The Tyler Foundation was incorporated as a Non-Profit Organization under the laws of Japan in July 2006 and has been supported entirely by private and corporate donations. The creation of the organization was inspired by the smiles and courage of Mark and Kim Ferris’ son Tyler, who spent much of his short life battling a very difficult-to-cure kind of leukemia. After they lost Tyler, they realized there were many ways to take Tyler’s struggles and their experience and create something positive for families going through what they had endured. While the level of medical treatment in Japan is one of the best in the world, the area of patient support is still relatively undeveloped. The organization hopes to redefine the concept of patient support in Japan to create a complete patient support system: from the moment of diagnosis, throughout treatment and even after discharge from hospital.

When Kim and Mark Ferris started the Tyler Foundation – it really was about a family’s personal struggles and inspiration.

But it has grown into something so much more than that.

The organization touched the lives of thousands of children, parents and siblings all over Japan through its programs. And today, in 2018, the organization is about those children – their courage, their smiles, their stories.

A name was needed that was big enough to encompass all of this history and all of these accomplishment throughout Japan. A name that tells people what the organization does and why. A name that’s about positivity. A name that’s looking forward. So in September 2012, the Tyler Foundation adopted the brand name Shine On! Kids. As of December 7th, 2012, out of the 9,000 NPOs in Tokyo, Shine On! Kids is one of eight officially certified by the Japanese government.

Facility Dog Program
The Facility Dog Program improves treatment outcomes and children’s approach to medical treatment through Japan’s first, full-time Animal Assisted Therapy program at a children’s hospital. A specially trained therapy dog is paired with a dedicated nurse handler to make a new kind of medical team that is there every day to make life in the hospital a little brighter. Patients are encouraged and comforted by the dog’s wonderful, non-judgmental nature and benefit both physically and emotionally from their daily interactions with them.
A Facility Dog team can make thousands of visits per year; they accompany children during scary or painful medical procedures, sit with children after surgeries, and comfort parents after hearing the news that their child is sick. For children, Facility Dogs have the power to turn a scary moment into a fun moment.
There are only 3 facility dogs in Japan.

Shine On! Kids is the sole representative and proud to provide the Beads of Courage® Program for children in Japan as an International Partner of Beads of Courage, Inc. We provide all related materials and training to 19 hospitals in Japan at no cost. Children fighting cancer receive colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage to commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path. Each bead tells a story of strength, honor and hope.

Beads of Courage®, a form of arts-in-medicine, was developed by pediatric oncology nurse Jean Baruch, in the United States.  website at www.beadsofcourage.org

Shine On! Kids is about helping children face life with confidence, smiles, hope and courage. It’s about helping kids in Japan with cancer and other serious illnesses truly Shine On!