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cannonballkidscancer · 8 years ago

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Mumma Bear Blog: Progress and Change

It's been a minute since I blogged. Frankly, and you all know I like to talk frankly, the new position of Executive Director and creating a new Board to support us has been very time consuming. I am coming up for air... but not for long. :-) I have some 15 out-of-state visits on the calendar this year alone. CKc is making waves. Not to brag on Michael and I, but truly to brag on our whole team. Our team is making waves. Our board, volunteers and our team. Little by little things are changing, and we won't stop.

What change and how?

Michael and I were invited by George Bodenheimer, the former CEO and President of ESPN, to speak at an event last night in Naples, FL, for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The foundation was founded in 1993 by ESPN and legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano with one goal in mind: to achieve victory over cancer. Michael and I often take turns or tag team speaking engagements, but last night my sports-enthusiast husband stood tall alone, and spoke so perfectly. If you have not heard him speak before, his passion runs through his veins and the room was silent hanging on his every word.

After his speech, at least 20 people approached us saying our story moved them and that they NEVER KNEW the facts about pediatric cancer. Our promise at CKc is that we will not stop until everyone knows the TRUE facts of pediatric cancer and the horror it is. The underfunding! The adult therapies used on kids! The list is endless. It proves to Michael and I that CKc has much work to do to educate for change. Educating for change has been at the core of our mission since before CKc existed and we were just two parents talking about how awful our son was doing. It remains at the core today, and will continue do so, until everyone is educated… until there is change.

To further illustrate the encouragement we received for educating about pediatric cancer, George had asked us to bring to the event some copies of our book, "Thankful For The Fight”, and after Michael spoke, we had to go back to the car to get more books because we gave them all out! It really was so special to see people want to know more about pediatric cancer. It is fire in my belly!

The V Foundation is possibly the most well-known, adult cancer research foundation known in the U.S. A board filled with celebs and making tens of millions of dollars every single year. Thanks to George, Dick Vitale and Kristen and Buster Posey, pediatric cancer has become a huge priority to the foundation. So much so that the V Foundation just started an entire grant just for pediatric cancer called the John Saunders Research Grant for Pediatrics. How amazeballs is this? Plus, Cannon has been invited to Dick Vitale's event in May where he will stand proud with some other warriors and raise money for pediatric cancer research!

This, as many of you know, is not the first time, per our mission to educate for change, that a primarily adult-based cancer research foundation has looked to fund more pediatric cancer research in light of being educated about the lack of funding and archaic treatments.

Please know my husband spoke about his father who had fought lung cancer and has now passed, as well as being a father to a son who has battled cancer. This is NOT about saying kids are more important than adults… this is about saying they are AT LEAST EQUAL to adults! So, let's rethink how money for cancer research is distributed and let's make kids a priority, because without funding and new treatments, these kids are dying. Seven children a day in the U.S.! Seven are being buried today! That is NOT okay! Cancer is the number ONE killer of children by disease! Let's change that!

The V Foundation wants to discuss partnering on a pediatric cancer research project with CKc and we are excited to talk that through along with our friends Buster and Kristen Posey, who are huge supporters of the V Foundation.

Please, please, please buy your tickets for our CKc Gold Gala on April 1st in Orlando. Bagpipers! A butterfly release! Whisky and cigars for the men and the women - I don't mind the odd cigar myself! Fire pits! Lakeside venue! I promise it will be incredible! This year our REAL founder Master Cannonball Wiggins will be attending for a short period to show off his kilt! You’re welcome! ;-)

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cannonballkidscancer · 8 years ago

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Thank you for an amazing year!

This is Michael. As we approach the close of 2016, there is so much to look back upon and be thankful. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation funded, thanks to many of you who follow this page, four clinical trials with researchers in Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. In addition, we have been hard at work at the end of this year to raise $100,000 to fund a fifth trial in California at the beginning of 2017. We need your help to accomplish this goal. Please consider making an end of year donation to help give us the push we need to reach $100,000 and to help us save lives.

The researchers heading our trials are engaging other pediatric oncologists around the world to help them enroll children who have most regrettably been given no other options for continued treatment. And, so far, at least 33 children have been enrolled in these trials and someday the results may lead to better and more effective treatment for cancers found in children and quite possibly a cure.

We can’t do what we want to do for “our kids” with cancer without you. I have said this many times, but it bears repeating here at this time of year: since Cannon was diagnosed and Melissa and I received an education of how poorly children with cancer are treated by ineffective and antiquated treatments, I never go a day without thinking about the parents each day that will hear an oncologist tell them that their child has cancer, and worse, the parents that have woken and dressed that morning to go to the funeral and burial of their child devastatingly lost to cancer.

Cancer in children is wrong. It is unjust. It is unnecessary. CKc intends to do something about it and to make change through research. Funding innovative research. If you are considering making a charitable donation in these last days of 2016, we would be honored if you would consider CKc. And, gifts of appreciated stock, bonds or mutual funds are a great way to make a tax deductible donation because you will get a charitable deduction for the full market value of the stock or bond and avoid paying capital gains on the increase in the value of the securities.

Thank you all, again, for what CKc has become. Next year promises bigger and better and, most importantly, additional funding of more clinical trials in our quest to find better and specific treatments for children with cancer and to ultimately achieve the day when cancer does not exist in children.

We can do it, and we intend to.

Thank You.

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Exciting CKc Leadership Announcement

To: CKc Community

From: Melissa Wiggins

Date: October 3, 2016

Subject: A Very Exciting CKc Announcement

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Cannonball Kids' cancer Foundation is at an exciting crossroads! As we approach the end of year two of our nonprofit status, we have choices to make. We can be a small, local foundation funding a few trials every year or we can become the national pediatric cancer research giant that I KNOW we can. But that means change, so we are changing up our team in order to accommodate our growth. For this reason I am stepping down from CKc's Board and taking on the role of leading our foundation to that national foundation status that can impact pediatric cancer in the way we want and need it to. Effective December 1, 2016, I will be the Executive Director at Cannonball Kids' cancer. This is a great transition point now that Cannon has completed treatment which will allow me to step into this exciting role. Along with my legal training and background as a lawyer (solicitor), I have been training with the Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership and I am ready to take on this challenge!

