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 …

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 …

When 4-year-old Bella complained of incredible pain in her tummy, her parents were worried right away – Bella’s not a complainer. Her dad, Travis, brought her to the emergency room where doctors assured them it was just constipation. Weeks later, Bella’s mom, Tabitha, noticed a hard lump in Bella’s abdomen, so at Bella’s next checkup, she brought it up to the doctor.  “I could tell …

Each year, Orono High School Men’s and Women’s soccer teams hold a Kick Cancer game to benefit a cancer charity that has special meaning to their program. They’ve always been happy with their fundraising efforts, but in 2018, they decided to kick it up a notch when senior soccer player Emerson Nord’s father Keith was diagnosed with cancer. Keith was a longtime supporter of Children’s …

Twelve-year-old Juliet’s kindness is obvious to anyone who meets her. She’s the kind of girl who goes above and beyond to make her peers feel included. She doesn’t stand for bullying and she takes the time to understand and befriend classmates with behavior problems or disabilities. Ever since she was little, when Juliet has seen something wrong, she wants to make it right. So when …

This piece was originally posted by Kristy Westrom on the CaringBridge page for her son, Liam, who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2018. Please, don’t stay little. Please, grow into an amazing young man who is intelligent, caring, and happy. Please, try all the things and make lots of mistakes. Please, continue to grow physically, emotionally and mentally. Please, grow taller …

When Nick was in high school, soccer was everything. So when he started feeling a bad pain in his calf after a game, he assumed it was a normal sports overuse injury – and his doctor agreed. He tried to rest as much as he could and put the issue out of his mind. But a few months later during a State Cup game, the …

Tracy’s brother once said about her, “Don’t ever tell my sister she can’t do something, because she will always prove you wrong.” Proving people wrong has been the unifying thread of Tracy’s life, ever since she was diagnosed with leukemia nearly 25 years ago. When Tracy was just 15, her energy was extremely low. When her doctor checked her iron levels, he decided to also …

One year ago, Matthew Buff, a leukemia survivor, was fine-tuning his college applications. Today, he is a busy freshman at Emory University majoring in biology on a pre-med track. Matthew’s personal goal is to become a pediatric oncologist focused on genetic research. The following is his college admissions essay.  A round piece of silicone wrapped in a metal ring about the size of a quarter. …