Michigan Childhood cancer can force us to make decisions we never imagined we’d face – decisions that, for good or bad, will alter our lives forever. Below is the story of 16-year-old MacKale, who made one of those unthinkable decisions when osteosarcoma threatened to take his leg. MacKale’s mom, Marsha, tells the story of how her resilient son turned a difficult loss into a major …
When your family is facing childhood cancer, the friends who go above and beyond make all the difference. But if you are that friend or family member, it can be hard to know what to do or say that will lighten some of the burden. We asked families who have experienced childhood cancer to tell us about a time during their cancer journey when a …
There are plenty of myths surrounding childhood cancer research – how it works, how fast it moves, and how much funding it needs to move forward. CCRF wants to bust some of these myths so you can have a better understanding of childhood cancer, the researchers searching for better treatments, and the progress your donation can make possible. Myth: Childhood cancer research is incredibly slow. …
Racial and ethnic disparities have long plagued health care, but according to Children’s Cancer Research Fund Chief Medical Advisor Logan Spector, PhD, no one knew quite how much or how exactly these disparities affected African-American and Hispanic children with cancer. So Dr. Spector’s team delved into this question: Why do African-American and Hispanic children die of cancer more often? Is the disparity caused by socioeconomic …
For kids like Jacob, a bone marrow transplant is often a risky but necessary treatment to keep cancer at bay. But it can also cause severe side effects. A combination of his bone marrow transplant and damage caused by chemo means his immune system may never be at 100 percent. He has to be extra careful when sharing supplies at school or playing with his …
As any parent who has ever had a sick child knows, sometimes it takes more than a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. Helping kids take medicine is never easy, but for children with cancer, it’s even more difficult. For these kids, taking medicine often means swallowing large pills or taking liquid medication that tastes downright foul. This might make a child …
Children’s Cancer Research Fund is proud to announce it has been selected as the philanthropy partner for the 2019 Forbes/SHOOK Top Advisors Summit in Las Vegas on February 25-27. The event, a gathering of the nation’s top wealth advisors, will raise funds to enable a clinical trial for a new, potentially lifesaving therapy for children with brain tumors, including glioblastoma, one of the deadliest pediatric …
There are moments, once you have been through what we have, that make you recognize another cancer parent. You may feel gravitation towards a complete stranger – something draws you to them without a logical explanation. Maybe it’s a look in their eyes that you recognize. The mom standing in the elevator just emits this painful feeling that I’ve felt before. She tells me she …
In 1998, Cheryl brought her daughter, Catherine, in to the doctor’s office for what felt like the hundredth time. A little over a year earlier, Catherine was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. At just age 3, she had already been through numerous appointments and procedures to try to fight the disease. This time, though, the cancer was back, now attacking her optic nerve and making …
Kellie will never forget how it felt to hear that her 23 month old daughter, Nora, had cancer. Each new detail opened up a whole new world of scary possibilities: her cancer was classified as high-risk stage 4 neuroblastoma. It had spread to four different parts of her body. A certain type of genetic mutation would make Nora’s cancer particularly hard to treat. Even through …
At just one year old, little Izzy was diagnosed with a germ cell yolk sac tumor, a rare form of cancer. After many difficult rounds of chemo, Izzy’s tumor shrunk significantly, and her parents, Amanda and Jeremy, thought the end of her treatment might be near – until the unthinkable happened. Her scans at the end of July revealed her tumor had returned. Her parents had …
Plenty of 5-year-old boys get bumps and scrapes, but when Kristy started noticing more bruises than normal on her son Liam, she mentioned it to his doctor. After checking the levels in his blood, Liam’s doctor told Kristy that something was definitely off. Kristy’s heart sank. Kristy and her husband Stan took Liam to the hospital that day. After more tests, their suspicions were confirmed …
Benjamin, just a year old, is the youngest of four. When he was born, his parents, Laura and Jim, had no reason to believe anything would be wrong. Laura had had a completely normal pregnancy and labor, but moments after Benjamin was born, she heard the doctor whispering something to the nurse, both looking at her newborn son with concern. Benjamin had a sizeable bump …
During the stress and uncertainty of cancer treatment, a home-cooked meal from a friend can be a welcome relief. If you’re considering bringing a meal to a family facing childhood cancer, here are a few things to think about to make sure your good deed is most appreciated. Think beyond dinner. If the family has a circle of friends rallying around them, they may be …
In a family of three brothers, Wyatt is right in the middle. He’s a naturally energetic kid who loves playing with his brothers, so when he put himself down for his nap one day, his mom, Whitney, thought it was a little strange. Doctors assured her it was a simple virus that would clear up on its own, but when a few weeks went by …
Saiya, now 11 years old, has just a few memories of her older cousin, Siona. She remembers being 3 and seeing the tubes and patches taped to her 6-year-old cousin’s chest, and playing with each other in Siona’s hospital room. She remembers asking her mom why Siona didn’t have any hair, and her mom explaining that the medicine to treat her leukemia made her hair …
This piece was originally posted by Tabitha Radermacher on the CaringBridge page for her daughter, Bella, who was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma in April 2018. She wrote this piece the day Bella received her second liver transplant. We have met so many wonderful people along our journey. Whether from the Castle hospital, Masonic Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald house, and everyone in between, these people have become …
My family is pretty rooted in tradition. We always spend Christmas Eve at my great-aunt’s house in a tiny little town in northern Minnesota with anywhere from 40-60 people packed tightly into her home. My mom prepped the Thanksgiving turkey with the same recipe that her father taught her. We watch The West Wing every night after dinner during the election seasons. The first weekend …
