Help and Hope Happen Here

After an original diagnosis of A Typical Pneumonia after a persistent cough sent Dominique Epthorp's son Ashton to see his doctor in the late summer of 2022, a recheck of his symptoms after Ashton had a shortage of breath after running, showed that his real diagnosis was T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Ashton has been in his Maintenance program for 8 months and is looking forward to ring...

Nora Schmidt noticed that her daughter Maddie's right eye was crossing inward, one day after she had gone to her eye doctor for a simple eye appointment in which everything looked fine. This situation, which according to her Eye Doctor and a Pediatric Opthamologist could have been a common condition known as Strabismus, but  instead turned out to be DIPG. Nora will talk about Maddie's jo...

Amber Friesen was told by her soon to be 10 year old daughter Taylor that she had what looked to be either a lump or a cyst on her right hand. Unfortunately what this turned out to be was the Pediatric Cancer Aveloar Rhabdomyosarcoma. On today's podcast Amber will talk about her beloved daughter who was diagnosed with this cancer in early 2020 and passed away in December of 2021. Amber will a...

Dr. Daniel Morgenstern grew up and was educated in England and went to the University of Cambridge as part of his medical education. In 2016 he moved to Toronto where he became a Staff Oncologist at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto with his expertise being in the Pediatric Cancer Neuroblastoma. While working diligently on this cancer, Dr. Morgenstern is also involved in drug development in trying to...

Having a side effect or long term effect after surviving a battle with Pediatric Cancer is not at all surprising. On today's podcast Marta Blanco will talk about her daughter Sofia, who after being diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2003 when she was 4 years old,  suffered from Heart Failure during her treatment for this form of Pediatric Cancer. Although Sofia had recovered from her Lym...

Kurt Myers and his wife PJ's daughter Ailani was originally diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 2 years old in 2019. Because of a genetic mutation, her diagnosis was changed several weeks into her treatment to ALL which was determined to be high risk with a poor prognosis. Kurt and PJ will talk about what Ailani has had to go through including many relapses, 2 Bone Marrow...

Ryan Callahan began his outstanding National Hockey League career with the New York Rangers during the 2006-2007 season, and during the 2014 season went to the Tampa Bay Lightning. While in Tampa, he and his wife Kyla started the Ryan Callahan Foundation to help Pediatric Cancer patients and their families get as much enjoyment during their cancer journey's as possible. Kyla will talk about t...

Before walking upstairs in her home in 2009, 13 year old Anna Yan Ji slipped and fell and afterwards, said that she felt funny. Shortly thereafter it was discovered that Anna had suffered a seizure and this seizure led to a diagnosis of the very rare Pediatric Brian Cancer, Gliomatosis Cerebri . Anna's parents, Kathy and Joe Arabia will talk about Anna and her cancer diagnosis, which lasted f...

Brittney Bliss was diagnosed with Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma just after her 4th birthday in 2022. Her mother Elena will talk about the 13 month battle in which her beloved daughter never really caught a break, despite the fact that she was treated at some of the leading Pediatric Cancer hospitals in the country including Boston Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia....

Lysi Kinyon was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma before she was even born and Sarah Ross McHenry was diagnosed with this form of Pediatric Cancer when she was 8 years old. Lysi and Sarah will talk about the many long term side effects that both of them have had to experience for more than 20 years and how, even with all of their difficulties, they have been able to live their best lives possible, whic...

Martine Kalbhenn was 3000 miles away at her family's home in Kennebunk, Maine when her 5 year old son Jackson tripped and fell while running and hurt his leg badly while visiting his Grandmother in California. Martine received a phone call from her husband Kyle and made plans to immediately travel out west. Jackson's fall was far from normal, as he was diagnosed with the Bone Cancer Ewin...

Nick Gaspar was a 14 year old 8th grader who became lethargic and his normally upbeat personality became withdrawn in May of 2021. He also developed a tremor in his left hand and after being taken to his pediatrician, was quite quickly transported to Boston Children's Hospital where he was diagnosed with a Mixed Germ Cell Brain Tumor. Nick's mother Jen will talk about the next 2 years of...

