Stacey Wahlberg recalls a day in June of 2005, a day she says changed her life.
"Cal was an all star baseball player. He made the All Stars every single year. At 8a that day, we received a phone call that Cal had made the All Stars again but by 4p, that same day, we found out that he was going to be in for the fight of his life," she said.
That fight was a devastating diagnosis : an aggressive form of leukemia. Cal was 12.
"He was experiencing some different pain. We took him to the ER, but they didn't do a blood lab, maybe we would've known sooner but it wouldn't' have changed the outcome. It was an extremely aggressive form of leukemia. It is more common in adults, not children. They are still trying to learn how to treat this cancer in children. We know very few survivors of this cancer."
Cal lost his battle with cancer a little over a year later.
It was then, she and her family knew they'd do something in Cal's name.
"When you go through a tragedy like that there's a point when you wake up and make the decision: which way am I going? Grief is hard. There's a point when we knew we had to move forward. We knew we wanted to do something. We invited friends and family over and neighbors and three months later, we had our first golf outing and dinner. We cleared $73,000 so we knew we were onto something much greater than we expected. "
That's how Cal's Angels Pediatric Cancer Foundation was born.
"We grant wishes, we raise awareness and we fund research for kids fighting cancer. Within a year of Cal's passing, we granted our first wish," she smiled.
It's been 20 years since Cal died.
The organization has raised nearly $40 million, pledged over $5.25 million to Chicagoland hospitals, granted 3,000+ wishes, and distributed over 125,000 toys.
A mural at Lurie Children's Hospital is dedicated to Cal and his legacy.
Wahlberg says she knows he's proud of the work they've done in his name.
"He is holding a kite and he's running free in a very large green area and I know that's what he's doing today. He'd be so proud of this. That kid is dancing a jig. Look what he did, all because of him," she smiled.
Wahlberg says sadly, the need has grown and the funding gap is still wide, but the commitment remains and the goal is simple.
"Truthfully, the goal of Cal's Angles is to be out of business. Then we know we've done what we need to do and we have kids who are surviving. We're not losing kids because they have cancer, we're losing our kids because we don't have the resources to take care of them." said Wahlberg.
Cal's Angels donated $4 million to officially launch the Cal's Angels Advanced Leukemia Clinical and Research Program at Lurie Children's in 2025.
It provides local access to advanced leukemia treatments and clinical trials for pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients, eliminating the need to travel to out-of-state centers in cities like Philadelphia, Boston, or Seattle
The Lurie program is the sixth of its kind in the United States and the first in Chicago and the Midwest.
Cal's Angels holds different fundraisers throughout the year. In September 2026, 20 cyclists completed a 5-day, 465-mile bike journey to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
The 21st Gala of Hope, the organization's signature fundraiser, will be Saturday, February 27th at Drury Lane Theater and the More than Four Golf Outing will be June 14th and August 16th of next year.
For more information or to donate or volunteer, please click here.
