Help and Hope Happen Here

Annie Bartosz still considers her brother Jack, who passed away from Neuroblastoma in 2012 to be one of her best friends as he looks down on her from above. Annie will talk about Jack, and her father John who passed away from the late effects of the cancer that he had as a young adult. Now a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania and hoping to eventually start a career in Pediatric Oncology,...

Susan Giusto and Dr. Scott Coven will talk about the Pediatric Cancer problem of Delayed Diagnosis on today's podcast. This happens more than it should, as Pediatrician's can take too long to order the proper procedures or tests which ultimately can diagnosis whether a child has cancer.  By waiting too long, this can put the child in a position where their treatment begins much later tha...

During a 3 week period in 1997 Stephanie Peters experienced nausea, dizziness, and finally neck pain before her Pediatric Brian Cancer diagnosis of Ependymoma. Stephanie will talk about that very difficult period in her life which fortunately ended with her final diagnosis in 2002. Over the last 20 years , Stephanie has managed to lead as good a life as possible, although of course she has had to...

Rosaria Kozar will talk about her son Brody who she lost to Rhabdomayosarcoma in 2015. For several years after Brody's passing, Rosaria struggled to figure out what she wanted to do with her life and decided that her best path forward would be to get involved as an activist and advocate in the fight against Pediatric Cancer. Rosaria now hosts the excellent Pediatric Cancer Podcast Living With...

The Art In Giving is a non profit started by Eliane and Gary Markoff, after their daughter Rachel Molly passed away from a form of Pediatric Brain Cancer in 1992.  Since that time, they have raised over 2 million dollars for research to try and help patients and their families conquer this terrible disease.  The Markoff's recently awarded a $250,000 grant to Dr. Mariella Filbin at Dana Farber...

Jeri Wilson has been the Executive Director of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation for 10 years. Under the umbrella of this foundation is Dribble For A Cure, a fundraiser that takes place at St. John's University and UCLA. Since 2008, this event has raised nearly 2 million dollars for Pediatric Cancer Research.  Members of both schools basketball teams, its coaches, alumni, and students...

Sarah Bartosz recently became the Executive Director at Beat Childhood Cancer and has certainly navigated a more than difficult path to get there. Sarah and her husband John lost their son Jack to Neuroblastoma after he fought nearly 7 years with this Pediatric Cancer in 2012. Then just 4 years later, John passed away from the late after affects of a Young Adult Cancer that he had battled with whi...

Theresa Beech's son Daniel was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma when he was 11 years old and passed away from this bone cancer in 2016 when he was 13 . Theresa, a Space Engineer at NASA was able to use her expertise in collecting and analyzing data, to identify a drug which allowed Daniel to live 4 months longer when the thought was that he had only 2 weeks to live. Before he passed away, Daniel a...

After a 15 month battle with Medulloblastoma which began in July of 2006 and sadly ended in October of 2007, 5 year old Mason Leach lived a very short and very meaningful life. Mason's mother Danielle will detail Mason's battle and will talk about what she has done since that time to fight for all of these kids who have suffered from both Pediatric Brain Cancer and other cancers that kid...

While a 20 year old student at the University of Kansas in 2019 Jace Ward was diagnosed with DIPG, a Pediatric Brain Cancer that normally strikes kids who are much younger than Jace was. On today's podcast his mother Lisa will detail his life, in which Jace spent the close to 26 months after his diagnosis advocating with the clearest and strongest voice possible, that the kids who were to com...

Adriana Lewin's soon to be 4 year old son was diagnosed with Rhabdomayosarcoma  in November of 2019. A licensed Therapist, Adriana started the Family Chemotherapy podcast and discusses the many issues that parents go through after their child is diagnosed with any form of Pediatric Cancer. Some of the topics that Adriana discusses in today's podcast include coping with the diagnosis, tox...

Sydney Sherwood's younger brother Billy was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma when he was 13 months old in 2008. Sydney is 5 1/2  years older than Billy and she will talk about his Pediatric Cancer battle, in which she there every step of the way during his fight and recovery. Sydney considers Billy to be her best friend. During this period, Sydney became a very talented Singer a...

