Founded by Nora’s parents, Jani Torrence and Brent Bunn, Nora’s Sparkle of Love Project raises funds to support families fighting pediatric cancer and to benefit pediatric brain tumor research. The foundation’s goal, through pillars of education, advocacy, and awareness, is to make sure no other family has to walk the path of DIPG alone—and, eventually, to bring a clinical trial facility to St. Louis, so patients in the Midwest need not travel so far for care.

When our then-6-year-old daughter, Nora, was sent home with “hydration and ibuprofen,” we had no idea that just days later a devastating brainstem tumor diagnosis would shatter our world. But amid the fear, hope sparked—after her CAR-T 'superhero cells' treatment, Nora’s MRI showed tumor shrinkage for the first time, giving us a glimmer of light when hope seemed impossible.

Nora Bunn was just six years old when everything changed, suddenly and irreversibly, for her and her family. A precocious kindergartner from St. Louis with a deep love for animals, Nora was diagnosed with a disease that completely upended the energetic, wonder-filled life she embraced each day. 

Nora Kay Bunn, the sister of junior Pat Laffey and Jack Bunn ’18, passed away on Thursday, March 6 at the age of seven after a yearlong fight with a brain tumor. Her funeral took place on Friday, March 14 at Christ the King Catholic Church.