Betsy Larrabee is a writer, speaker, and patient advocate whose work explores pediatric cancer, emerging cell and gene therapies, and the lived experience of families navigating complex medical systems.
After her son’s diagnosis with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age six, and a relapse two years later, he participated in two CAR-T clinical trials at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. What began as a child’s illness became a defining structure of family life, shaped by years of travel between Colorado and Philadelphia for treatment and trial care. In pediatric cancer, the illness belongs to one child, but the experience belongs to the whole family.
Writing at the intersection of gratitude and lament, Betsy shares the real story of navigating pediatric cancer, where the horrors persist but so does hope. On this side of survival, she is committed to bringing the lived experience of pediatric cancer families into conversations shaping the future of cell and gene therapy, advocating for patient-centered trial design and a more democratized model of care.
Today, Betsy writes and connects with parents navigating pediatric cancer while also speaking with researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders across the cell and gene therapy field. Her work centers on what scientific progress requires from the families asked to carry it, and how the future of innovation depends on designing systems worthy of patients’ trust.
