Help and Hope Happen Here

Gabriella and Nicholas are 22 years old, and about to graduate from Purdue University and Indiana University respectively. This fall they will enter Medical School and will likely pursue careers in the medical field that will concentrate on Pediatric Cancer. Their cousin Maddox is now 14 years and well past his battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia but Maddox's sister Maia, who was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma in 2022 when she was 6 years old, passed away from this Bone Cancer on November 2nd of 2025. Gabriella and Nicholas will talk about what Maia went through during her cancer battle and will also talk about their amazing Strides For Sarcoma Non-Profit which they started after Maia relapsed, which shows both their dedication to Maia and their dedication to doing what they can to help eradicate the disease that Maia was forced to go through.

After their son Christopher passed away in 1972 from Rhabdomyosarcoma, Charles and Irma Millard decided to start a Charitable Gift Fund that would help Pediatric Cancer Patients and their families. This organization was named Four Diamonds and Suzanne Graney, who has been its Executive Director for the past 15 years, will talk about this amazing organization which pays all expenses for each child that is treated at Penn State Health Golisano Children's Hospital that are not covered by insurance. Four Diamonds is part of Penn State University and has been partnering with their Dance Marathon known as Thon which is the largest Student Run Philanthropy in the World. All of the proceeds go to Four Diamonds to help Penn State Health Golisano Children's Hospital and Penn State College of Medicine to fight Pediatric Cancer.

Maithili Shah was told by one surgeon that her then 6 month old Agastya who was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in July of 2023, would most likely not survive 4 more months. Thankfully, Matihili and her husband made a change in surgeon's, Agastya's Brain Tumor was totally resected, and now, over 2 1/2 years later , Agastya is doing well physically as he continues to make progress from this Pediatric Brain Cancer. 

4 year old Ava Blazis woke up on the morning of March 11th 2023 with a very unusual pain in her abdomen which continued to get worse as the day wore on. Her mother Angela brought her to UMass Memorial Medical Center and 3 days later on March 14th, she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Angela and Ava then spent the next 65 days at Boston Children's Hospital while Ava was undergoing treatment. Meanwhile Angela's sister Johanna Annuziata got busy with helping to look after Ava's brother Michael, and also helping to start Team Ava, an unofficial Non-Profit, which has already raised over $300,000 to help in the cause of Pediatric Cancer. Ava is now 7 years old and is doing well physically as she has been in remission since May of 2025. 

Alexandria Rodts's son Brayton got the stomach flu in February of 2023 which had already affected his family in January. Brayton's symptoms continued well past the normal time for a stomach flu to be an issue, and this was not helped by the fact that all the doctors he went to basically came to the same conclusion that by taking Zofran, he would feel better. 6 months later, in August of that year his diagnosis of ATRT which was so shocking, was finally confirmed at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego, thanks to his pediatrician who pushed much harder than others to get Brayton's true issue diagnosed correctly. He was 19 months old at the time of his diagnosis. Brayton is feeling well and doing as well as possible as 2026 is underway.

Persistent colds and a chronic cough were followed by not being able to walk and being constantly tired for Marie Gulliver's 2 year old son Ezra in 2022. These symptoms were finally diagnosed as High Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia, which was complicated by a genetic mutation and the always difficult Graft vs, Host Disease after Ezra received a successful Bone Marrow Transplant in September of 2022. Ezra has been cancer free for more than 3 years and has ony a 5 percent chance of a relapse which is great news for him and his family.

When Aaira Khan was in 5th grade in 2021 she and her classmates at their school in Sydney Australia received a letter from a Pediatric Cancer patient which talked about the Great Cycle Challenge. Aaira quickly decided to ride in this event to raise money for this patient and for the cause of Pediatric Cancer. Aaira has now ridden in this event each year since and in the fall of last year, started her own CAN CAMPAIGN fundraiser. This fundraiser focuses on people picking up empty cans, bringing them to get recycled, and taking the proceeds that they receive from each can and donating all of these proceeds for research, to help join in the fight for these kids who need as much help as possible as they fight their own cancer battels. This campaign was just started 3 months ago and has already raised $2600.

With all types of troubling symptoms which began at the end of 2024, Sara Bailey was told that these symptoms in her then 4 year old daughter Brynlee indicated that she had Strep Throat, after the doctors that she was seeing basically dismissed her symptoms and how she was feeling. This totally unnecessary DELAYED DIAGNOSIS took approximately 4 months until her symptoms were actually examined, thanks to the insistence of Sara that Brynlee needed the proper testing which she finally received. Brynlee is scheduled later this week to Ring The Bell indicating that her treatment  for her Pediatric Brain Cancer Medulloblastoma has ended, and hopefully will go into remission with a much better future then she was allowed to have when she was 4 years old and diagnosed on April 9th of 2025. 

Among Katie Taylor's successes as a Certified Child Life Specialist over the past 15 years have been focusing on the parents of the children that are undergoing treatment for Pediatric Cancer, and empowering these parents to help get their children and adolescents ready for upcoming doctor's appointments, which can be a tricky proposition. Katie also established a Child Life Services program at a Newborn Intensive Care Unit with an astounding 80 beds to help these critically ill newborns. These accomplishments also go along with her being an Author, Public Speaker, and Podcast Host. Katie is an extremely busy and totally dedicated professional .

When Tony Suttles heard about 9 year old Haley Chandler being diagnosed with a form of Pediatric Cancer in 2020, he decided that he needed to do something to help this girl and their family. His solution was to start a Dirt Track Car Race and decided to call it FIGHT FOR A KID. His first race in 2024 attracted 80 cars on a track that normally had 30 cars race each weekend. By 2025, 106 cars entered and over $12,000 was raised in honor of kids like Haley who were going through their individual cancer battles. Tony and James Cumby, the father of 12 year old Brailynn Cumby who I spoke with on my Podcast on Christmas Day about her Ewings Sarcoma battle, will talk about this race and the expansion plans they have for it beginning in September when their next race is scheduled.