On a personal note, Cannon kicked cancer's ass and I plan on following in his footsteps by traveling the US to find innovative, less toxic, less painful clinical trials for the kids battling. Our programs include education and we have seen some major fruits of our labor this year, most notably the impact on the Buster and Kristen Posey Foundation and their brave and mighty goal to hit pediatric cancer out of the park - which they will do! Our mission remains pure and simple - educate to eradicate. Let's educate and encourage change and fund clinical trials!

This past weekend, the Board voted on this change. I want to be accountable because when people donate or invest in CKc, I want them to know I am working hard to deliver!

Michael, who is a founding partner in his law firm at McDonald, Toole and Wiggins and has been a managing partner for 6 years, will lead our Board as Chair. Technically, this makes him my boss. If that doesn't show my dedication to pediatric cancer I don't know what will! Seriously though, not only is he a nationally recognized litigator and speaker, he is an incredible leader and his passion for this cause is unparalleled. I couldn't be more thrilled to have him be our leader.

Our current CEO, Ashley VanDerMark, singlehandedly got CKc off of the ground while Michael and I focused on Cannonball's treatment. She will now take lead on the Board with Michael as Vice Chair. She is dynamic and brilliant and with her by Michael's side developing the Board I know CKc will stay on mission and be sustainable for the long term. Aside from Michael and myself, no one understands and fights for our core mission more than she does. CKc is extremely lucky to have this extraordinary community leader.

So it's change... but it's good change! Great change, in fact, because it's for the betterment of our foundation.

My commitment to you, the investor, volunteer and supporter of CKc, is that if at the end of 2017 I have NOT delivered, I will step down immediately! We pride ourselves on transparency and accountability and will do whatever it takes to fulfill our mission. Quitters never win and winners never quit and I plan on winning for the kids battling and taken by cancer!

I believe I can do this! I am ready to lead CKc into 2017 for its most successful year thus far!

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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End of Childhood cancer Awareness Month

Please read this important last post for Childhood cancer Awareness Month.

Written by Michael and Melissa Wiggins

This is Michael. Today is the last day of Childhood cancer Awareness Month. I am sorry to see the month end. Not because I don’t want breast cancer to have its awareness month in October or because other causes and charities don’t deserve to be recognized, but because our children deserve more. We try every September to educate and make aware, as many people as we can, of the struggle that parents and advocates for children have every day to try to improve treatments for children with cancer. The hope is that by funding more research, by helping more young medical students, fellow and interns, by asking our government leaders to fund pediatric cancer research at the National Institute of Health, that less and less kids will have to go through the absolute hell of cancer treatment and ultimately, we will find a cure for cancer in children.

I will write this post today and then step away from posting and writing on the CKc page and social media sites. I will continue to advocate and speak about why CKc so passionately believes that we must right a societal wrong, but Melissa, Ashley, Debra and many others in our organization are more diplomatic about this subject and frankly do a better job. I suppose it is part of my DNA to go as hard as we can for what we believe is the right thing to do and to not apologize or worry about people’s feelings when it comes to justice for children that are dying. I think many of the nurses at the hospitals where Cannon was treated would agree that my diplomatic skills when it came to Cannon’s treatment and what he endured were absent.

In our book, “Thankful For The Fight”, there is a piece I wrote that pretty much sums up what Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is all about. In less than 10 sentences, it explains the passion we have for finding a cure and less painful treatments for kids diagnosed with all 12 types of cancer found in children. I will let it be our last set of facts for Childhood cancer Awareness Month:

“Melissa and I have seen it all, and I nearly shake in anger and my eyes well up when I see my son suffering yet again, from an IV needle that has come out and has to be replaced, or his nausea from receiving multiple medications, or his eyes rolling back from so much morphine to shut off some of the pain, or when I contemplate the fact that he has not eaten a single crumb since Sunday night because he feels too ill to do so, or I see him stumble on his feet because his legs have no strength after lying in bed listlessly for days.

THIS is the world of kids’ cancer. This is it. It’s not kids with bald heads holding balloons, a stuffed animal or a toy and smiling. It’s just not, and perhaps the reason why kids’ cancer gets so little attention in our world is because most would like to have it painted this way.

Never forget, every day parents bury children lost to cancer. Every day when you are getting ready for work, your day, school or an adventure, there are others also dressing and preparing, but to attend the funeral of their child, the average age of eight… dead and gone forever and so unjustly and, in our opinion, needlessly. It is wrong. Please help Melissa and me continue this fight.” (May, 2014)

Mumma Bear here...

This is my ASK on the last day of Childhood cancer Awareness Month.

Please help us end this year by funding another trial! I get it - we already funded three, but we want one more! Help us help save kids with cancer! One more trial could potentially help 15 more kids... 15! That's a kindergarten class, guys. The average age of death for kids with cancer is 8!

We not only want to create hope in families so that no one hears the words "there are NO MORE options for your child", but we want to create hope for clinical oncologists who are working on cures! We have Request For Applications (RFA) that need funding at CKc! We can fund them after the Gala next year, but what about the 45 new kids diagnosed TODAY?! Or the 7 that will be buried today? What about them? We don't have time on our hands! These kids DON'T! Doctors who have ideas and solutions to the current pediatric cancer situation NEED FUNDING to create HOPE! With your help we could potentially help 15 kids and their families not be told to go home on hospice and instead be given hope through a groundbreaking trial.

I appreciate that funding clinical research isn't sexy and that you don't get to feel and touch it or have your name on it, BUT I promise nothing you can touch can get any closer to a cure for kids dying of cancer than this. Nothing!

Research is the key!

Our goal between now and December is to get $75,000 so we can call the oncology researchers and tell them their trial has been funded so they can start enrolling kids - TODAY!

If you feel compelled, please consider sending a check to P.O. Box 547797, Orlando, FL 32854 or donate online at http://www.cannonballkidscancer.org/donate-to-ckc/

Let's start saving lives - together - today!

Thank you.

