Help and Hope Happen Here

After a long period of time with severe stomach pain, Ryan and Courtney Cotton's daughter Julianna had to go through a test which completely missed an 11 cm tumor which was covering 70 percent of her belly before she finally received a proper diagnosis of Neuroblastoma in early 2022. Now 3 years later, Julianna has recovered from 2 relapses, currently has No Evidence of Disease , and is livin...

Terrie Magro will talk about her son Mark who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, just before turning 11 years old in mid March of  2004, and then on June 8th of that year, her 13 year old son Michael was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with a rare T Cell variation . Mark is now nearing 32 years of age and is doing well both health and career wise but unfortunately, Michael passed aw...

Tay Scheibe was diagnosed with Large Cell Lymphoma when she was 10 years old and a 5th grade student on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. Tay had 1 more cancer fight to go through and by the time she was 12, Tay was on her way to a full recovery  Tay spent much of the next years after her recovery trying to work on her own identity and in 2012, started a Toy Drive for the benefit of Pediatric Cancer...

Taryn Jarboe was trying to console her 8 month old daughter June in June of 2021 as she had not been feeling well, and while examining her body, found a lump that was diagnosed as Neuroblastoma. June was supposed to go through an 18 month treatment program but while she was 10 months into her protocol, June developed a stomach bug and just before the radiation part of her treatment was supposed to...

Erica Campbell received her degree in Accounting from William and Mary and her MBA from Duke and then, years later, with advice from her mom decided to leave the business world to try and find her true passion, which turned out to be running a non-profit which concentrated on Pediatric Cancer. Since May of 2017, Erica has found this passion by being the Executive Director of the Pinky Swear Founda...

The Bowel and Bladder issues that Emily Stenson's daughter Charlie was suffering from when she was 2 years old in early 2022 were constantly diagnosed as constipation, until she turned 3 and finally a 5 1/2 inch long Mass on her abdomen that had already spread to her liver was found. Charlie's correct diagnosis was a Stage 4 Mixed Germ Cell Tumor and after some very difficult treatment,...

It has been 6 1/2 years since Gwen Garro's son Guy was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma when he was in kindergarten in 2018. Guy has gone through many difficult surgeries and procedures since his diagnosis and has been able to lead quite an amazing life as he is now a 12 year old 6th grader. A very talented musician with a love for the theatre led him to being able to perform a song by Elton John...

After being diagnosed with the Pediatric Brain Cancer Chloroid Plexus Carcinoma in November of 2021, Hudson Gray's doctors had given him a 20 percent chance of surviving 5 years . Now, more than 3 years later, as Hudson is approaching his 5th birthday. his chances of surviving 5 years has gone up in dramatic fashion to 70 percent. Hudson's mom Adisyn will talk about everything that Hudso...

When Rene Michael's 6 year old daughter Alicia was complaining of a backache in  December of 2001, little did she know that her backache would lead to a diagnosis of a Peripheral Nueroectodermal Tumor which is a Bone Cancer closely related to Ewings Sarcoma. During her inpatient treatment, her mom Rene tells the story of Alicia deciding to find a way to donate money to the Pediatric Cancer pa...

After 4 year old Jace Serwalt was having trouble breathing early on Christmas morning in 2023, his parents Ashley and Kyle took him to his local hospital where he would be diagnosed with Croup, and then Pneumonia. Shortly after that diagnosis, as Jace was getting ready to go home, another doctor saw Jace, thought that he was looking very pale , and ordered a blood test. Not long after that, Jace w...

Nancy and Richard Whipple's son Alexander spent 250 days as an inpatient at Tufts Floating Hospital for Children beginning in 2010 as a result of his Neuroblastoma diagnosis in March of 2010 when he was 8 months old.  Alexander battled for 13 months with his form of Pediatric Cancer and 2 of his stays lasted for 46 and 38 days respectively. Alexander passed away on April 1st of 2011, after a...

Crystal Conroy's son Ashton was diagnosed with a very rare form of Pediatric Leukemia known as Acute MegaKaryblastic Leukemia or AMKL in March of 2024 when he was 10 1/2 months old. Ashton has been at Boston Children's Hospital for the past 65 days along with Crystal as the goal is to get him to remission so that he would be able to receive a Bone Marrow Transplant. That goal has not bee...

