The Children’s Ball Boosts Research Funding

At the 41st annual Children’s Ball on December 11, 1999, more than 1,300 people enjoyed appetizers in Munchkinland, ate dinner at the Emerald City and danced on the Yellow Brick Road to raise $1.6 million mainly for brain tumor research at Children’s Memorial Medical Center.

Tremendous support and lobbying from the Rory David Deutsch Foundation helped make the purchase of the cutting-edge Photon Radiosurgery System (the "wand") possible, while $275,000 of the evening’s proceeds will help the medical center’s overall brain tumor research programs through the Children’s Memorial Institute for Education and Research.

Research being conducted within The Rory David Deutsch Brain Tumor Research Program at Children’s will also benefit from the new "wand" radiation technology. The pencil-shaped device allows pediatric surgeons to give exact and higher radiation doses directly inside tumors with fewer complications and less damage to healthy surrounding tissues. (Read more about the "wand")

The 1999 Children’s Ball chose the "Oz" theme in honor of the 100th anniversary of the classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" book written in Chicago by L. Frank Baum. His great-grandson, Roger Baum, attended the black-tie event at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, and signed his newest Oz book, "The Lion of Oz." Other celebrities, politicians and actors joined in the Oz festivities at the Ball, which capped off the Medical Center’s annual fund-raising efforts.