Duncan Simmons was a healthy high school student from Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, when pain that began in his legs started moving through his body and refused to subside. After several weeks without improvement, his family took him to the hospital. Two weeks of testing later, he was diagnosed with Burkitt leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 15 years old. Treatment brought him to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he would spend the next several months in and out of the hospital undergoing chemotherapy.
The treatment cycle was relentless. Chemotherapy suppressed his immune system entirely, meaning any fever or sign of illness sent him back to the hospital for additional days of care before returning home and beginning the next round. The physical toll included nausea and painful mouth sores that made eating almost impossible, a symptom that would later become the seed of something much larger.
A wish he did not want to keep
When Duncan completed his treatment, the Make-A-Wish Foundation approached his family with an offer. Duncan had not known the wish was coming, and when it arrived he found himself uncertain about what to do with it. A personal reward felt difficult to justify when he could imagine it doing something more meaningful.
Rather than using the gift for himself, Duncan chose to channel it toward other children going through what he had experienced. His time at UPMC Children’s had given him a firsthand understanding of what those kids and their families were navigating, including the small but significant comfort of having food that felt normal during a period when almost nothing else did.
During his own treatment, his family had made late-night runs to find something he could eat after the hospital cafeteria had closed, knowing he might only manage a bite or two before the nausea returned. That small moment of normalcy, something familiar and chosen rather than clinical and prescribed, had mattered more than its size suggested.
Duncan’s Diner and the foundation it became
Duncan used his Make-A-Wish gift to launch Duncan’s Diner, a foundation that provides meal delivery gift cards to children receiving treatment on the ninth floor of UPMC Children’s Hospital. The concept was simple: give kids and their families the ability to order whatever they were craving, whether pizza, Chinese food, or anything else, delivered directly to the hospital room.
The foundation received an early boost from a major food delivery company, which contributed an initial donation of gift cards that immediately helped 275 families. Since its launch, Duncan’s Diner has raised approximately 30,000 dollars, enough to support around 1,600 families. The goal is not to address every medical need those families face but to offer one reliable moment of comfort and choice in a setting where control over ordinary things is rare.
What the family says now
Duncan’s parents have spoken openly about their pride in how their son handled his diagnosis and what he chose to do with his recovery. His mother shared that a family member had described Duncan’s approach to the experience as the kind of composure you would hope to see in someone much older. His father noted that the family is nearing the end of the monitoring phase, with only a handful of medical visits remaining before transitioning into long-term survivorship.
The experience, difficult as it was, strengthened relationships that the family says now feel deeper than before. For Duncan, the foundation is not about recognition. He would rather the focus stay on the children at the hospital and the small but real difference a warm meal can make on a hard day.