What was thought to be a sprained ankle became a completely different situation for 10 year old Rachel Webster when she was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma. Rachel just turned 13 and is doing as well as possible after her battle and living as good of a life as she can. Her mom Marcy will talk about her daughter and the way that she has been able to overcome many obstacles as she now has No Evidence...

After falling off a swing when he was 5 years old, Sheri May and her husband Pat noticed that their 5 year old son Braiden's stomach seemed to be expanding. Shortly after that, Braiden was diagnosed with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Braiden went through 3 1/2 years of treatment and is now 13 years old, and is living his best life possible. 

After taking a swimming lesson in late July of 2022 in very hot conditions, 4 year old Aaron Kline showed concerning symptoms which led his mother Shana to take him to see his pediatrician. A few days later, Aaron was diagnosed with the Pediatric Brain Cancer Medulloblastoma. 7 months later, Aaron completed his treatment at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is currently feeling and doin...

The name Sloane means WARRIOR in Irish and it is no wonder that this now 4 year old girl was given that name by her parents Allison and Eric Donnelly. Sloane was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma when she was 2 years old in October of 2022 after her belly seemed to be bulging, which caught the attention of her parents while they were giving her a bath. Sloane now has been in remission for 18 months and...

Amy Gillen's 13 year old son Tanner's right hand stopped working while he was taking a quiz at school in February of 2018 and shortly thereafter he experienced Drop Foot. Then the right side of Tanner's body started to become paralyzed,  and he was taken to St. Louis Children's Hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with a stroke, which Amy knew was the incorrect diagnosi...

Beth Blakey and Katie Jenkins will talk with great passion about their Non - Profit  the Cancer Hope Network and its brand new initiative- Hopeful Hearts- Parents Supporting Parents on today's podcast. Both Beth and Katie emphasize that what they do is not just a job, but a Way Of Life.

After Jola Tapper's son Peter was diagnosed when he was 5 years old with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma in October of 2011, he went through a difficult treatment protocol which took him to having No Evidence of Disease on April 12th of 2012. For the next 7 1/2 years, even though he had difficulties, Peter was able to lead as normal and good of a life as possible. Then came December of 2019 and he rela...

Tara and Jonathan Sharpe will talk about their decision not to seek treatment for their 5 year old daughter Lydia who was diagnosed with DIPG on August 7th of 2021. They decided that rather then put Lydia through radiation and possible clinical trials which they knew would not ultimately cure her,  they wanted to make Lydia as happy and comfortable as possible during her final days, as the only th...

After hearing something pop in her left shoulder during a virtual school physical  education class during the pandemic, 12 year old Grace Messinger was diagnosed with  Osteosarcoma. Grace went through some very difficult treatment including 2 Thoracic Surgeries which removed a total of 55 nodules from her lung with many of them being cancerous,  a Limb Salvage surgery, and never had any type of br...

Hopefully for the 1ST and LAST time, I spoke with a mom and dad who had what I am calling a misfortune on Steroids when Tanya and Luke Palmowski's son Tyler was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma when he was 8 years old in 2015, was able to ring the bell at Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Albert 1 year later in 2016, and then just as Covid was hitting in March of 2020 was diagnosed...

Beginning on February 10th and proceeding into February 13th, Texas Children's Hospital will be hosting the 2nd Childhood Cancer Prevention Symposium. Many critical topics in the Childhood Cancer Community will be discussed during this symposium beginning with the Keynote Speaker address from Dan Fagin, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the book Tom's River,  a Story of Science and Sa...

Just 2 weeks after she was born in July of 2023, Carol Sagnay's daughter Noa was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, as she was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, which was diagnosed after she was born with birthmarks all over her body. Carol will talk about the difficulties that Noa has gone through for the past 17 months, including being 5 minutes from passing away according to a nurse. Fortun...

Trista Temimi's daughter Valeria was born on September 11th of 2023 and immediately began having health issues. It took until January of 2024 to finally receive her diagnosis of Neuroblastoma. Since that time, Valeria has been battling this pediatric cancer and today, December 16th, she is undergoing scans to see how she is doing, with the hope being that she is at least stable and hopefully...