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Treatments Actually Cause Cancer?

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. On the second to last day of Childhood cancer Awareness Month, I would like to discuss the effects of treatment received by children diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer. It is true that there are 375,000 estimated adult survivors of a form of pediatric cancer. They are all not here for 2 reasons: 1/ “Survivorship”, as discussed in a prior post, is only measured in a five year term, meaning that one that survives five years after diagnosis is considered a “survivor”. We personally know several children needlessly and unjustly lost to pediatric cancer that died well beyond their five year anniversary of their diagnosis date; and 2/ many of them have died from the side effects of having the harsh and archaic treatments afforded children with cancer.

Did you know that 60% of children who do survive their cancer and do survive the barbaric treatment suffer side effects such as infertility, heart and/or lung damage, hearing loss and secondary cancers? That’s right, secondary cancers. If there is one thing that hits the ball out of the park with respect to why research is so necessary to find new and improved methods of treatment for children with cancer is this: the current treatments available to kids with cancer themselves cause cancer!! Can you believe it? The treatment CAUSES another form of cancer to develop... and we are losing more children unjustly and unnecessarily.

Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is dedicated to funding research to find and develop less painful and more effective treatments for children with cancer. To find and develop treatments specifically designed for those cancers found only or primarily in children. And to find cures for pediatric forms of cancer. If you are able, please help us by visiting www.cannonballkidscancer.org. Thank you.

Funding = Research = Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Greatest Obstacles

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. This infographic says it all. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation (CKc) was founded to address the issues seen here. Why is cancer diagnosed in children more often today and in more children today than 1970? Why is there no cancer early detection testing as standard protocol for babies, infants and small children? Why is relapse of growing cancer cells not preventable in children? Why is not one single form of children's cancer ever been cured? Answer: Lack of awareness. Lack of funding in both the private and public sector. Lack of researchers. And, frankly, lack of passion of enough people (needed outrage) to demand that cancer in children be put to an end. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is dedicated to funding research to find and develop less painful and more effective treatments for children with cancer. To find and develop treatments specifically designed for those cancers found only or primarily in children. And to find cures for pediatric forms of cancer. If you are able, please help us by visiting www.cannonballkidscancer.org. Thank you. Funding = Research = Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Why Give Blood?

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. Over the past several weeks, I have tried to write about the types of treatments experienced by children diagnosed with cancer, and how harsh and brutal they can be to a baby, infant or small child. I also have discussed the side effects of cancer treatments for children, particularly outdated adult chemotherapies used to treat kids. One of the effects of this type of treatment is the need for blood transfusions and blood products. Did you know that every day, nearly 45,000 blood donations are needed in America and many of those are needed by children with cancer? It’s true, and we at Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation would like to encourage everyone to donate blood, platelets and plasma, if able, for all cancer patients and especially children. Why are blood and blood products so vital to one suffering from cancer? Because treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunosuppressive therapy destroy blood-making cells in the bone marrow. And kids with cancer undergo and experience all three - chemo, radiation and immune system suppressing therapies. The need for blood is constant on the oncology floors of pediatric hospitals. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body and takes away waste products. Because blood cannot be made in a laboratory, it must come from a donor. The following are the most commonly needed parts of blood: Platelets. Platelets are blood cells critical to blood clotting, which is the process that stops bleeding. When cancer and/or cancer treatment causes a person’s platelet level to fall too low, a transfusion can reduce the risk of serious or life-threatening bleeding. Red blood cells. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein that carries oxygen throughout the body to vital organs and tissues. They are used to treat anemia, which is a low number of red blood cells. Anemia can be caused by cancer and/or cancer treatment. Plasma. Plasma is the pale yellow liquid portion of the blood in which cells travel. It carries proteins that help control bleeding and antibodies that help fight infection. A person may need a plasma transfusion if he or she has experienced severe bleeding. Many people contact our Foundation and ask how they can help. Donating blood costs nothing but time. Please consider making a donation on behalf of all kids suffering from a form of pediatric cancer. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is dedicated to funding research for less painful therapies for children’s cancers, more effective treatments and especially the development of therapies specifically for children, and ultimately an end to cancer in children. If you would like to help, please visit our website at www.cannonballkidscancer.org. Funding = Research = Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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86,400 Seconds

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. Today begins the last week of September, and earlier this morning, I received my usual couple emails from friends and colleagues about the weekend football games, the passing of our Orlando legend Arnold Palmer, or other small items. One email was particularly spot on for Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation and everyone who advocates for kids diagnosed with cancer.

Here it is:

1. Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.

2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not credited to us.

3. What we haven't used up that day is forever lost.

4. Yesterday is forever gone.

5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time WITHOUT WARNING. So, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think. So take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply and enjoy life! Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day. Start spending...

"DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT GROWING OLD. SOME PEOPLE DON'T GET THE PRIVILEGE!!"

I know that I have given this fact out many times before, but it is worth stating over and over again until cancer in children is no more: The average age of a child that dies after being diagnosed with cancer is EIGHT YEARS OLD. Eight… Eight. Wrong. Unjust. And unnecessary.

Children that die every day from cancer are not dying in short time periods after diagnosis. They go many months and some many years before they pass, and what does this mean? It means that they spent most of their lives in horrible treatment, or feeling ill, or being in hospitals, or being away from their siblings, their homes and their friends at school… all just to try to live to be a normal kid. And what is so frustrating for us as advocates for research to stop this madness is the fact that most still don’t appreciate that most kids that die with a cancer diagnosis aren’t dying from the cancer, they are dying from the TREATMENT. The methods and types of treatment for kids with all 12 major types of children’s cancer are old and antiquated, developed for adult forms of cancer and for far too many, not effective or so harsh that they literally kill the child. This past weekend, a highly respected oncologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering told Melissa and me that most adults would not survive the onslaught of barbaric treatment that kids with cancer are forced to endure because methods of treatment designed specifically for children are not yet available. I ask you to re-read that sentence and think about what he said. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is dedicated to funding research for less painful therapies for children’s cancers, more effective treatments and especially the development of therapies specifically designed for children, and ultimately a cure and an end to cancer in children. If you would like to help, please visit our website at www.cannonballkidscancer.org.

