A Mother’s Gift: The Foundation for a Lifelong Passion in Writing

Every mother has her unique way of guiding and teaching her children. My mother was no exception. She was instrumental in teaching me to read and write even before I started my formal education. Her nurturing and guidance have made me who I am today: a passionate writer and the proud author of the L.A. Loft Blog and Entar.com. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, I want to share my story as a tribute to my mother and all the amazing moms out there who shape their children’s lives in profound ways.

The Wise Woman and Her Free-Range Approach

My mother was not the type to constantly instruct me on what to do or not to do. Instead, she was more of a free-range mom who believed in giving me space to learn and grow at my own pace. She offered valuable advice when needed, and time has revealed that she was, indeed, a wise woman. Her approach allowed me to develop a strong sense of independence and curiosity, which later translated into my passion for reading and writing.

The Gift of Reading and Writing

Before I even set foot in my first grade classroom, my mother had already taught me to read and write at a third-grade level. She recognized the importance of a strong foundation in literacy and spent countless hours nurturing my abilities. This early start in my education not only made me feel confident and ready for school but also sparked a love for reading and writing that has stayed with me throughout my life.

The L.A. Loft Blog: A Testament to a Mother’s Love

In addition to Loft Blog readers, friends and clients, my mother’s guidance and support led to my success. Her belief in me and her dedication to my education laid the groundwork for my passion for writing. This Mother’s Day, I want to acknowledge her impact on my life and express my gratitude for her unwavering love and support.

A Gift for All Mothers

This Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate the wisdom, love, and dedication of all mothers, both present and those who are no longer with us. Each mother has her unique way of shaping her children’s lives, and their influence lasts a lifetime. So here’s a heartfelt gift to all moms out there: Buy a home in May, get $5,000 cash from your broker, the Corey Chambers Team, at closing. Happy Mother’s Day!

Though my mother is no longer here, her legacy lives on in my writing and my love for reading. Her wisdom and love have made a lasting impact on my life, and I am forever grateful. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, let’s remember to honor and appreciate the incredible women who have made us who we are today. Happy Mother’s Day to all the wise, loving, and dedicated mothers out there. Your impact is immeasurable, and your love knows no bounds.

Supporting Moms at Children’s Hospital: How Your Real Estate Referrals Can Help Families in Need

There are many ways to make a positive impact on the lives of families with sick children. At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the dedicated staff goes above and beyond to support mothers whose children are fighting for their lives. As we approach Mother’s Day, it’s important to remember that many moms are by their child’s bedside, focusing on their well-being rather than on their own special day. One way you can help these moms and their children is through your real estate referrals. Read on to learn how your referrals can make a difference in the lives of these families.

The Mission: Raising $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Our team is on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The funds raised will support the Children’s Recovery Center, where kids battling cancer and other debilitating diseases receive life-saving care. The Recovery Center relies on sponsorships and donations to operate, and your real estate referrals can help ensure that more children have access to this vital resource.

Children receiving care at the Children’s Recovery Center are 300% more likely to enter remission when they can access its services. With your help, we can make a difference in the lives of these young patients and their families.

How Your Referrals Help the Kids

When you refer someone to our real estate sales team, not only do they benefit from our award-winning service, but we also donate a substantial portion of our income from every home sale to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. This means that your referrals directly contribute to the well-being of children in need.

How to Make a Referral

Referring someone is easy. Just visit entar.com/kids or call us directly at 213-880-9910. You can rest assured that your referrals will receive excellent service, as well as our exclusive guarantees:

• Home Sellers: We will sell your home at your price, or we’ll buy it ourselves.*
• Home Buyers: If you are not completely satisfied with your home within 24 months of purchase, we will buy it back or sell it for free, your choice.*

Why Your Referrals Matter

Your referrals not only help us provide top-notch real estate services, but they also support a worthy cause. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles relies on the generosity of people like you to continue its life-saving work.

As we honor mothers this month, let’s not forget the moms who are fighting for their children’s lives. Your referrals can make a difference for these families and help Children’s Hospital continue its vital mission.

*Conditions apply. Please inquire for details.

A Lifelong Connection: Why I Support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is a beacon of hope for countless families in need of specialized care for their children. As a native of the Greater Los Angeles Area, I have always felt a deep connection to this incredible institution and its mission. In this article, I will share my personal story of why I support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and how my team and I work together to contribute to their cause.

A Personal Connection to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

We are grateful for your support in our effort to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. By referring friends, family, and associates to our real estate sales team, you’re not only helping them find their dream home, but you’re also giving back to a meaningful cause. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of children and their families. Visit www.ReferralsHelpKids.com or call us at 213-880-9910 to make a referral today.

