Help and Hope Happen Here

Teri Gaberman's son Aaron was diagnosed with a rare form of Pediatric Brain Cancer when he was 10 years old in 2005. The next year Aaron contacted former New York Yankee great Bobby Murcer who had been diagnosed with a Glioma type of Brain Cancer at the end of 2006 and that started an incredible friendship which lasted until Bobby passed away on July 8th of 2008. Teri will talk about her son&...

When Jessica Robertson's 7 year old son Kai developed severe leg pain on February 10th of 2024, Jessica and her husband thought that it might be a case of growing pains, as he had been totally healthy up until that point. Unfortunately after testing at Cook's Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, the shocking diagnosis 2 days later that was given to Kai and his family  was B Cel...

Sadie Eirich's left eye seemed out of position in the early fall of 2022 and eventually led to her diagnosis in October of that year of the Pediatric Brain Cancer Medulloblastoma, which was located in the pineal region of her brain. Sadie was 14 years old at the time and her treatment initially took her to a children's hospital in Jefferson Louisiana where she had 5 surgeries, followed b...

After being diagnosed with Pre B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in September of 2005, Alisha Wagoner was able to completely recover from her battle with this form of Pediatric Blood Cancer and now, nearly 19 years later, she has put together quite a resume. This resume includes an outstanding college softball career, prestigious awards from both her athletic and humanitarian accomplishments, an...

Kelley Bernard was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 14 years old and has now been cancer free for the past 16 years. Because of the treatment that she received from the nurses at Boston Children's Hospital , Kelley decided that she wanted to become a Pediatric Oncology Nurse which became her career path after graduating from St. Anselm's College with a Nursing Deg...

As he was beginning his final year in college and having an excellent season running Cross Country , Justin Spoon developed a strange lump next to his nostril. After a very long and difficult wait for 4 weeks after a biopsy was performed , Justin was diagnosed with Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma in the fall of 2020. Justin not only fought his battle for 2 and half years, he decided to donate his tumor...

Mecklin Ragan is currently a General Surgery Resident in Fairfax , Virginia who hopes to become a Pediatric Oncology surgeon . She was also the older sister by 18 months of her brother James who was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in 2006 at the age of 13. Mecklin tells the story of James who went through a 7 1/2 year protocol which unfortunately ended with his passing from Rice University during his...

Heather Roy's 10 year old daughter had just completed a 10 K road race and was seemingly very healthy in September of 2018 except for a nagging pain in her right side that would not go away. This pain, thought to possibly be appendicitis, turned out to be Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma, which was diagnosed at a much older age than this form of pediatric cancer is normally diagnosed. Evelyn s...

Very often, when a newborn is diagnosed with the genetic condition called Neurofibromatosis which can lead to tumors being formed on nerve endings, these tumors turn out to be benign. Unfortunately , Jessica Messer's son , who was born with this genetic condition had a bulging eye that eventually was diagnosed as Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma. Bennett fought this disease as long as he could befo...

Jack Gates went to Colorado College where he played Division 1 College Hockey, but he had no real idea early in his college days about where his career path would take him. After going to visit children with pediatric cancer in a hospital setting along with some of his hockey teammates, he decided to start his own non profit called Triumph Together, which makes it possible for these kids and adole...

After seeing her then 9 year old son Jaxen hopping on one leg in June of 2023 because he felt pain, Maggie Licea wanted to take Jaxen to his pediatrician who was not available. Instead, Maggie took Jaxen to the nurse practitioner and told her that she suspected that he had cancer. The nurse practitioner disagreed but Maggie's persistence finally prevailed and Jaxen was given the necessary tes...

Weston Hermann was first diagnosed with a very rare form of a Glioma type of Pediatric Brain Cancer when he was 7 years old in 2014 and is now going through his 5th battle with this disease within the last 10 years. His father Jared will talk about the amazing fight that Weston has been through and that his resilience has allowed him to still be able to perform as a well known and well regarded 17...

Christian Englert had to deal with hand tremors for the 1st 15 years of his life which were thought to be genetic, considering that his sister and father both had similar tremors. However, Christian's tremors got worse in 2015 and the 15 year old finally went to a neurologist and not long after that, he was diagnosed with the more than rare Brain Cancer known as Pineal Parenchymal Tumor With...

