While most kids are busy making lists for Santa, one local fifth-grader has decided to make something different — a difference.

Gillian Lebowitz, an 11-year-old student at Greenhill who lives with her mother and brother in Preston Hollow, enjoys making the fashionable rainbow loom bracelets that kids everywhere are wearing. She weaves them at home for fun. But what started as a hobby quickly became something altogether different for Gillian, who saw that everyone liked them and wanted one of her handmade creations.  

Now, she is selling these bracelets and raising funds for the Sandler-Kenner Foundation to support the early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer, a cause marked by the color purple. Gillian has a relative who died of pancreatic cancer whom she never knew — a relative she never got to meet because of this deadly disease.

“I want there to be a way to diagnose pancreatic cancer early because that will save many peoples’ lives,” Gillian said. “Even though I am only 11 years old, I know I can still make a difference.”

Gillian’s purple bracelets have now become a fundraiser for early detection for a disease that wipes out tens of thousands of people a year. She was recently seen selling them at a fundraiser for the Sandler-Kenner Foundation at The Wine Poste, a Dallas-based wine boutique also committed to the fight against pancreatic cancer. The Wine Poste’s General Manager, James Jordan, lost his first wife to pancreatic cancer. Dr. James Mackey, an oncologist with Choice Cancer Care, is also a majority owner of the Wine Poste, and supports research into early screening methods.

For Gillian, this is all about doing something to help. To date, she’s already sold more than $200 in bracelets and is hoping that the community will keep supporting her mission. Each bracelet Gillian makes sells for $2. The funds raised go to the Sandler-Kenner Foundation, an Irving-based non-profit that is committed to finding new ways for early detection of pancreatic cancer. Gillian often enlists the help of her friends, Jessica and Olivia, and her brother, Jordan, to help her make more bracelets.

The help can’t come a moment too soon, as good screening methods to find this deadly killer are severely lacking. Pancreatic cancer is a disease often called the “silent killer” because it leaves few survivors. Its survivability has not improved in 50 years: this year alone, 44,000 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and 39,000 people will die from this deadly disease.

“Gillian is a remarkable young lady who heard about pancreatic cancer — and decided to do something about it!” said Dr. Gregory A. Echt, president and board chairman of the Sandler-Kenner Foundation, and also a Preston Hollow resident. “We should all have her drive and determination to make a change. People battling pancreatic cancer need people like Gillian.”

As we all hug family and friends a little tighter this season, grateful for the blessings of good health and happiness, Gillian and her friends are working to make a difference, one bracelet at a time — weaving hope for a new generation of people who need it.

If you are interested in supporting Gillian’s cause by purchasing a bracelet, please contact Randi Jacobs at the Sandler-Kenner Foundation at 214-379-2736 or r.jacobs@helpfightpancreaticcancer.org.

About Sandler-Kenner Foundation

The Sandler-Kenner Foundation, established in 2007 as the Las Colinas Cancer Center Foundation, was renamed in early 2011 in the memory of Michael Sandler and Peter Kenner, both of whom passed away from pancreatic cancer.  The Sandler-Kenner Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All donations made to Sandler-Kenner Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.  Learn more at www.HelpFightPancreaticCancer.org. 

The Sandler-Kenner Foundation’s medical and scientific funding decisions are guided in part by its Scientific Advisory Board members Dr. Suresh Chari of Mayo Clinic; Dr. Gregory A. Echt, F.A.C.R.O., Founder of Choice Cancer Care, and physician Las Colinas Cancer Center, PET/CT Center of Las Colinas, North Texas Cancer Center at Wise County and Prostate Seed Institute; Dr. Vay Liang W. Go Professor of Medicine, Division of Digestive Diseases at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Director, UCLA Center for Excellence in Pancreatic Diseases; Dr. David Klimstra of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and Dr. Richard Warner of Mount Sinai Medical School of Medicine.