Thank you.

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Speak UP!

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. We continue to receive good feedback on the national and international front for those advocating for children with cancer. We hear that pediatric cancer awareness is at an all time high and that perhaps finally, funding may increase both in the public and in the private sector. In the public sector, it may occur because of current legislation that we continue to ask members of Congress to pass. In the private sector, we believe that increased awareness we drive private charitable dollars to the research labs to find the cures and the treatments and the early detectors for children so that cancer won't visit upon future generations of children.

Why is this so fundamentally important? Why do I seem to keep repeating myself on this subject? Because children with cancer suffer unnecessarily, and because children with cancer die, and until both are no more, Cannonball Kids' cancer Foundation and our fellow cancer research foundations and charities will not quit.

Children that are treated for cancer are at risk for life altering and lifetime effects of the treatment (another reason that research funding is necessary to improve treatment methods, reduce pain and sickness and eliminate lifetime side effects). And that it is estimated that by the time a child who experienced cancer as a child is 45, he or she will have a 95% chance of suffering a lifetime and chronic health problem as a result of the severe treatment experienced as a child? And finally, that three out of five children who survive children’s cancer suffer long term or late side effects? SOURCE: CureSearch.org

This is the horrible list of potential side effects that kids that get cancer are left with for their lifetimes, assuming they survive:

Here are 11 common side-effects that children may experience as a result of current treatment protocols:

Cognitive issues including delayed speech, problems with reading, writing and memory retention.

Fertility issues.

Secondary cancers later in life.

Loss of limbs, or shortened limbs whose growth was stunted.

Cataracts, poor vision, damage to the optic nerve or other effects to the eye.

Hearing loss.

Cardiac problems including an abnormal heartbeat, congestive heart failure and increased risk of a stroke or blood clots.

Kidney failure.

Weak or thin bones that can break easily.

Anxiety and depression.

Teeth and jaw problems including missing teeth, smaller teeth, tooth decay and gum disease.

Speak UP. Speak up for all kids with cancer. Help us at Cannonball Kids' cancer Foundation to fund research and clinical trials so that someday, cancer won't exist in children.

Funding = Research = Cure

Thank you.

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Stand UP

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. We are hearing a lot of good things happening in pediatric cancer awareness, and there are advancements being made by those doing the research in the world of cancer found in children. Of course we know that our own grantee, Dr. Ted Johnson, is doing great work in Augusta, Georgia in the field of brain cancer found in children and infants. We know firsthand that Dr. Giselle Sholler is an amazing person and brilliant physician and is another of our grantees. Cannon just finished Dr. Sholler’s clinical trial for the prevention of relapsed neuroblastoma with the use of a drug call DFMO. And Dr. Mario Otto and Dr. Paul Sondel, also our grantees, are doing fantastic work to try to find the cause and a cure for rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the bone found primarily in children. These are amazing people and their staffs are fantastic as well. We are proud to be associated with them all. Last week in California, we heard of exciting work and clinical trials in the use of immunotherapy to try to treat recurrent or difficult tumor cancers in children. We have met young people that want to find the answers and want to eliminate cancer in children and not just treat it and build big and shiny new hospitals. CKc is excited to fund and support all “young investigators” and those dedicating their professional careers to ending the suffering of children because of cancer. Why is our journey important? That is a question that we have been asked by the media and by others who want to know more about what we have done or what we learned by taking Cannon through his nearly two years of constant suffering in treatment. The answer is that our journey as a Foundation is important because it’s the right thing to do. It’s that simple. Both Melissa and I have always strived to lead this journey for our Foundation to “do the right thing” no matter how hard or how difficult, and improving treatments for kids with cancer and ultimately finding a cure is at the top of the list of our life priorities. Why do I say this? Did you know that nearly all drugs currently used to treat children with cancer, with the exception of a few anti-leukemia drugs developed in the 1950s and early 1960s, were developed for adult cancers and then found “effective” to treat cancer in children? But it is true that most common types of childhood cancer are distinct from adult cancers clinically, pathologically, cytologically, and in the molecular abnormalities that underlie them. If the discovery and development of new agents for childhood cancers were to capitalize on today’s science and “modern medicine” and advancements in technology, gene mapping, etc.—which in large measure it does not—there is every reason to believe that cure rates could be improved for all pediatric cancers. (Source: National Research Council, “Making Better Drugs for Children with Cancer”, 2005) Consider these chemotherapy drugs which were administered to Cannon during his treatment and other still today to other children with neuroblastoma: Carboplatin - approved by the FDA 3/3/89 Cisplatin - approved by the FDA 7/16/99 Cyclophosphamide - approved by the FDA 7/3/86 Doxorubicin - approved by the FDA before 1/1/82 Etoposide - approved by the FDA 2/22/96 Vincristine - approved by the FDA 3/7/84 All approved for adult cancers. Not a single one on this list was developed or initially approved for pediatric cancer. (By the way, if you are really interested in this subject matter, Google or further research any of these drugs individually and check out the toxicity levels of each. It literally has brought me to tears knowing I have had to ok the administration of each to Cannon, several times over to try to save his life, because “it's part of the protocol”, which means that nothing else is available.) The “youngest” or most recently approved one? 17 years old. Really? My son had to have drugs that were developed for adults and cause a lifetime of problems or his premature death and are between 17 and 35 years old when we live in an age when a new iPhone comes out every other year? Outrageous. Can this really be? Answer: It is. And today, several hundred kids with neuroblastoma alone will receive one or more of these chemo drugs. Maddening. Please help all of us at Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation and all the families of children with cancer fight this fight. Help us raise awareness and honor all the families of those children already lost to children's cancer. Awareness is the only way to start and continue the engine to improve funding for research to develop new therapies and to find a cure to end cancer in children. It can be done. It can… believe it and stand up for children… stand UP. Funding = Research = Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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CureFest 2016

Written by Ashley VanDerMark

CKc attended CureFest for the 2nd year and wow, what a difference a year makes!