Sophia Takla's 8 year old cousin Tristan passed away from Medulloblastoma 15 years ago when Sophia was 8 years old, as was Tristan. Sophia will talk about that period of time and what she has been doing as a Pediatric Cancer advocate since his Tristan's passing and will continue to do for many years to come.  Sophia will also discuss her being crowned Miss Oregon in June of 2022 and her...

Max Pound was an outstanding young athlete and full of life until 2020 when  his mother Carol, who in her professional life was involved with early oncology drug development, noticed some concerning health signs and took Max to get them checked out.  Shortly after that Max was diagnosed with Diffuse Hemispheric Glioma, a very rare form of Pediatric Brain Cancer at the age of 10. Through much of 20...

After returning from a trip to the Zoo in 2019 with her then 5 year old son Sawyer and her 2 1/2 year old daughter Isla , Autumn Gentry noticed a number of freckles on Isla's body. After being reassured by Isla's Pediatrician that she was a "healthy child", her doctor ordered blood tests just to be sure that everything was okay, which it was not. Isla was quickly diagnosed with...

High School senior Dustin Liang was diagnosed with T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 4th of this year and in response to that his friend Amine Bentahar, a sophomore at his high school, started the Dustin Strong organization in honor of Dustin's Pediatric Cancer battle.  Dustin will talk about his treatment and how he is doing and Amine will discuss what has already happened with the...

Grainne Owen and her husband Clay started their Curing Kids Cancer Non-Profit after their son Killian passed away from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2003. Grainne will talk about her beloved son and his fight against this most common form of Pediatric Cancer, and her Non-Profit which has raised $27 million dollars to help these kids and their families, with many more dollars to be raised in the...

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been the largest Non-Profit fundraiser of Blood Cancer research for nearly 75 years. On today's podcast I will speak with Stacy Kreizman who is the Senior Manager of Patient and Community Outreach for this Non-Profit in New Jersey and Northeastern Pennsylvania. Stacy will talk about her role in this non profit in which she truly is a Jack Of All Trades, a...

When Colleen Tanaka's then 8 year old son Tenzin was not feeling well and had been showing troubling symptoms in the spring of 2022, Colleen took him to his Pediatrician , an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist, an Allergist , and to an Emergency room Doctor with no blood work being taken. Finally, Tenzin went to Stony Brook Hospital in New York, blood work was taken, and he was diagnosed with T C...

Becoming a Nurse and caring for Pediatric Cancer patients is a very difficult job in itself and becoming a nurse and working with DIPG patients and their families makes their jobs only more difficult. On today's podcast Nurse Navigators Leslie Jared and Lauren Kirages will talk about their experiences working with these kids who have been diagnosed with this type of Brain Cancer which, as we...

After being diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in March of 2021, Breanna and Matt Meo's 8 year old son Landon was admitted to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to begin a clinical trial which was working well until Landon relapsed in March of 2022. Breanna and Matt will talk about the difficult treatment that Landon went through as well as some good times, especially in the first few mon...

Grace Wethor began her life as a self described "Super Active Child" as she was a Dancer, a member of a World Championship Synchronized Figure Skating Team at the age of 9, then joining the Circus when she was 11, hanging by her toes 30 feet in the air on a trapeze.  When she was 13 years old, Grace was diagnosed with a Brain Stem Glioma which is a form of Pediatric Brain Cancer which lo...

For the past 22 years Sandy Hecker has been working with the Food and Drug Administration to help in the fight against both Adult and Pediatric Cancer. Sandy will talk about her positive thoughts involving this large organization and that they are committed to helping in every way possible to helping these families deal with such a difficult problem. Sandy will talk about what this organization fa...

19 year old Grace Bronleewe is a very accomplished singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. Known as GREYLEE on all of her musical platforms, Grace will talk about her very strong connection to Pediatric Cancer, as she lost  friends Treven in May of 2020, and Noah in January of 2021 to Leukemia and Brain Cancer respectively.  Grace will talk in depth about Treven and Noah and her song BRAVE th...

Amanda DeCicco's son Jayden was born while Amanda was a high school senior. After completing her studies  and raising Jayden , he was diagnosed with DIPG at the age of 6. On today's podcast Amanda will talk about what her beloved son went through before his passing in April of 2015, how she turned her grief into becoming a Born Again Christian, writing a book called THE HERO WITHIN, and...