Help and Hope Happen Here

On today's podcast Robin French, who is the Operations and Project Manager for the Morgan Adams Foundation will talk about how her now 21 year old son Will's successful battle against a form of Pediatric Brain Cancer, which he was diagnosed with when he was 2 years old, led her to a career involvement in the cause of Pediatric Cancer. Robin will talk about Will's fight , and the Foundation which looks for Under the Radar and High Risk High Reward Cancers to donate their proceeds to. The Morgan Adams Foundation was founded more than 20 years ago, after Joan Slaughter and her late husband Steven Adams lost their 6 year old daughter Morgan to her 11 month battle with her own form. of Pediatric Brain Cancer

The Brain Tumor Craniopharyngioma that Logan Setzer was diagnosed with as a 10 year old in 2007 was benign but the side effects and after effects that Logan has suffered with for the past 16 years are almost impossible to fathom. On today's podcast Logan's mother Tiffany will talk about how Logan has had to deal with obstacles such as being legally blind, having a personality change, having a biological eating disorder, and being in almost constant pain, which  are just some of the many difficulties that  Logan goes through on a daily basis.  With everything that has been thrown at Logan, it is no wonder that Tiffany and her husband Jeff are finally planning to take their very first vacation in 16 years, since the time of Logan's diagnosis. 

Cheryl Adams saw a small mole on her son Graham's left arm when he was 9 years old in 2013. The mole was removed but Graham's problems had just started. 6 months later he was diagnosed with Pediatric Melanoma. Graham underwent 40 surgeries but did not sit idly by while hospitalized. He and others designed rubber bracelets to highlight his fight and 100,000 of them were sold. Graham's story caught the attention of the Today Show,  the Ellen Generous Show , the Obama Family, and Kobe Bryant, who all lent a helping hand. Graham is now 19 years old, has not had the opportunity to live a normal life and is in pain quite often. This is the result of a form of pediatric cancer that is not well known and that there really is no cure for. 

After experiencing headaches, tiredness, and swollen lymph nodes, Laura Davis took her 14 year old son Cole to the doctor in January of 2020 where the thought was that he might have had Mononucleosis. Instead, after a test showed that Cole's white blood cell count was over 300,000, his diagnosis came back as T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Laura will talk about the 2 and a half year treatment that Cole endured, including a critical shortage of the drug Erwinaze that Cole needed which finally was found and provided  by Angels For Change Director Laura Bray. 
Cole is now a high school senior at the age of 17, he has been cancer free for 9 1/2 months, and is working hard to get ready for the upcoming high school football season.

After his son Pablo died from Bilateral Wilms Tumor 6 days after his 6th birthday in 2008, Jeff Castelaz decided to ride his bicycle from Florida to California to honor the memory of his son. That ride raised $250,000 which was the seed money used to start the Pablove Foundation. On today's podcast Kerstin Lynam who is the foundation's Chief Executive Officer, and Lauren Aufiero who is the Marketing Director will talk about this  foundation which  has dual missions of teaching photography to Pediatric Cancer patients and raising money to help underfunded cancers. Their primary objective of course is to help these kids who are so deserving of support.

In 1977,  Linda Park's son and Dana - Sue Crews' younger brother Luke was diagnosed with Histiocytosis X when he was 18 months old,  was told that he would not survive, and that the end would be quick and tragic. On today's podcast Linda and Dana-Sue will talk about Luke and how he recovered from his blood cancer diagnosis which is now known as Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis and is thriving at the age of 47. They will also talk about the book that Linda wrote called BRAVE COURAGEOUS BOLD , LUKE AND HIS BIG BATTLE and the work that Dana- Sue has done for the cause of Pediatric Cancer which was inspired by Luke's fight, including starting the Bell Asteri Publishing company which publishes books concerning individual Pediatric Cancer stories. 

Both Deanna Fournier and Ana Valdez suffered from the blood cancer Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis but at very different stages in their lives. Deanna , now the Director of the Histiocytosis Association, was diagnosed when she was 6 years old and Ana was diagnosed 3 years after her symptoms began to appear during the final trimester of her pregnancy. 
Both Deanna and Ana will talk about their involvement as they help other people who have been diagnosed with a form of cancer that is not as well known as many other forms of this disease. 

After experiencing headaches and vomiting through much of the summer in 2019, Lori Evans took her then 12 year old son Noah to the doctor and eventually to a Neurologist, who ordered an MRI which showed that Noah had the Pediatric Brain Cancer Diffuse Midline Glioma. After chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Noah was enrolled in the Clinical Trial ONC 201 which eventually stopped working and in January of 2021, Noah passed away after a gallant battle against this terrible disease.
Lori will talk about her beloved son and about the Noah Brave Foundation, which helps families both monetarily and emotionally who are going through a similar situation to what the Evans family experienced.

Zach Cook's younger brother Caleb was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia during the beginning of his kindergarten year in 2013. On today's podcast Zach will talk about the past 10 years which have been a rollercoaster ride which Zach has negotiated successfully as he is getting ready for his freshman year in college. He will talk about the help that he gave to Caleb and his family , his own difficulties that he has had to overcome, and the help that he has given and is giving to  many others who are fighting their own Pediatric Cancer battles or dealing with other issues. 

Alexandra Paterson was named the Director of Brand Communications for the V Foundation in January of 2023. On today's podcast she will talk about this Foundation that was started in 1993 by former North Carolina State Basketball Coach Jim Valvano and ESPN during Jim's cancer battle.  The V Foundation has awarded more than 300 million dollars to cover nearly 1200 research grants in the past 30 years and, with the help of legendary College Basketball guru Dick Vitale, has also made a big impact for the cause of Pediatric Cancer.