Liam, that work is entering an exciting new chapter.
What Is Ependymoma?
Ependymoma is a brain tumor that typically affects children under five, arising from abnormalities in the cells lining the brain and spinal cord. It most commonly occurs in the back of the brain and is the third most common childhood brain tumor.
It is also one of the hardest to treat. Current treatment involves surgery and radiation, but more than 70% of kids relapse within 10 years, and for those who do, treatment options are extremely limited.
Part of the challenge is that, unlike many adult cancers, ependymoma is not driven by genetic mutations. Ependymoma is shaped by more subtle changes in how genes are switched on and off inside the tumor cell, making it uniquely difficult to target. That is exactly why continued research is so critical.
Your Impact: Decades of Research
Since 2004, MAF has funded 20 research awards supporting Dr. Nicholas Foreman and his team at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Foreman has studied ependymoma for more than 30 years and is considered one of the field’s leading experts.
The Foreman Lab was the first group funded by MAF and thanks to longstanding support, the neuro-oncology research group at Children’s Hospital Colorado is known as The Morgan Adams Foundation Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program.
In MAF’s early years of funding, Dr. Foreman’s lab worked to identify a key molecule on ependymoma tumor cells that could become a target for future treatments — groundwork that has led to major advances since.
A Major Breakthrough Funded by You
In 2023, Dr. Foreman’s team team discovered that in certain types of ependymoma tumors, there was a specific gene change that occurred when the cancer returns after treatment.
Patients with this change were six times more likely to succumb to the disease, revealing a key reason these tumors are so dangerous.
Based on this discovery, they then tested existing cancer drugs and found a combination — 5-FU, a second drug called ATRA, and radiation — that dramatically improved survival in lab and animal studies.
This research, published in 2024, directly led to Clinical Trial ACNS2422, which is now evaluating the drug combination in children with this high-risk form of ependymoma.
MAF is collaborating with The Children’s Oncology Group and The Robert Connor Dawes Foundation to fund access to the drugs for this trial to ensure eligible children are enrolled.
This breakthrough, from lab discovery to clinical trial, has been funded by The Morgan Adams Foundation since 2021, made possible by donors like you.
The next chapter: Links Fore Liam Joins Morgan Adams
MAF is excited to welcome Nick Bascle, founder of Links Fore Liam, into our organization to help accelerate ependymoma fundraising and research.
Together, we will raise money for labs investigating more effective and less toxic treatments for kids with brain tumors like the one that affected Liam.
Liam’s Story
In the face of unimaginable loss, finding a way to honor a loved one’s memory can be a profound source of healing. For the Bascle family, the legacy of their son Liam lives on through Links Fore Liam, a golf tournament series that has become a rallying point for the community in the fight against pediatric brain cancer.
Liam was diagnosed with ependymoma at just 10 months old. Over the next seven years, he and his family fought the disease, and his courage and joy touched everyone who knew him. When Liam passed away in 2021 at age 7, his father Nick made a promise: to turn that loss into something that could spare other families the same heartbreak. In 2022, he founded Links Fore Liam and what began as a single event has grown into a national series now marking its 5th anniversary and is on track to surpass $1 million raised in 2026.
Your Impact: Brain Tumor Research at Dana-Farber
Since it began in New Hampshire, Links Fore Liam has directed its funding to research in the Filbin Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping fuel real progress in understanding how ependymoma behaves at the cellular level.
That support has already made an impact: a study it helped fund was published this year in the journal Nature Cancer, revealing that these tumors are made up of several different cell types and that surrounding healthy brain tissue influences tumor growth and spread. It is a discovery that could eventually lead to smarter, more targeted treatments.
Looking Ahead
The future of pediatric cancer research will rely even more heavily on bioinformatics.
Continued support will allow researchers to streamline complex analyses, and develop next-generation AI-driven tools. It will also help modernize pediatric cancer datasets and biobank resources, making them more accessible and useful for researchers around the world. As Dr. Phang explains, these improvements compound over time, producing faster, higher-confidence results, stronger collaborations, and more impactful discoveries for children with cancer.
Bioinformatics is becoming one of the most powerful drivers of progress in pediatric cancer research. It is the science behind the science. Every pediatric cancer breakthrough begins with a question. Because of supporters like you, bioinformatics is helping researchers find the answers.
A New Funding Partnership for Links Fore Liam
This October, the Colorado Links Fore Liam event (Monday, October 5 at Red Rocks Country Club) is directing its funds to a new grantee that is familiar to MAF donors: the Foreman Lab.
Together, The Morgan Adams Foundation and Links Fore Liam are turning what we’ve learned from Liam and so many other children into discoveries that can make a difference for the next child diagnosed with ependymoma.
The Series Keeps Growing
The series keeps growing, and so will the impact Links Fore Liam and The Morgan Adams Foundation will have in the fight against pediatric brain cancer.
As the Links Fore Liam Golf Tournament series continues to expand its geographic reach in the fight against pediatric brain cancer, we invite you to join us!
- Morrison, CO — October 5, 2026, Red Rocks Country Club
- Bedford, NH — September 28, 2026, Manchester Country Club
- Scottsdale, AZ — March 22, 2027, Ancala Country Club
- Vail, CO — June 2027
- New Orleans, LA — December 6, 2027, English Turn Golf and Country Club
For nearly 25 years, The Morgan Adams Foundation has funded innovative childhood cancer research across the U.S. and around the world. Our mission is simple but urgent: to improve treatment effectiveness, survival rates, and quality of life for kids, teens, and young adults with cancer, while minimizing the harsh side effects of today’s therapies. Links Fore Liam represents that mission in action.
If you would like to make a gift to support the critical research powering tomorrow’s pediatric cancer breakthroughs, we invite you to make a gift today. Click here.
Together, we are helping researchers uncover the answers hidden within every child’s cancer and bringing us closer to a future where every child has access to more effective and less toxic treatments.
