Unravel Pediatric Cancer
Don’t Just Be Sorry
W
hen Libby and Tony Kranz of
Gilroy received the news in
October, 2014 that the cause
of their six-year-old daughter Jennifer’s
inward-turning eye was diffuse intrinsic
pontine glioma (DIPG), a cancerous
brain tumor that interferes with all
bodily functions, they had to find a way
to navigate a life that would never be
the same again. Despite seven weeks
of radiation, Jennifer’s cancer spread,
and hospice was their only option. The
Kranz family had just three and a half
22
months left with their oldest child after
diagnosis. Jennifer Lynn Kranz died at
her home on February 12, 2014.
Libby promised her daughter Jennifer
“over and over” that she would take care
of her surviving siblings, Jonathan, now
7, Nicholas, now 5, and Charlotte, now
4. (Their youngest daughter, Bridgette,
18 months, was not yet born). “Doing
something about pediatric cancer was
the best way I could take care of them,”
Libby told
TODAY. “It’s truly
selfish. I’m terrified it will happen to me
gmh
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY/AUGUST 2017
Written By Jordan Rosenfeld
again, and I love getting to talk about
my daughter.”
For Tony, “It’s more just about
keeping Jennifer’s memory alive. Beyond
that I see what it does for Libby along
with a ton of people who have gotten
involved,” he said.
Despite grief so heavy it often
literally brought them to their knees,
they researched how to raise funds
for pediatric cancer, stumbling into
shocking statistics that motivated the
creation of their non-profit, Unravel
gmhtoday.com