An 18-acre field of sunflowers off Jaycox Road along Interstate 90 in Avon is open to visitors again this year, planted in memory of a local girl who died from brain cancer at age 7. Maria's Field of Hope, first planted in 2014, welcomes guests from sunup to sundown, and Maria's Shop on the property began its full seasonal hours on August 22.
The field is operated by the Prayers From Maria Children's Cancer Foundation, which was co-founded in 2007 by Ed and Megan McNamara after their daughter Maria's death, according to the Morning Journal. Maria was an Avon girl diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor at age 6; per the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation, she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma on April 1, 2006, and died 14 months later on July 14, 2007. Megan McNamara, Maria's mother and a co-founder of the foundation, has said the field honors children lost to cancer.
A Field Built to Fund Research and Offer Reflection
Visitors can walk through the rows of sunflowers, which enable the foundation to spread awareness of children's fight against cancer and provide a place for reflection on kids who battled the disease. Donations collected at the field support both brain cancer research and assistance for childhood cancer patients and their families, and the field will add more events throughout the season, the Morning Journal reports.
DIPG, the specific cancer that took Maria's life, is an aggressive brainstem malignancy with a median survival time of less than 12 months from diagnosis and a five-year survival rate below 1%, according to research published on PubMed. The disease primarily strikes young children and currently lacks effective curative treatments. That severity helps explain why the McNamaras built an organization around planting attention, and money, toward a disease that receives little dedicated research funding.
Where the Money Goes, and Why the Gap Persists
Only about 4% of the National Cancer Institute's annual budget is allocated toward all pediatric cancer research combined, according to the Kate Amato Foundation, with the vast majority of federal cancer dollars directed toward adult cancers. Prayers From Maria has directed millions of dollars toward fighting childhood cancer since its founding, the Morning Journal notes, and the foundation says it has channeled over $12 million toward pediatric brain cancer research and family support since it began.
That money has stretched further than its face value. A $100,000 seed grant from Prayers From Maria to Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center helped researchers secure $3.3 million in supplemental follow-on funding from the National Cancer Institute to study brain tumor invasion pathways, per the foundation's own account. The organization also co-funded the launch of My DIPG Navigator, a nationwide program run with the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation that offers free, individualized support to families facing pediatric brain cancer.
Fall Calendar Packed With Community Events
Organizers have scheduled a run of events at the Avon field through the fall. A Team Day and book swap is set for August 29 from noon to 2 p.m., followed by Paws in the Petals pet day on August 30, also from noon to 2 p.m. Artist Derek Hess will hold a meet-and-greet and drawing session on September 5, and a Sunflower Social follows on September 6.
Sweat for a Cause, held with Orangetheory Fitness, is scheduled for September 12. National Grandparents Day, presented by Sgt. Clean, runs September 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the Lake Erie Science Center will host Stargazing in the Sunflowers that same evening from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to check the Prayers From Maria website calendar for current event information and schedule updates, since additional programming may be added.
Beyond the Bloom: Seeds, Shops and a Second Field
The Avon field spans approximately 477,000 planted seeds of the Mammoth Grey Stripe sunflower varietal, according to the foundation. Once the bloom season ends, Prayers From Maria harvests the seeds and packages them as bird seed sold online, at Maria's Shop in Rocky River, and through local garden centers, with 100% of profits returned to research. Maria's Shop itself is open daily from 10 a.m. to dusk, though its hours depend on volunteer availability.
The Avon site isn't the only field bearing Maria's name. In June 2019, the foundation partnered with Cedar Point to plant a second Maria's Field of Hope in Sandusky, scattering 160,000 sunflower seeds across eight acres next to the park's Express Hotel, according to Cedar Point. Professional photographers hoping to shoot commercially at the Avon field must purchase a Sunflower Shutterbug Pass, priced at $50 for a single day or $100 for a season pass, with the fee counted as a tax-deductible donation. Entrance and parking for the Avon field are accessible from Middleton Road.
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