Help and Hope Happen Here

19 year old Grace Bronleewe is a very accomplished singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. Known as GREYLEE on all of her musical platforms, Grace will talk about her very strong connection to Pediatric Cancer, as she lost  friends Treven in May of 2020, and Noah in January of 2021 to Leukemia and Brain Cancer respectively.  Grace will talk in depth about Treven and Noah and her song BRAVE that she wrote at the request of her friend Noah's family, and performed beautifully before a standing room only crowd at Curefest in September. 

Amanda DeCicco's son Jayden was born while Amanda was a high school senior. After completing her studies  and raising Jayden , he was diagnosed with DIPG at the age of 6. On today's podcast Amanda will talk about what her beloved son went through before his passing in April of 2015, how she turned her grief into becoming a Born Again Christian, writing a book called THE HERO WITHIN, and helping other families who are in their own Pediatric Cancer battles.

Joanne Whall's son Kieran was diagnosed with B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 4 years old this past February. On today's podcast Joanne will talk about what Kieran has been through over the past 8 months, including such difficulties as having a severe allergic reaction to a drug he was taking, and still needing blood thinner shots because of a clot that he developed in his jugular vein. Kieran is 2 months away from approaching the maintenance part of his recovery program, which will take until March of 2025 to complete. 

After reading on facebook about a little girl that had a "glow" in her eye which turned out to be eye cancer, Robin Cervantes looked at pictures of her daughter Bella and realized that she had a very similar glow in her right eye. The next morning, Robin began the process that led to Bella, then 2 1/2 years old  to the diagnosis of the eye cancer Retinoblastoma. Robin and Bella will both talk about how Bella, now 11 years old, was able to make a very successful recovery from this eye cancer and has started her Brave Bella's Bead Co. in which she makes jewelry with many of the proceeds headed to St Jude's Children's Research Hospital to help in the fight against Pediatric Cancer. 

On August 22nd of this year, exactly 8 weeks before today's podcast is being published, 7 year old Ashton Hawkins was diagnosed with the Pediatric Brain Cancer Medulloblastoma. On today's podcast, Ashton's mom Amanda will talk about what Ashton has been through over the past 8 weeks and what challenges that she faces as her treatment protocol is still in its early stages. 

Olivia Zhang  started her incredible journey in the cancer world back in 6th grade, when first her grandfather and then her 7th grade after school teacher were diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Olivia was very close to both of them and this led to her starting the non-profit CANCER KIDS FIRST as a 14 year old in 2019. Her non-profit is now the largest Youth Led Pediatric Cancer Non-Profit in IN THE WORLD. Cancer Kids First has 30,000 world wide volunteers, has impacted 8000 Pediatric Cancer patients, has partnerships with 69 Pediatric Cancer Hospitals and is involved with 63 countries, many of which have a Pediatric Cancer survival rate of 10 percent. These countries include Bangladesh, Columbia, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Ukraine.  Olivia is truly an extraordinary young woman who has made and will continue to make an overwhelming positive difference in the lives of so many who need and deserve so much help. 

Jordan and Scott Arogeti came up with a method  to make it as easy as possible for people who wanted to support those in need to find a simple process to do so. This process is known as SUPPORT NOW, an organization that has been fully open for less than one month.  SUPPORT NOW  is already getting great feedback from individuals who have used this easy way to give what they can to families and individuals who need whatever help they can get through the kindness of others. 

Christie Blankenship and her husband decided to adopt 16 month old Reese in 2017 after she was so abused by biological family members that Reese was unable to to walk, talk, or see. 2 years later Reese was diagnosed with DIPG on May 29th of 2019, and exactly 4 years later on May 29th of this year she passed away from this dreaded form of Pediatric Brain cancer. This is a truly incredible story of a mother who did everything possible to make a life for her daughter that was worth living.  

Hannah Gilbert was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 2 years old in January of 2003. On today's podcast, Hannah and her mother Priscilla will talk about what Hannah went through in the early stages of her cancer battle, and how she has been able to lead a healthy and productive life as she graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Communications in 2022. It is always great to see a Pediatric Cancer diagnosis be defeated by a patient who is moving on with what will be a successful career and a healthy life, as Hannah is doing. 

In December of 2022 10 year old Ramie Darling Jr. was diagnosed with the Pediatric Liver Cancer Hepatoblastoma. HIs father Ramie will talk about his son's diagnosis which occurred in a hospital near their Florida home, but subsequently both father and son moved up to Boston where for the past 8 months  Ramie Jr. has undergone a very successful treatment protocol under the direction of Dr. Allison O'Neill at Boston Children's Hospital.

Ramie will talk about his treatment and how well the Darling family, which includes his wife Katie and their 13 and 15 year old daughters, has been treated. Ramie Jr. has spent time at Patriots Training Camp with Quarterback Mac Jones and at Fenway Park with pitcher Garret Whitlock.