Growing up in the Greater Los Angeles Area, I was born in Los Angeles County at St. Francis Hospital. My connection to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles began when a young person close to our family suffered from a severe illness and received treatment at CHLA. This experience opened my eyes to the vital work carried out by the dedicated healthcare professionals at the hospital. As a result, I felt compelled to contribute to their mission in any way possible.

The Common Cause: Healing Young Lives

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles brings together hard-working healthcare professionals from the Los Angeles area, united by a common cause – to help young people overcome the health challenges life sometimes presents. As a native of the area, I take immense pride in supporting the incredible work carried out by the CHLA team. My team and I have made it our annual goal to raise money and donate a portion of our income to help CHLA in their quest to heal young people when they need it the most.

Our Commitment to Supporting CHLA

My team and I are dedicated to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. We have found that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares a similar commitment to their patients. Since their services rely on sponsorships and donations, we are delighted to contribute and proud to support their life-changing work.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is an institution that has touched the lives of countless families in the Greater Los Angeles Area. My personal connection to CHLA has inspired me and my team to support their mission in any way we can. By raising funds and donating a portion of our income, we aim to contribute to the incredible work they do to heal young lives. Together, we can make a difference and help CHLA continue to provide hope and healing to those who need it the most.

20 Years After Facing Retinoblastoma, a Father Fights for His Son’s Sight

As a child, Jake Olson lost both his eyes to retinoblastoma. When his infant son was diagnosed, the family returned to CHLA for leading cancer treatment with a vastly different outlook.

Jake Olson is no stranger to adversity. As a survivor of bilateral retinoblastoma—a rare childhood cancer that took both of his eyes and his sight by age 12—he built a life defined by resilience, going on to become an athlete, motivational speaker, and advocate.

But nothing could prepare him for the news he received in January 2025: His newborn son, Rowan—just 6 days old—had been born with the same eye cancer.

“It was absolutely devastating,” Jake recalls. “We’d been praying he didn’t get the retinoblastoma gene. There was a 50% chance he wouldn’t, but sure enough, he did.”

Fortunately, Jake knew exactly where to turn. He’d received his own cancer treatment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, one of the leading retinoblastoma centers in the world. It didn’t matter that he and his wife, Audrey, now lived 3,000 miles away in Florida. 

Within days, they were on a plane to Los Angeles, headed straight for CHLA.

“There was no other choice in our minds,” Jake says. “We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country.”

There was no other choice in our minds. We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country. Jake Olson

There was no other choice in our minds. We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country. — Jake Olson

A legacy of retinoblastoma innovation

At CHLA, Rowan was seen by an interdisciplinary team of experts from the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute, the Vision Center, and Interventional Radiology.

Using a special camera that shows all the layers of the retina, Jesse Berry, MD, Chief of Ophthalmology and Director of the Retinoblastoma Program, found two tiny, cancerous tumors—one less than a millimeter in size—in both of Rowan’s eyes.

But there was good news, too: Today’s treatments look vastly different from those Jake had as a child.

CHLA has been at the forefront of many of those treatment advances. Under the leadership of the late A. Linn Murphree, MD—Jake’s ophthalmologist as a child—the hospital helped pioneer diagnostic tools and treatment techniques that are now standard practice across the globe. Dr. Murphree also played a pivotal role in identifying the gene mutation linked to retinoblastoma.

Over the past decade, Dr. Berry has continued that legacy, pioneering a groundbreaking liquid biopsy that uses the clear fluid in the front of the eye to detect retinoblastoma.

The test became clinically available in 2024 and not only enables clinicians to more safely and efficiently diagnose the cancer, but also to find key markers that can predict the severity of the disease and help guide treatment.

“What Dr. Murphree implemented and built here, and what Dr. Berry continues to grow, is the crown jewel of treating retinoblastoma,” Jake reflects. “There truly is no other place I’d rather take Rowan.”

A generational battle

Although Rowan’s tumors were tiny—only a few experts in the world have the capability to detect such early-stage tumors—one of them was particularly risky. It grew next to his optic nerve, an essential link between the eye and the brain.

Fortunately, Rowan’s liquid biopsy didn’t show any aggressive markers that would indicate rapid growth or risk of spreading to other parts of the body.

His oncologist, Rima Jubran, MD, MPH, MACM—who also treated Jake as a child—explains that the father and son are not the first such familial pair CHLA has treated for the rare cancer.

“We see and treat patients with different presentations of retinoblastoma all the time, which is something that very few centers in the country can say,” she notes. “We have a full multidisciplinary team that’s dedicated to this disease.”