Attendance, exposure, social media presence... it all was higher than last year. But guess what? The number of children diagnosed was higher, too (because as we know, pediatric cancer is on the rise).

Saturday Night:

Saturday's event was a beautiful night of singing, dancing and testimonies from both children and parents. It was the event leading up to the vigil at the White House.

We met so many amazing and brave kids, including Parker Kress Power for Parker , a teenager from Iowa who battled Ewing's Sarcoma. Even though his treatment ended in December, Parker's leg will be amputated in October because his body can't fight a persistent infection.

We also got to see beautiful Gabi Shull dance. Gabi is an osteosarcoma survivor. Gabi already underwent the surgery that Parker is having - a rotationplasty. This surgery removes the knee joint and replaces it with the ankle joint turned 180 degrees, so the joint can allow a prosthesis to rotate. It is a radical surgery, and one that a teenager (or anyone) shouldn't have to "choose" in order to save their lives. Both of these amazing kids have watched their friends die. It's not right, and we must do better for our young people. So much better.

As you might recall, Melissa and I spent more than three hours in front of the White House last year waiting for the candlelight vigil to begin. The Secret Service escorted our group out of the park across the street as the President was leaving via a different route. After hours of waiting, kids were crying and parents were upset. Many children in treatment needed to return to their hotels for medication and rest. I remember thinking that the push back... the delay... it felt like the overall attitude towards childhood cancer. That measly 4% of funding, lack of research, lack of awareness... this was just a tangible representation of our children being pushed aside. So when the Washington Post and other media outlets got a hold of the story, I was grateful for the press. Director Joseph Clancy, head of the Secret Service, issued an apology and tried to rectify the situation. But at CKc, action means more than words, and we all knew that some children who were denied that opportunity would die before the next CureFest rolled around.

As I drove to CureFest on Friday, I silently prayed that something tangible, some type of ACTION, would help put last year's unfortunate situation to rest. Towards the end of the performances, just before we headed out to the White House, Director Clancy showed up, unbeknownst to the CureFest organizers. He was asked to say a few words and he admitted that before last year, he didn't know anything about childhood cancer, but he did now. His presence there spoke volumes... our kids were finally being noticed! As one person put it, "Director Clancy is not just the protector of the President, but now a protector of children." It was definitely a highlight.

After filling the streets of DC with close to 1,000 people, we ended the night with our candles held high while singing "Amazing Grace" in front of the White House, honoring all of the warriors and angels affected by cancer. It was a powerful and emotional moment.

Sunday:

The actual festival was eye opening. Foundation after foundation lined up around the National Mall, the Washington Monument flanking us on one side and the US Capitol on the other. Many were there to provide family support, and several, like CKc, were focused on funding research. I went to each booth to learn more... we at CKc can't learn enough!

There were definitely moments where things felt as if they were coming full circle. Moments such as reconnecting with the Super Sam Foundation and seeing how much they have grown in the last year. In addition to funding research, Sam's twin Ava started a sibling care club. CKc recently funded a trial that focuses on rhabdomyosarcoma, the cancer that stole Sam from his family. Or learning that our neighbors in the next booth lived nearby and were hosting an event this weekend to celebrate their beautiful baby girl who died from brain cancer. We can't wait to support the Addison Bryan Foundation as her daddy shaves his head. And moments such as watching my sister-in-love Kendra step whole heartedly into the world of advocacy for kids' cancer after having it hit so close to home.

We have been blessed with an amazing lobbying team at Venable Consulting LLP. They have worked incredibly hard to help provide a platform for us to share our initiatives with legislators on Capitol Hill. What a blessing it was to have Megan Malone join us at our booth again. Megan is a staunch advocate for CKc and I loved being able to share the great work that other foundations are doing with her.

I'd like to give special thanks to my son Connor, CKc's first youth ambassador. He did an amazing job teaching visitors the hard facts about pediatric cancer. He and Cannon have always had an incredible bond, and I was proud of the way he met each child, got down on their level, and let them know that CKc will fight until there is no longer a need for CureFest.

We have a couple of special mottos at CKc. "Go big or go home" and "There can be no egos in the world of pediatric cancer." Our foundation prides itself on supporting others... because at the end of the day, it's the cure that we so desperately need so that cancer in children never exists again. Big moments, small moments, ripples, waves... whatever it takes to get us there... that's the heart of CKc.

www.cannonballkidscancer.org

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Zero Survival Rate?

Written by Michael Wiggins This is Michael. Last Thursday, Melissa and I visited the Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California-San Francisco, and then had dinner with Dr. Sabine Mueller, Dr. Cassie Kline and the wonderful staff of the Oncology and Hematology Department. We also got to meet with Dr. Mignon Loh and Dr. Katherine Matthay during the week to thank them for what they do for children with cancer and to find out more about ongoing research being conducted in neurological and brain cancers in children. Even though Cannon was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and it has just slightly better than 50-50 survival rates, would you believe that there are other forms of pediatric cancer that have even worse rates of survival? Hard to believe, huh? It’s true. DIPG, Ependymoma and AT/RT are types of brain tumors diagnosed in infants and small children. Many of you followed baby Emmi Grace just a few months ago. We lost this beautiful child to AT/RT. The survival rate for these types of tumors is nearly zero or zero. Know many adult forms of cancer with zero survival rate? Or, know the patient or guardian being told at the outset, "Probably best that you don’t even try treatment; just go enjoy whatever time is left.”??? Answer: almost none. Yet, this type of pediatric cancer is diagnosed every day in kids, and most of the world is unaware. And children are dying... parents are burying their children… wrong... unjust… unnecessary. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation would like to do something about that. The doctors and research team at the Benioff Children’s Hospital are currently conducting clinical trials on all types of tumors found in the developing brain of babies, infants and children. Through the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC), clinical trials are being designed, or are in progress, to treat kids with brain tumors that cannot be treated with standard therapy, or that have recurred following standard therapy. PNOC has now grown to a network of 15 children’s hospitals that conduct clinical trials of new therapies for children with brain tumors. The goal of the consortium is to improve outcomes by translating what is found in the laboratory in cancer biology testing into better treatments for our kids. We believe they are on to something, that they are being proactive with new and innovative ideas and may soon alleviate the suffering of those who tragically know what the synonym “DIPG” and “AT/RT” mean and know what “Ependymoma” is. Please help Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation fund research to end the tragedy of cancer in children. We know it can be done. Despite all those who would say that a cure for cancer found in children is too difficult a challenge and likely will never be achieved, CKc intends to bring an end to those cancers found primarily in children. Funding=Research=Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Diagnosis Challenge

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. Today is Sunday and the day of CureFest in Washington D.C., and so much to report on with respect to our journey to fight for kids with cancer and Children’s cancer Awareness Month. Our Ashley VanDerMark is in D.C. and you will hear more about this in the days to come.

