Future Healers program honors 11-year-old who died of brain cancer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville nonprofit educating children impacted by gun violence honored an 11-year-old who recently died of brain cancer.

Keeland Sanders died in September after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive brain cancer. Because of his diagnosis, Sanders wanted to be a surgeon when he grew up, so he wanted to join the Future Healers program.

Christopher 2X's Game Changers has devoted resources to supporting children impacted by gun violence with the Future Healers program, which is a partnership between the Game Changers, UofL Hospital's Trauma Institute and students at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. The goal of the program is to help Louisville children who have been impacted by violence in their neighborhoods to build a better future.

While staying at Norton Children's Hospital, Sanders was visited by members of the Future Healers program. The group gave him a stuffed toy at his bedside to show he was already a Future Healers, according to a news release.

The Future Healers program will now include specific curriculum in memory of Sanders. The lesson will focus on cancer in child and adults.

"On behalf of the whole medical family connected to the Future Healers program, creating a curriculum in Keeland’s memory is extremely important to let his spirit live on as a Future Healer by teaching other Future Healers that happy and sad times can happen with the human body," UofL Trauma Surgeon Dr. Keith Miller said in a news release.

To learn more about Christopher 2X Game Changers, click here.

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