Blake Shelton Cancer Research Program Established at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital

The hospital established the Blake Shelton Cancer Research Program.

Written by Lauren Laffer
Blake Shelton Cancer Research Program Established at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital
Blake Shelton; Photo by Jim Wright

Blake Shelton has a heart of gold. The singer recently established the Blake Shelton Cancer Research Program at Oklahoma University’s Children’s Hospital in honor of his cousin Aspen Van Horn.

According to the Oklahoma University’s Children’s Hospital Foundation, Aspen received treatment at their Jimmy Everest Center for neuroblastoma when she was five months old. During her time there, she received two blood transfusions, three rounds of chemotherapy and a surgical procedure to remove the tumor.

She’ll turn three in January thanks to her successful treatments.

“We are so thankful for Blake’s support in defeating childhood cancer,” said Chip Keating, Children’s Hospital Foundation’s board president (quote via the ADA News). “We have what I would consider to be one of the top cancer centers in America here in our footsteps, providing the best care possible for our kids with cancer. This research program will help us further our mission to see more kids ring the bell, symbolizing the end of active treatment and the beginning of a life free of cancer.”

Seeing his family go through what they had to inspired Shelton to give back.

“They don’t turn any kids away,” Shelton said while onstage at a concert in 2016. “You come in there, you have a problem, they don’t turn anybody away, so I thought, ‘That’s a place that needs some money.’

It was during that stop that he and girlfriend Gwen Stefani donated a check for $600,000 to the Jimmy Everest Center.

According to the Children’s Hospital Foundation, the program supports more than 233,000 patients annually. All of the funds raised through the foundation remain in Oklahoma so children have access to pediatric specialists without leaving the state.

To help support the Children’s Hospital Foundation or the Blake Shelton Cancer Research Program, please call 405-650-1718 or visit chfKids.com.