Our History

The Jori Zemel Children's Bone Cancer Foundation was founded as a tribute to Jori Starr Zemel, a vibrant girl who lost her battle to osteosarcoma on January 1, 2001, at the age of fourteen.

We started as an idea. Jori's family and friends wanted to hold "a walk" to honor Jori's memory and raise awareness about the tragically under-funded research for children's bone cancer. Certainly, we could offer a day of camaraderie for the community of people who had been so supportive during Jori's battle with osteosarcoma. We hoped to raise a little money to help The Unversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's pediatric research in the process.

We picked a date, and from Brook and Nina Zemel's living room, we planned an event that would end up becoming something none of us had ever imagined. In honest retrospect, we had no idea what we were doing. But on March 23, 2002, we had a walk. A very successful walk. We drew over 2,000 participants and raised over $50,000. It appeared we were on to something...

From there, the idea became a foundation. And we grew. The Jori Zemel Children's Bone Cancer Foundation was officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 2002 and our "walk" became an annual event - the Heart & Sole Music Festival and Cancer Walk. We've since added other programs and fundraising efforts, but our mission remains the same.

Today, we have donated over $440,000 to children's bone cancer research at the Children's Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

  We helped found the first and only fellowship in the world dedicated solely to osteosarcoma research, the Jori Zemel Scholar and Fellowship Award. We've also established the Starr Family Program to help alleviate some of the financial burdens associated with treatment for children and families fighting osteosarcoma. And there's more on the horizon! All in all, we'd say it's been a great success.

Will you join us in the fight against children's bone cancer? To learn more about how you can help, please navigate our website or contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .