Rylee Monahan, 14, of Gilbertsville, and her family will be participating in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 2023 Parkway Run & Walk to raise money for childhood cancer research. Rylee, her sister, and her father all have a rare and deadly disease that predisposes them to cancer at an early age, writes Wendy Ruderman for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Her father Ryan Monahan has fought four different types of cancer since he was 11 years old. Rylee was 9 when she was diagnosed with brain cancer and since then she has also battled two other types of cancer. Just this August right before her 14^th birthday, doctors found signs of cancer in her right ovary and right lung.

Madison, who turns 18 next month, has been cancer-free so far, but the likelihood of her being diagnosed with cancer by age 40 is almost 100%.

“It kind of feels like you’re a time bomb,” she said.

All three of them have Li-Fraumeni syndrome which causes a gene that is protective against cancer to not work properly. There is no cure, so the focus is finding new experimental treatments.

As an ambassador of the CHOP Parkway Run & Walk, Rylee has organized a team, “Rock Star Rylee: One Step Closer,” to participate in the Parkway walk and run. Her team has already raised more than $22,000 in donations.

The CHOP event will take place on September 24 at 7 a.m. at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Read more about Rylee Monahan and her family and the CHOP 2023 Parkway Run & Walk in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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More on CHOP’s cancer research.