Maryville, MO – On Monday evening, February 10, 2003, the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity collected donations for The “Angel Face” Foundation, care of Cheyenne Ackman. Members of TKE went door to door in all the residence halls at Northwest Missouri State University, asking students to make a small donation to help with the treatment fees for Cheyenne. The fundraiser was a one-time dash to collect as many donations as possible.

Cheyenne, who is 7 years old, is the daughter of Josh and Heather Ackman, Maryville residents. On December 2, 2002, Cheyenne was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia. Aplastic Anemia has shut down all bone marrow and is weakening Cheyenne’s immune system. The only cure for her is a bone marrow transplant.

Cheyenne is now under the care of the best doctors who deal with Aplastic Anemia at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle, Washington. The cost of a bone marrow transplant is enormous. To get a search for a donor starts at $20,000; the transplant itself can reach $1,000,000; and the living cost in Seattle for the Ackman family is $2,000 - $3,000 a month.

Frater Brandon Juon accepts a donation from local Northwest student.

Because of this extreme expense, TKE decided to take a hands-on approach in the fundraising efforts. On Monday, by knocking door to door throughout campus residence halls, TKE raised $850 in just two hours

“This amount of money would not have been raised so quickly if it was not for the generosity of the Northwest students” stated Brent Steffens, TKE president. “We did not expect to raise that much money. On behalf of the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon, I would like to thank all those residents who contributed their spare change. As you can see, it really added up.”

“It’s great to see that all the residents on campus were so receptive to fraternity men coming door-to-door, asking them for donations. We were expecting to receive spare change and many students were openly donating close to five to ten dollars” Nathan Welch, TKE member, said

If anyone is interested in further donations, money can be sent to The “Angel Face” Foundation/Cheyenne Ackman, C/O Citizen’s Bank and Trust, 105 N. Main, Maryville, MO 64468. Or you can contact Becca Stone at 582-5989 or Emily Groumoutis at 582-7654.