Today, Melissa, Cannon and I are traveling home to Florida from San Francisco. We met a lot of great people this week, all invested and dedicated to helping us fund more research to end cancer in children. Thank you to Kristen and Buster Posey, Larry and Pam Baer and the entire San Francisco Giants organization, Dick Vitale, George Bodenheimer, the entire V Foundation, Jeff Berry of CAA, Dr. Mueller and her fantastic oncology and hematology group at Benioff Children's Hospital at UCSF, and so many more. I am so encouraged that progress is being made to right the wrong of allowing cancer in children to take a back seat to adult forms of cancer.

Those that have followed Cannon through his treatment know that he was diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma. Did you know that neuroblastoma in children is diagnosed as Stage 4 (the worst news and the highest risk and farthest advanced)? And, Cannon’s case is not unique. It happens every day, in fact, day after day.

Why? Because often the diagnosis is finally made only after a long, trying period. Children may have a variety of symptoms such as irritability and low-grade fever that mimic common illnesses and viruses, or diseases such as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that cause joint pain. Symptoms depend on where the tumor originates and if it has spread. For example, children with a tumor in the abdomen may have a swollen abdomen, constipation, vomiting, or diarrhea. A child with a tumor on the spine may stop crawling or walking, or may have weakness or paralysis. A tumor in the chest may cause breathing difficulties. A child whose disease has spread to bones may have black eyes, bone pain, bruises, fever, paleness, and may limp or stop crawling or walking. Cannon had low grade fevers for several months prior to diagnosis, but it was believed to be related to teething and new teeth cutting in. It was only when he started to limp that we took him to an orthopaedic physician who ordered an MRI that detected the metastasized mass behind his left knee.

And from there, the hell begins. Forty to fifty times a day it happens to parents around this country, and once every 2 minutes to a family in the world. “Your child has cancer”. And the statistics say 80% of children survive a cancer diagnosis. Not really… read my earlier posts on this subject. Doesn’t matter… 1 out of 5, or 1 out of 4; does it matter? Kids are suffering from the painful treatment and dying from both the harshness of the treatment and the disease itself, and it’s not getting much better. Help us create outrage to these truths.

These facts and the explanation provide the background for why we need more research to determine the cause of children’s cancer, and for early detection systems and tests to be made available to infants, toddlers and children. Please help Melissa and me, the CKc Foundation, all the parents of children with cancer and all those advocating for these kids --- help us increase awareness and action so that we can contribute to the efforts to improve therapies, and develop and target them specifically for children (instead of hand-me-down chemotherapy developed for adults), so that someday, someday cancer in children will be no more. Thank you.

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Watch This...

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. I won’t write much today. I don’t need to. Our friend, “Tattoo Tom”, will do it for us. Please watch this video of a “TedTalk” by Tom, who unjustly and unnecessarily lost his 17 year old daughter, Shayla, in 2009. This weekend is CureFest in Washington, D.C., the annual rally to let our Nation’s Capital and our lawmakers know that we Go Gold in September to honor all the kids who bravely fight and have fought cancer, and especially to honor those children so painfully lost to us. Ashley is there to represent CKc while Melissa and I are in San Francisco with Cannon. One of our lobbyists, Megan Malone, is there for us too. And you can bet that Tattoo Tom will be there, too. All of them and more, fighting for our kids with cancer. Watch please. Take 17 minutes of your day to fully appreciate childhood cancer from someone who knows it as well as anyone in this country. Tom talks truth. Straight up. Unvarnished. No apologies. Reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Myvpg9oNQ Thanks, Tom. Well done, our brother. Well done. Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation salutes you. Please help all of us at Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation and all the families of children with cancer fight this fight. Help us raise awareness and honor all the families of those children already lost to children's cancer. Awareness is the only way to start and continue the engine to improve funding for research to develop new therapies and to find a cure to end cancer in children. It can be done. It can… believe it and Stand Up for Children... Stand UP. Awareness = Research = Cure

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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The "Cost" of Childhood cancer

Written by Michael Wiggins

This is Michael. I am re-posting an article and something I wrote two years ago. Even when I re-read it, after having lived it with Cannon, I shake my head in disbelief:

This morning, Cannon was off to speech therapy at 7:15 a.m., and as we were getting him ready to go with clothes, shoes, etc., I started to think about the “cost” of cancer to a child and that child’s family. Not necessarily the cost in dollars or financially (although this is great and a burden that many never recover from with or without medical insurance), but rather in terms of cost to the child, such as hearing loss to Cannon because of the use of chemotherapy agents originally developed and approved for adult cancer and not for children and the toxicity level it has, such as the fact that he lay in a hospital bed for over a year and is now developmentally delayed, or even just the time playing or family time that is lost forever. I saw an article this past week about the “cost” of having a child with cancer, and all of the treatment that a child has to endure just to try to live and with no guarantee that the treatment will work, and with almost a guarantee that it will be harmful and cause secondary damage later in life. What I am attaching below is fairly lengthy, but please take a few minutes and read this post entitled “Counting the Cost” by Aaron Hudson, the dad of Nate, who at age 2 was diagnosed like Cannon with stage IV high risk neuroblastoma. It is almost not believable, except I know it is true: I have lived it and watched it myself. Let the amount of treatment and the number of drugs count as today’s Childhood cancer Awareness Fact(s). Truly incredible.

