There's a name behind every part of Warrior Strong Wellness: our products, our mission, even the word "warrior" itself. That name is Cooper.
Warrior Strong Wellness was born from our founder Mary Ricciardi's experience watching her son Cooper fight cancer. Cooper was diagnosed in 2013 and passed away in 2016. A year later, Mary started this company on a promise she made to him that his fight would mean something, and that his name would keep helping other kids. That promise is still the reason this company exists.
Cooper's Story
Mary calls Cooper the greatest warrior she will ever know. That's not a phrase she uses loosely; it's the reason "warrior" is in this company's name at all, and it's what connects Cooper to every other Angel Warrior our community carries forward.
After Cooper's passing, Mary took what she knew from years of working in health and wellness and redirected it into building something that could do two things at once: help people feel stronger in their own bodies, and keep fighting for kids like Cooper who are still in the fight, and for the families now walking the same road she did.
The Numbers Behind the Ribbon
Being warrior strong means facing hard truths head-on, not looking away from them. And the truth is, childhood cancer doesn't get talked about nearly as much as it should. The statistics make that gap hard to ignore. Cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease among children and teens in the United States, and the National Cancer Institute estimates that around 15,000 children and adolescents will be diagnosed this year alone.
Overall five-year survival for childhood cancers has climbed from about 58% in the mid-1970s to roughly 85% today, largely thanks to research breakthroughs in cancers like acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which now has a survival rate above 90%. That progress isn't evenly shared, though. Some cancers, like certain brain tumors, still carry survival rates in the single digits, and a majority of survivors go on to develop at least one chronic health condition from treatment.
Part of why progress has been so uneven comes down to funding. Pediatric cancer has historically received a small fraction of national cancer research dollars, even though it looks nothing like adult cancer biologically and can't simply borrow adult treatments. That funding gap is why grassroots support everyday purchases, awareness posts, community fundraisers fills in where federal research dollars fall short.
What This Means for Us
We think about Cooper every time we talk about our mission, but this was never meant to be a story about one company's generosity. It's about building something lasting: a brand that treats "giving back" as a permanent part of its identity, not a September campaign. That shows up in the ingredients we choose, the causes we align with, and the way we talk about health because for Mary, wellness and this cause were never separate. She started rebuilding her own health after losing Cooper, and that personal healing became the blueprint for the products we make today.
It also shows up in who we choose to stand next to. We've partnered with St. Baldrick's Foundation, one of the largest funders of childhood cancer research outside the federal government, because they put resources directly into the kind of research that could change the survival numbers above. And we try to use our platform to say the names that don't always get said, kids like Cooper, and the many other Angel Warriors whose families carry them forward the same way Mary does.
How You Can Be Part of It
You don't have to run a company to make a dent in this. You can share a childhood cancer story so more people understand what families are actually up against. You can support research-focused organizations like St. Baldrick's directly. You can choose to spend your money with brands that put real action behind their awareness posts, not just a ribbon graphic once a year.
Every time someone learns Cooper's story, or a family going through what Mary's family went through feels a little less alone, that's the promise being kept. That's what Warrior Strong Wellness is built on, and it's why this isn't just a September conversation for us.
It's also why giving back isn't an add-on to what we do. It's built into it. Every purchase from Warrior Strong Wellness includes a portion that goes directly to St. Baldrick's Foundation to fund childhood cancer research. So choosing our products is one more way to keep Cooper's promise going.
Sources:
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National Cancer Institute — Cancer in Children and Adolescents
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Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation — Childhood Cancer Facts: By the Numbers