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MURRAY — A 4-year-old West Jordan boy who passed away earlier this week after a long battle with leukemia has inspired a $250,000 donation to the Huntsman Cancer Institute on his behalf.
The announcement was made Friday morning on the Doug Wright Show. The anonymous donor told Wright that he was so touched by Ethan's strength and the words of Ethan's father, Merril Van Leuven, about Ethan's life having a purpose of bringing the community together that he wanted to help.
Ethan passed away Tuesday after being diagnosed with leukemia right before he turned 2. The surrounding community came together to support Ethan during his last few weeks by throwing him a birthday party and celebrating Halloween and Christmas with him.
Van Leuven told KSL he was touched by the donation. Ethan was a patient of cancer research and participated in many research studies. For someone to honor him by trying to further that research was meaningful to the family, he added.
"It really means a lot, especially since we've been on the research side of treatment," said Van Leuven, describing the two clinical studies his son participated in. "This donation makes that much more meaningful, that little Ethan can be much mores a part of cancer research going forward."
Michael Engel, a pediatric oncologist at Primary Children's Hospital, said on "The Doug Wright Show" that he is inspired by the generous gift.
"The advances occurring in modern molecular medicine now are truly staggering," Engel said. "That gives us the ability to fight back, and so that's what we do in the laboratory and in clinical settings through research."
This donor hopes this is a starting point for others in the community to donate on behalf of Ethan to cancer research, so no other child has to die.
After the announcement was made, the Huntsman Cancer Institute set up a donation page in honor of Ethan on its website.