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Counting the Cost

September 9th, 2014

By: Aaron Hudson as published by Neuroblastoma Canada

So much of life revolves around numbers. The time you wake up in the morning, the number of steps you take throughout the day, the amount of calories you consume, the additions and subtractions of your bank account, and so on. These types of numbers can seem so mundane; however, these accountings of life tell a story and everyone’s numbers paint a different picture.

Some numbers tell you more of a story than others.

In 2009, my son Nate was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma cancer at 2 years of age. Neuroblastoma is a solid tumour cancer, the third most common pediatric cancer and the most common cancer diagnosed in children under one year of age. When Nate was diagnosed, his primary tumor was sitting just above his left kidney, about 98% of his bone marrow was packed with cancer, and he had soft tissue lesions on a number of ribs and his right femur. His little body was full of disease. Neuroblastoma is a quiet beast – when children are diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma, the disease has metastasized in about 75% of the cases. In 2010, when Nate was almost finished with his treatment, he relapsed in his brain, bringing our fight right back to the beginning again.

When Nate was diagnosed, my wife and I started to keep a written record of Nate’s treatment. We wrote down everything in a coil bound notebook, often covered with Nate’s stickers, with print outs of blood counts and other important pages stuffed throughout the book. The book was always with us and we meticulously documented almost every aspect of Nate’s treatment. We have filled almost 4 of these notebooks over the last 5 years. They were a way to look up important information, keep a running log of test results, compile lists of questions for doctors, make notes about nursing decisions, and track changes to medication doses. Doctors and nurses often made jokes about our notebooks, but they became vitally important to us throughout Nate’s treatment. There have been many occasions when we’ve looked up something in “the book” and prevented a nurse from giving Nate the wrong medication, giving medication too often, or not often enough. Moving from hospital to hospital, and doctor to doctor, our notes helped us tell them what medications Nate needed and at what dosage. At home, we could never have kept all of the medications straight or administered them at the correct times without keeping these detailed records.

Earlier this year, my son finished his last planned treatment for relapsed stage IV neuroblastoma cancer. Monumental. With this incredible achievement, I decided to take our notebooks and do an inventory of everything that Nate has been through over his almost 5 years of fighting this beast. This exercise wasn’t meant to tempt fate or the universe, it was done out of the desire to tell Nate’s story in a way that might help people understand what a pediatric cancer diagnosis looks like. I took each book and counted.

The numbers below are painful to think about, some more than others. Eighty-seven different drugs. Fifteen thousand ninety-four individual doses of medications. Four thousand two hundred sixty-five tube feeds. Thirty-eight general anesthetics; thirty-eight times we held Nate as he was sedated, his body growing limp with sleep, and thirty-eight times we saw him wheeled off into surgery, a scanning room, or radiation suite. These are some of our most painful memories.

There are so many things that were not counted – the amount of times Nate threw up, the hours spent in the car driving to the hospital, the days spent without his brothers, and all the missed time at school. And no set of numbers can ever capture how any of this felt to Nate. We can never describe his fear, his pain, his anxiety. Nor can we describe his immeasurable courage, strength, resilience, his ability to smile and to make us smile in the darkest of circumstances.

September is Childhood cancer Awareness month. You may hear a lot of different numbers related to this over the next few weeks. About 850 children between the ages of birth and 14 years old will be diagnosed with cancer each year. Approximately 135 children will die each year from cancer in Canada. Two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors will experience long-term effects from treatment which will be classified as “severe” in their lifetime. These numbers may not seem like much in light of adult cancers but if you knew the stories behind each of these numbers, you would never look at life the same way again. The numbers below belong to one 7-year-old boy.

Nate’s numbers, from September 2009 to February 2014:

13 cycles of chemotherapy

11 cycles of immunotherapy

29 radiation treatments

38 general anesthetics

17 surgical procedures

1 tumor biopsy

2 tumor resections

6 bone marrow biopsies/aspirates

1 port (central line) insertion (and removal)

2 central venous line (CVL) insertions (and removals)

170 CVL dressing changes

163 CVL cap changes

405 CVL flushes and heparin-locks

1 g-tube surgical insertion

1 Ommaya reservoir insertion

1 femoral line insertion

3 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow studies

16 CSF taps

15 NG-tube insertions

10 g-tube replacements

19 Insuflon (leg port) insertions

1 stem cell harvest

1 stem cell transplant

1 stem cell rescue

23 CT scans

17 MIBG scans (nuclear medicine)

13 MRI scans

21 x-rays

10 ultrasounds

10 echocardiograms

5 electrocardiograms

4 PET scans

4 GFR scans

1 bone scan

9 audiograms

84 peripheral IV starts/needles

65 “finger poke” needles

318 complete blood counts (CBC)

66 blood cultures

229 inpatient days/nights (6 different hospitals)

212 outpatient clinic visits

173 nights on IV hydration at home

8 return flights to New York

32 blood transfusions

49 platelet transfusions

13 doses of cyclophosphamide

8 doses of topotecan

8 doses of etoposide

8 doses of cisplatin

5 doses of vincristine

9 doses of mesna

5 doses of doxorubicin

3 doses of melphalan

5 doses of carboplatin

9 doses of irinotecan

4 doses of rituximab

163 doses of temozolomide

95 injections of filgrastim

64 injections of sargramostim

20 infusions of ch14.18

3 infusions of 8h9

20 infusions of 3f8

14 days of continuous infusion of interleukin-2

162 doses of isotretinoin (Accutane)

46 days of continuous infusions of hydromorphone

20 days of continuous infusions of ketamine

8 days of continuous infusions of morphine

186 doses of hydromorphone

120 doses of morphine

214 doses of gabapentin

425 doses of Tylenol

40 doses of codeine

51 doses of ibuprofen

2 doses of fentanyl

2 doses of Demerol

31 doses of ceftriaxone

45 doses of piperacillin

6 doses of Septra

19 doses of gentamicin

16 doses of ceftazadime

50 doses of vancomycin

28 doses of nystatin

125 doses of dapsone

148 doses of ciprofloxacin

20 doses of Tamiflu

145 doses of piperacillin/tazobactam

11 doses of meropenem

5 doses of pentamidine

94 doses of acyclovir

5 doses of fluconazole

19 doses of caspofungin

302 doses of penicillin

5 doses of cefazolin

8 doses of cefalexin

55 doses of cefixime

42 doses of cefepime

61 doses of cloxacillin

25 doses of cefuroxime axetil (ceftin)