Working together, the care team quickly developed a plan. Rowan would receive a combination of systemic and intravitreal chemotherapy as well as targeted laser treatments that aimed to shrink the cancer, stop it from spreading outside the eyes, and preserve Rowan’s vision.

We see and treat patients with different presentations of retinoblastoma all the time, which is something that very few centers in the country can say. We have a full multidisciplinary team that’s dedicated to this disease. — Dr. Rima Jubran

30 years of progress in retinoblastoma care

Jake’s experience couldn’t have been more different than Rowan’s: As an 8-month-old in the 1990s, Jake’s parents noticed a strange “glow” in his left eye. Often the first outward sign of disease, this glow indicates a tumor is already growing behind the pupil. 

By the time Jake was seen at CHLA, he had advanced disease with high-risk, difficult-to-treat tumors in both eyes. The best option at that stage was to remove the 8-month-old’s left eye and deliver systemic chemotherapy to treat the cancer in the remaining eye. 

Over the next 12 years, Jake went in and out of remission nine times before his care team ultimately made the devastating decision to remove his second eye. Dr. Berry recalls that throughout Dr. Murphree’s life, he cited removing Jake’s second eye as one of the hardest days of his career. 

“Rowan will have a significantly different ocular outcome than Jake did,” says Dr. Berry. “He also has such strength in his parents. They understand this disease and can walk through it with him.”

“We like to think that a tough case like Jake’s has helped empower advances in treatment and set Rowan up for this success,” says Rowan’s mom Audrey. “That’s not scientific, but everything regarding Rowan’s care has sort of fallen into place as we’ve gone through this journey.”

A difficult chapter

Throughout 2025, Jake, Audrey, and Rowan made the trip to CHLA nearly every month for monitoring, laser therapy, and systemic chemo, which can often result in extreme nausea, fatigue, bruising, bleeding, and hair loss.

“It’s been very emotional,” Jake says. “Laying in the chemo room with him put me right back there myself. It’s so difficult to watch your baby go through that.”

After six rounds of treatment—six trips from Florida to California and back—Rowan’s care team shared the good news: His tumors had shrunk enough that he’d only need monitoring and local treatment to the eye. No more systemic chemo.

The best part: He’d maintained his vision.

On Dec. 16, 2025, just ahead of the holiday season and Rowan’s first birthday, he rang the end-of-treatment bell to celebrate.

While the family still travels to CHLA regularly, Jake and Audrey describe this milestone as a massive relief. “There’s been a lot to celebrate even through all this hardship,” says Audrey. “Ringing the bell felt like a big step toward the end goal.”

Resilience is genetic

“I personally know what it’s like to go through this, so it meant the world to me to see Rowan reach this milestone,” Jake says. “It’s something that should be celebrated. He’s only a baby, but the strength and resiliency he’s built here will carry him far.”

If Rowan is anything like his dad, he’ll only continue to cultivate that strength and resiliency as he grows.

Jake continued to pursue his passions after losing his eyes—even the ones that felt impossible, like playing football. In 2015, he became the first blind Division 1 football player as a long snapper for the USC Trojans; In 2022, he was the only fully blind athlete to compete in the U.S. Adaptive Open. He’s shared his story on countless stages over the last two decades and continues to channel his love of sports into programs that support retinoblastoma treatment and research.

“Jake truly is an astounding spirit,” says Dr. Berry. “He has so much light around him. Somebody who’s lost both their eyes could easily be bitter or blameful. But he’s a very spiritual person, and he believes that some greater good will come from this.”

While Jake and Audrey will undoubtedly pass their mutual love of sports on to Rowan someday, right now they most look forward to watching him be a typical baby. 

“That’s what makes me smile the most,” Jake says. “He learned to walk recently. He just celebrated his first Christmas and his first birthday.”

“And knowing he’s able to see … I mean, that’s why we did this, right? To save his sight. To save him. To enjoy those moments where he’s using his eyes to be a happy kid.”

I personally know what it’s like to go through this, so it meant the world to me to see Rowan reach this milestone. It’s something that should be celebrated. — Jake Olson

Learn more about retinoblastoma care at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

How You Can Help

Anyone you know who might be making a move — refer them to the Corey Chambers real estate team. Not only will they benefit from our award winning service, but this very worthy cause will benefit as well. Corey Chambers 213-880-9910 helpkids@coreychambers.com entar.com.com/kids

Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog with information provided by Corey Chambers, Broker CalDRE 01889449. We are not associated with the seller, homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact 213-880-9910 or visit LALoftBlog.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Some text and images have been created or modified by artificial intelligence. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.