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A great organization has chosen the FCC to feature today. I had never heard of Penny for Your World until yesterday. It is always so fun to learn about different non-profits and what they do. This one donates a penny or a dime each day for a year to a different charity. You get to pick from 2 to put your penny toward. Not only do pennies add up to great donations but imagine how many new groups and charities you can learn about.

It takes less than 5 minutes to sign-up and TODAY the beneficiary is FCC. Please take some time to help our organization. Every penny counts so if you can forward this on to several of your friends and they send it on to several of their friends imagine how much good we can do for families of children with caner.

Please sign up here – Penny for your World

We thank you for your support!

It is hard to find anyone who has not been touched by cancer in one way or another.  I have lost my mother to breast cancer and have been on a 5 year journey with my son who has Leukemia.  I have learned a few things along the way about how to help a friend or family member who has cancer.

27 WAYS YOU CAN HELP

1. Be there for them (on the phone, in person, in e-mail)

2. Encourage them to set up a Caringbridge site to communicate information to the masses (it is easy and free)

3. Sign the guest book on Caringbridge every time you read it.  Your support and notes matter

4. Set up a meal/helper/driver/child care calendar at CareCalendar

5. Send a hand written note (even if you are local)  The endless stream of medical bills  and statements in the mailbox gets old quickly

6. When you make a meal for your family that you can freeze; make an extra one and drop it off.

7. If you say “I am praying for you” then do it – frequently

8. Pick-up a gift card or two for them (restaurants near their treatment facility, gas cards, pharmacy (Walgreens, Target, Wal-Mart), grocery stores.

9. Mow their lawn, shovel their snow and don’t tell them you did so

10. When you talk to them don’t always talk about cancer.

11. Encourage them to set up a donation account at a local bank where people who want to give them money can do so.

12. Visit them – hospitals and clinics are lonely places

13. Drop off magazines or books

14. Call and check in (believe me after a few months their phone is not ringing off the hook and you won’t be a bother)

15.  Don’t forget about spouses/parents and children,  cancer affects the entire family

16. Provide childcare as often as you can

17. Arrange to bring someone to them for haircuts, pedicures, manicures etc. Caregivers and patients need to be pampered now and again

18. Allow them to “vent” and simply say “This sucks and I am sorry” – no need to give them the “good news” all the time

19. Cry with them and for them.  Cancer is devastating and sad but after the “cry” be strong and supportive

20. Buy them a cute hat or scarf (for the ladies)

21. Get involved in a cause and help raise money and awareness on their behalf

22. If you don’t know what to say – say so; don’t say something stupid and insensitive instead of being silent

23. Hire someone to clean their house

24.  Make them a CD or play-list of great upbeat music

25. Don’t assume that because they say the don’t need anything that they really “don’t need anything”.  Be creative, people suck at asking for help.

26. Be mindful that cancer is often a life-long and life changing event.  Long after the treatment is done the side effects and financial repercussions are still very real.

27. Bring your sense of humor, laughter is after all some of the best medicine.

28. Consider making a donation in their name.

It is sometimes hard to support a friend or family member but doing some of the things on this list will really help them out.  Cancer can be a very long trying journey and your friends and family are certianly a large part of making it through.

Many of you may have read about the amazing college students who traded their spring break to help families of children with cancer.  If you missed it click here to read all about it~

Here is a note from one of the families who received assistance from this program.

We would like to Thank The Foundation for Children With Cancer for choosing our family to be the recipient’s of the Spring Break Work Project. A great group of young adults from the University of Vermont came to our home on their spring break to help our family with some much needed improvements. They removed old carpet from our basement steps then sanded and painted them. They enclosed a ceiling beam in our basement and painted the ceiling and walls of our basement family room. This project has been on our “to do” list for a very long time. But with our finances short and time spent concentrating on Brian’s care, it had been put on the back burner! So when we got the call asking if we needed some projects done around the house we were thrilled!

We didn’t know what to expect when a group of 10 young adults showed up on a Monday morning. They were all so nice and eager to jump right in and get to work. Each of them shared their own reasons of why they had given up their Spring break to come to Missouri to help. We found ourselves just in owe of their kindness and compassion. Over the few days they were here we shared Brian’s story with them. They all seemed so eager to give him a cool area to hang out with his friends. And when their job was complete, you could just feel their pride! Brian’s smile  gave them all joy and satisfaction of a job well done.  So thank you FFC for an awesome experience and for completing a much needed household project, We appreciate all that you do to help our family . LOVE  Steve, Erin, Tony, Jen and Brian.

D-DAY

If you ever talk with a family who has had a child with cancer you can be sure that the “D-Day” (diagnosis day) is one they won’t ever forget.
Second only to a child’s birthday when of course everything changed in your life is “d-day”.  For a family faced with childhood cancer when once again everything changed in your life.

For me it was May 29, 2005.  My son was 2 1/2 years old.  In the 6 + weeks leading up to his diagnosis he stopped walking.  He was complaining of severe leg pain.  We were in and out of othorpedic offices, he was in a full leg cast for 3 weeks.  He had low energy, was pale and spiking fevers on and off.  We were told he had a virus, and some hairline fractures in his leg which would be healed by the cast and a round of antibiotics.

We got the cast off and he still couldn’t walk.  Later that same week he began complaining of pain in his other leg.  At that point we decided to go to Children’s ER.  On the way I told my husband “well at least we probably won’t be sent home without an answer, but I am scared.  What if something is really wrong with him.”.  Six long  hours later after an ambulance ride to the main campus of Children’s Hospital we were told our son had Leukemia. I remember the Doctor’s face as if it was yesterday. He was a young bald man whose job that night was to tell us the diagnosis. He said “I am sorry, we have determined that Mason has Leukemia. The Oncologist on-call has been paged and a room is being prepared on the hem/onc floor for you”.

He left the room and we just sat there in shock while Mason laid on a table hooked up to an IV.  I told my husband I didn’t even really know what Leukemia was.  I had no idea if it was treatable, curable or anything.  I was so scared and sad but also a bit relieved.  We at least KNEW what was wrong with him and now we could work on fixing it and getting him better.  There is nothing harder than watching your child suffer and you can’t help them. I had felt very helpless in the weeks leading up to “d-day”.

Later that morning we met with the oncologist and tried to absorb as much information as we could. He kept mentioning “day 1″ of treatment.

Day 1…of what would turn out to be 1825 days of treatment. You bet, “d-day” is a day we will never forget.