Now, in my late thirties, I look at my life, I am thankful I am a cancer survivor. It has shaped so much of my life. Yes, it has given me a scar, one kidney, anxiety and depression. But it has also given me more compassion, more empathy, more strength, a recognition that we are given just one life to live, and how we live that life for our faith, our family, ourselves is so important.
Category Archives: Awareness Month 2014
This Is What Pediatric Cancer Looks Like
“I never thought I’d hear those words, ‘Your daughter has cancer’ … and then one day I did,” says Melissa Bradley, whose 4-year-old daughter, Belle, is currently in treatment.
The devastating reality is that a parent hears that news every three minutes.
And while childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in kids under 15, research remains underfunded — currently, less than 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget is allocated to research it.
That’s why families, medical professionals and advocates are Going Gold this September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — to give the disease, and the kids affected by it, the attention they deserve.
“People tend to shy away from such a subject because it is terrifying to even fathom happening to someone you love,” says Paula Crosby Flake, whose son and husband both died of cancer. “There is not enough ‘talk’ about pediatric cancer.”
While it is devastating to see children who have to fight this disease, or hear the stories of those who we’ve lost to it, their parents want their daughters’ and sons’ stories to be told — and no two are the same.
Helping Families Dealing With Cancer: Do’s and Don’ts
By Claire McCarthy, M.D.
DO
Reach out. Sometimes, fear and worry can be paralyzing. We can get so worried about saying the wrong thing that we don’t say anything at all — leaving our friends feeling alone. So, reach out. Send a text, an email, a card, a Facebook message; while talking on the phone or visiting can be helpful, too, it’s often best to let the family schedule the call or visit. Don’t worry so much about what to say; “Thinking of you,” or “I am here to help” are fine.Remember that cancer affects the whole family. Sometimes babysitting other children — or just taking them to do fun things — helps tremendously. Caregivers need support, too — whether it’s a meal, a shoulder to cry on or a gift certificate for a massage; don’t leave them out.
DON’T
Assume you know what the family needs. Every family is different, and you don’t always know what everyone else is doing. Maybe they are drowning in casseroles — but need someone to walk the dog. Offer specific ideas- – but also ask, genuinely, what they would like.
20 Things a Cancer Mom Knows By Heart
I learned that kids can get cancer when Jackson was 1 year old. He’d just learned to walk. He still wore OshKosh B’gosh overalls and loved to be rocked to sleep. There was nothing that he did wrong, or was exposed to; one day, there was just a lump.
Chemo. Radiation. Surgery. Stem cell transplant. Immunotherapy. Intensive Care. Oncology. Even though it’s been four and a half years since he finished treatment, some days it feels like it was yesterday.
At times, I think I was born the day Jackson was diagnosed. The world falls silent as cancer shuts out all the background noise of work stress, mortgages, that extra 10 pounds or what’s on TV. It awakens a level of empathy to suffering and an awareness to what’s truly important in life.
Once a cancer mom, always a cancer mom. These are 20 things I know by heart:
- It is the most unnatural thing in the world to be told your child has cancer.
- There’s nothing you can do or say to take it away from them. There’s no fixing it.
- Babies can be born with cancer.
- Toddlers can lie on the floor and throw a tantrum while having cancer.
- Little Leaguers will miss their games because of cancer.
MLS recognizes Childhood Cancer Awareness Month across the league
Each team created a version of this video, are doing various activities during games in September to raise awareness and funding for childhood cancer.
Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation Honors Childhood Cancer Awareness Month with #GoGold Initiative at NY Giants 2014 Season Home Opener
The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation today announced it will honor its 2014 Childhood Cancer Awareness Month initiative “#GoGold” on Sunday September 14 at the New York Giants home opener at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ.Twelve families of pediatric oncology patients will attend the game as special guests of the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund watch the game from MetLife Stadium’s Legacy Club and wear special edition Jay Fund #GoGoldt-shirts. New York Giants Head Coach and Founder of the Jay Fund Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff will also wear #GoGold pins to show their support.Additionally Coughlin will wear the pin during all September games.
Check Tom Coughlin’s video about his Foundation here.
Man takes 101 photos of cancer courage
Photographer Peter Doyle is the parent of a healthy 3-year-old boy. Sitting in the cancer wing of a pediatric hospital for business, he had an epiphany as he watched the families make their way past him.
“(They) were just like my own little family. At least they had been like mine until they were suddenly engulfed with the stress and fear that comes with hearing your child’s cancer diagnosis. My wife and I have a bright-eyed, curious, three-year-old son. Feeling that momentary panic of what would we do if our world was ever thrown topsy-turvy by similar tidings, I asked myself where we would find support and encouragement? The answer came swiftly: Who better to extend a helpful word of hope than these very families surrounding me? The journey of photographing 101 childhood cancer warriors and survivors leading me across America began that very night.”
Doyle began a journey around America, photographing children with cancer and having them write about their own stories. Childhood Cancer Portraits is a collection of 101 portraits and handwritten notes of hope, wisdom and encouragement from children with cancer. Twenty-two of the children featured in Doyle’s just released book are from Atlanta.
Up to 50% of the profits from the book will go to childhood cancer non profits and the families of the children featured in the book, to help pay for medical expenses.