Len Forkas's son Matt was diagnosed with Leukemia while in 3rd grade. Matt became depressed that he was not able to go to school and communicate with his classmates and friends, so Len created a Video Conferencing System which allows these patients to be in touch virtually with their peers on a daily basis . This non profit is called HOPE CAM and 4500 children and adolescents have been able t...

Shelle Arnold attended her first Relay For Life Event in 2007 in support of her 26 year old daughter in law Becky who was fighting Ewings Sarcoma. In 2008  Becky passed away and Shelle got fully involved in this event as an organizer and eventually was chairing this fundraiser in several counties in Kansas. Shelle also became involved in the Rock Chalk Roundball Classic as a Board Member for this...

Jocelyn Croxen was 7 years old in September of 2019 when she was diagnosed with T Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Both Jocelyn and her mom Tracy will talk about Jocelyn's ordeal, along with what she has done as a Pediatric Cancer advocate which includes her raising $100,000 for this cause, her special treatment at a Luke Combs concert, and her being named Girl Of The Year by the Leukemia and Lym...

Jaycee Vallier was diagnosed with Chloroid Plexus Carcinoma, a form of Pediatric Brain Cancer on January 30th of 2020. This cancer has both limited options and a very poor outlook upon diagnosis. Unfortunately, as Jaycee's parents Curtis and Trish tell their story, these conclusions turned out to be accurate and despite going through so much for over 500 days, Jaycee lost her battle on July 3...

Rachel Krieger is a Primary Nurse Practitioner and when her son Oliver presented troubling physical symptoms when he was 9 months old, Rachel took him to the pediatric emergency room at New York University where an MRI revealed a large tumor on his Cerebellum in April of 2019. This tumor turned out to be the Pediatric Brain cancer known as Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor or ATRT. Oliver has gone...

In 2021 Ann Ramer and Bobby Krabill, members of the State of Ohio's Board of Health joined forces to create a State Cancer Plan which is focusing on Pediatric Cancer to help increase awareness of this disease and make it much easier for families who are going through this battle to navigate all of the issues and questions that can come up during this time period. This plan is now in its 3rd y...

When Ramona Jarvis's 19 month old daughter Leila was running on and off fevers, she was told by Leila's doctors that these were caused by viruses and that her fevers would go away. Unfortunately that was not the case and during that summer of 2017 , Leila was diagnosed with High Risk Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. After a harrowing regiment of treatments which included 132 days of being an inpat...

Ashley Guthrie's eldest son Davis was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 6 years old and now at 16, is well into his survivorship years after his pediatric blood cancer battle. Ashley volunteered at the Children's Hospital in Chattanooga Tennessee while Davis was in treatment and is now the Clinical Liasion and Board Member of the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediat...

Just by chance on a Saturday evening in 2021, Courtney Marzilli noticed a lump on her then 6 year old daughter Chloe's thigh. This lump turned out to be a tumor and Chloe was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma just before she turned 7 years old. Chloe went through a 42 week Chemotherapy treatment protocol at the Jimmy Fund Clinic in Boston and completed her treatment in the fall of 2022. Now 10...

Pain and suffering were a major part of Estella Patrick's life ever since she was born with Spina Bifida in 2004. Fortunately Estella had surgery to correct this Spinal Cord disease when she was 3 months old and now is an extremely talented and successful artist and illustrator. Her illustrations have appeared in 3 books which have been published by authors who are well known members of the P...

Melissa Rodger's then 9 year old daughter Chloe  had a lingering cold in July of 2022 and was told by a doctor that her cold was just a product of "back to back" viruses. Not too long after that Chloe was dehydrated and this time she was sent to a hospital emergency room where she was quickly diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Chloe had to undergo 2 Bone Marrow transplants with...

The discomfort that 5 year old Anthony Terrell was suffering from in late 2022 was originally thought to be simple growing pains, but by March of 2023  he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma which was quickly changed to a diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Anthony is now roughly 40 percent into his Continuation Therapy protocol and he is doing so well that his doctors have put...