When she was 14 years old during the summer after completing 8th grade, Dana Giordano was diagnosed with cancer in one of her ovaries. After having surgery, she completed her recovery process and then began a running career first in high school and then at Dartmouth College, where she was a 3 time All American and finished 3rd in the National Championships in the 1500 meters.   From there Dana wen...

Jenny and Mark Mosier's son Michael was doing all of the things that a healthy soon to be 6 year old boy was doing in August of 2014. Less than a month later, his situation and life for the Mosier's changed cruelly and dramatically when Michael was diagnosed with DIPG, the most deadly from of Pediatric Brain Cancer.  Jenny will discuss her son's 8 month battle against this disease a...

Patti and Al Gustafson will talk about their son Michael, who passed away after a 5 year battle  with the pediatric brain cancer Medulloblastoma, During the late stages of his disease, Michael told his mom that he willing to give up his life "so that he could see if I can find a cure for cancer"   I will  also speak with Dr. Angela Waanders , who will talk about the importance of post mo...

At the age of 14 in 2014, Sara Willis was diagnosed with a form of Brain Cancer known as Bifocal Pure Germinoma. Her mother Angie will talk about her daughter and what Sara went through to in the 1st year of her treatment, which led to being in remission one year later. Unfortunately, Sara relapsed and passed away in November of 2018 when she was 18 years old. After her passing in 2019, Angie star...

Eric Newman was diagnosed with a very rare from of Liver Cancer when he was 3 years old. His cousins Shannon and Nicole, at 3 years old and 5 years old respectively, also were diagnosed with cancer with both eventually passing away. Eric will talk about how these situations effected him and some of the difficult times he endured, especially as a long term survivor in 2008. Always maintaining Hope...

Nick Giallourakis's brother Steven is a 4 time cancer survivor, a journey which began when he was 15 years old. As a result of that, the Giallourakis family started the Steven G Cancer Foundation.  Nick decided to add to his family's efforts by starting his own non-profit, Elephants and Tea. This non- profit focuses on the adolescent and young adult cancer population, which is a group wh...

Dr. Michael Jensen has been working on Cart T Cell Therapy for many years, and his work is proving to be very beneficial for pediatric cancer patients who have leukemia. This type of therapy is very much in the forefront for future types of treatment, and his hope is that some day there will be a time when children can receive far less toxic medicines that lead to a far less painful cure .

Carolyn Breinich was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia just before her 14th birthday in 1994. From the beginning, Carolyn experienced many setbacks along the road to recovery including a bad experience with her resident doctor while hospitalized, a sometimes hard road after returning to school, bouts of depression, and while a Child Life Specialist, hearing that her boss thought she coul...

Dena Sherwood's son Billy was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma when he was 13 months old in July of 2008. Fortunately, Billy is now thriving and a soon to be 15 year old. Dena will talk about Billy and his very difficult early days, including a diagnosis that did not come as quickly as it should have. She will also discuss the Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation that she and her husband st...

After an early childhood which included modeling and soccer, Cole Eicher was diagnosed with the Pediatric Brain Cancer Medulloblastoma when he was a 12 year old 6th grader.  As he entered the hospital , Cole noticed that there were many younger patients that were fighting their own cancer battles. He instinctively knew that this was not right and that he wanted to be a voice for these kids.  So be...

Colleen Kisel's son Martin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 7 years old in 1993.  Martin is now 36 years old and has been able to live a very productive life following his cancer battle. Colleen will talk about Martin and how she would give him a toy after each type of cancer procedure that he had to go through. This gesture led to her deciding that other pediatric...

Scott and Pammy Kramer's daughter Maddie was diagnosed with an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor in her spinal cord just before her 3rd birthday in April of 2017. Scott will talk about their beloved daughter who was only able to live for 8 1/2 months after her diagnosis. As you will hear in this podcast, Maddie was able to continue being as normal a kid as possible, despite everything that she...

Juanita Prada was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 10 years old in 2003 and relapsed in 2006. She is now a long term pediatric cancer survivor who has gone through many side effects and difficulties as she tries to live her best life possible. Juanita will talk about these side and after effects which have included problems emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually...