An emotional appeal from Siqi Chen, a technology entrepreneur and founder of the finance platform Runway, for his daughter’s rare brain tumour treatment has resulted in an extraordinary crowdfunding campaign. In a post on X (previously Twitter), Chen mentioned that his daughter, Mira, had been diagnosed with a benign tumour situated in a risky area of the brain, which, while survivable, might lead to significant quality of life challenges.
if you could press a button that cures your child’s brain tumor in exchange for ending your life immediately, every parent would hesitate for zero seconds before fighting to be the first to press it
the cruelest thing is that no such button exists.
but there is always a move 👇 pic.twitter.com/mlAbmeOpvx
— Siqi Chen (@blader) December 25, 2024
Chen’s touching message attracted the interest of a cryptocurrency user, who established a “meme coin” to aid in raising funds for her treatment. The effort quickly gained momentum, and Chen was able to gather sufficient funds through cryptocurrency contributions to support research at the Hankinson Lab at the University of Colorado.
though there is still no cure, with the help of our research team, we have already helped dr. hankinson's lab identify promising new drugs for mira's tumor.
but we need your help.
because of its rarity, research and funding for this disease has been severely lacking. pic.twitter.com/783fDyTT48
— Siqi Chen (@blader) December 25, 2024
Reflecting on his journey, Chen stated, “If you could push a button that cures your child’s brain tumour in exchange for your own life ending immediately, every parent would not hesitate for even a second before striving to be the first to press it. The most painful reality is that no such button is available. ” He also shared information about Mira’s condition, Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma, stressing the tumour’s perilous location.
uh so some random guy 20 minutes made a SOL memecoin called $MIRA to help with research fundraising and sent me half the entire supply and it's now worth like $400K and i literally don't know what to do because i certainly don't want to rug a bunch of random people https://t.co/P78bLq52fB
— Siqi Chen (@blader) December 26, 2024
Chen later disclosed how a meme coin known as $MIRA was launched in a matter of minutes, raising about Rs 3. 4 crore ($400K) for research, expressing astonishment and appreciation: “I simply want to convey that whoever claimed crypto has no valid use cases, you can inform them that funding for rare disease research is a quite valid use case. ”