44 doses of amoxicillin

1,310 doses of ondansetron

235 doses of Gravol

175 doses of dexamethasone

162 doses of Ativan

195 doses of Benadryl

189 doses of ranitidine

108 doses of hydroxyzine

8 doses of hydrocortisone

26 doses of loratadine

21 doses of famotidine

22 doses of nifedipine

44 doses of amlodipine

202 doses of enalapril

51 doses of spironolactone

2 doses of hydralazine

3,462 doses of metoclopramide

2,957 doses of calcium carbonate

902 doses of vitamin D

654 doses of domperidone

521 doses of lansoprazole

126 doses of omeprazole

41 doses of pantoprazole

54 doses of Lasix

157 doses of polyethylene glycol 3350

159 doses of lactulose

85 doses of loperamide

35 doses of Lugols solution

8 doses of mannitol

50 doses of Cytomel

48 doses of potassium iodide

4 doses of Celebrex

22 doses of levalbuterol

18 doses of cheratussin

81 days on total parenteral nutrition (TPN)

4,265 NG-tube or g-tube feeds

871,940 millilitres of formula (145 cases)

Nate is now 7 ½ years old and has just started 2nd grade. We know that we are lucky. We have seen the story end very differently for too many of our little friends and that is simply not acceptable. We can do better as a society for these children. We can fund innovative research to help identify less toxic treatments and find cures for all types of pediatric cancer. We can motivate governments to develop deeper and richer pediatric oncology research programs in Canada. We can give to organizations that make life more tolerable during a pediatric cancer diagnosis. We can help families in our own communities who are struggling to get through each day as they watch their child endure the unthinkable.

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Thank you to all who follow and pray for Cannon and all the kids with cancer that we know and who are right now, today, treating and suffering from the harsh treatments in the world of pediatric cancer. Thank you to all who have offered to educate the community or write their representative, make a donation to a kids' cancer charity, tell a friend or family an awareness fact, make a presentation to a local group or make any effort for kids' cancer. Don't do it for us individually or just for Cannon. Do it for all kids with cancer and for our society. Our children deserve better. When one reads the treatment endured by our children with cancer, is there any doubt that we can do better as a society and should demand more research dollars to find a cure for these kids?

Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation is dedicated to funding research for less painful therapies for children’s cancers, more effective treatments and especially the development of therapies specifically designed for children, and ultimately a cure and an end to cancer in children. If you would like to help, please visit our website at www.cannonballkidscancer.org

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cannonballkidscancer · 9 years ago

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Posey Family Foundation - San Francisco Gala

Posey Family Foundation - San Francisco Giants Gala Written by Mumma-Bear I have serious writer's block about last night, about last chemo, Cannon, the Posey's!!! All of it!!!! Most important, Cannon is DONE! Yes, more is to come of his life and the scars left by his treatment. But LAST NIGHT, TODAY, TOMORROW I will focus on the fact he will never ever need to swallow another cancer-related pill! That's how we do! I said it before and I will say it again - cancer knocked on the wrong door. Little did it know a fiery Scottish lassy and a fierce American man had a son who was and is a CANNONBALL and boy-oh-boy did he Cannonball Kids' cancer! Can I just say this? Kristen Posey is a badass! She will kill me for saying it but she knocked it out of the park last night. Before we even sat down for dinner $450,000 was raised for their foundation!! I mean... you talk about inspiring!!!! I'm proud to know her and proud to call her my friend. Kristen spoke to the room about how our book "Thankful For The Fight" was a defining moment in her life, that it changed everything! Buster and Kristen explained this is now their life's work! I was trying to hold back my tears as she was introducing me as a speaker. I could NOT be happier for CKc to stand by their side in this war! Kristen wrote me an email over a year ago saying she wanted to do more !!! She wanted to help me change the face of kids' cancer and to stay tuned. Last night was the stay tuned, the people there were the stay tuned, the SF Giants are the stay tuned, the MLB hats with gold ribbons are the stay tuned, the $450,000 before the night started was the stay tuned! Because when my friend says "stay tuned", this is what happens. At our table for the night were Buster and Kristen Posey, on our right singer Phillip Phillips and his beautiful wife Hannah (who is an Alabama graduate so there may have been some serious football chat and talk of which game we would meet), on our left was Larry Baer and his beautiful wife Pam, the owners of the San Francisco Giants who constantly made us laugh and cry and offered us their seats for Saturday's game. Dick Vitale and his lovely wife Lorraine blew us away. The V Foundation has raised $18 million for pediatric research. Dick invited us to their big gala that raises around $1million - can't wait! George Bodenheimer, the former President of ESPN, told us of how he was the mailman and made his way up. Incredible!! Our table laughed all night with moments of gratitude for the night and the goal. We cried over kids lost and the state of pediatric cancer and cherished the night. It truly was so perfect in every way! Phillip Phillips performed and if you haven't seen him - go buy tickets now! He is incredible! Most of you know I don't enjoy public speaking... I'm a writer!! But when Dick Vitale personally mentions your speech in his, and then George Bodenheimer comes up to you and says "you're a natural", well dang, it made me feel 10 feet tall. Can I tell you a secret? I am NOT a natural! My husband is a rockstar speaker but me? NOPE! I get all wound up inside, sweaty palms and hives, but I guess outwardly none of that shows so everyone is a winner! The rest of the week is touring the children's hospital, dinner with their team of oncologists, the Giants game on Saturday and then back to the twins and Granny Bel.

As I type this Kristen is sending me videos of Cannon and her 5 year old twins playing at her house! Thank you mumma for taking care of my boy so we can meet the researchers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Yesterday was a crazy ride of emotions. I'm definitely in the pink cloud of San Francisco with my two boys and I'm loving and enjoying every single sliver of it!

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