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New Ohio license plate benefits #KylerStrong, DIPG research

145 views · Published 13 April 2018 · 3:07 · Indexed 25 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2018 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Kyler Bradley's mother keeps a promise she made to her son: To raise money to find a cure for DIPG, a type of brain cancer that strikes young people.

The latest effort reminds people in a public way that there is no cure.

Local 12 met 10-year-old Kyler Bradley at his elementary school in October 2015. The tumor of his brainstem had just been discovered. The only sign? One eye turned in. They took him to the eye doctor

Kyler died six months later.

"Neil Armstrong's daughter died 65 years ago. Kyler got the same treatment his daughter got. Chem and radiation. Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed,” said Rebecca Bradley.

Rebecca's promise to her son is to change that by raising money for DIPG research.

"DIPG does not have funding. All the funding it has comes from parents like us who have lost children,” said Rebecca.

The family's latest fundraising project is an Ohio license plate. It goes on sale next Tuesday. It took 14 months that included testifying at the statehouse before the Governor signed the bill.

"$15 of every plate comes back to the Kyler Strong Foundation. 100 percent goes to research,” said Rebecca.

On the plate is the face of a little boy who is sad because there is no cure. The cape is about something else. Rebecca says every child who fights DIPG is a superhero.

"They fight for every breath, every second of everyday,” said Rebecca.

Kyler died two years ago next Thursday. His brother and father created a blanket for Rebecca made of Kyler’s favorite shirts and photos of him wearing them. It is some comfort.

"There is so much he missed. Our life has gone on. So much I want to tell him,” said Rebecca. "We just want to make him proud.”

Part of Kyler still lives. The tumor that killed him is growing in a Petrie dish at Children's Hospital. It is injected with different drugs in search of a cure.

"They're using it in research. Maybe the miracle will be that his tumor does find a cure,” said Rebecca.

Kyler believed in miracles. He told Local 12 this, even when he knew he was going to die.

You can go to the KylerStrongFoundation.org website to find out more about fundraising events.

That includes a superhero pub crawl Saturday night in Hamilton.

So far, the foundation has raised $106,000 for DIPG research.

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