September 2, 2025 – White House

By Laura DeKraker Lang-Ree, childhood cancer advocate, speaker, and bestselling author of The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You 

There is a dragon at the gate who means to do your child harm. Raise the drawbridge. Polish your armor. Sharpen your swords. You will find a way to fight and defeat it. The stakes are too high to do anything less than everything you can. A time will come to take off your armor and breathe again, and you will be the hope for another family. 

I wrote that little story during my five-year journey with childhood cancer—my child’s cancer treatment. Cecilia was diagnosed with ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, when she was just three-and-a-half years old. Right now, you are reading this because somebody, your child, or a child you love, has been given a horrific and lengthy diagnosis like Cecilia was given— childhood cancer—and it sucks. My heart goes out to you. 

I know you want to fix everything and to understand everything right now – that’s human nature. But if you’ve just been diagnosed, take a deep breath and let me guide you towards a saner way of getting through these first few weeks. 

1. What You Need to Know Right Now – The Big Picture 

As the parent of a newly diagnosed child, you actually do have some time to catch your breath and focus on a few important things. This list was created from a combination of my notes during treatment years and nuggets of wisdom from other warrior parents that I met over the years.

Listen up, I’ve got you. 

• Stay centered 

Breathe deeply. You are surrounded by really smart oncologists and nurses, and your child will likely be assigned to a well-tested protocol. If there are big decisions to make, they will tell you.

• Surrender to what is: your child has cancer 

This is a biggie. I’m not saying give up—but surrender. There is a huge difference. When you can accept what is happening, you can move forward. Denial, on the other hand, is a huge roadblock. In the beginning, you’ll need to breathe a lot and surrender again and again. 

• Keep it simple 

Come up with a simple, age-appropriate, and non-terrifying way to explain what’s going on to your child. For our almost-four-year-old, we said, “You know how you have not been feeling so great? We found out the problem (name it)! And you are going to get help now.” 

• Document everything 

You are in crisis mode, so don’t rely on your memory to help you right now. Bring a notebook or laptop and/or record all meetings with your medical team. If possible, bring your spouse, partner, or friend to these meetings so you have help hearing and absorbing information. 

Toolbox Tip: 

• While tempting, limit your time on Chat GPT or doomscrolling websites about childhood cancer. There are some great resources out there, and some unfiltered, unchecked ones as well that will just freak you out more than you already are freaked out.
• Consider joining a parent-run Facebook group for your child’s cancer diagnosis. These groups can be a lifeline for asking questions and gathering resources. Like the tip above, limit your time with these groups as they can be equal parts helpful and scary as everything is shared – the highs and the lows. 

2. What You Need to Know Right Now – Friends, Family, School, and Work 

One of the most important things to remember throughout treatment is that you don’t have to do this alone. In fact, you shouldn’t. Friends, family, coworkers, teachers, and coaches will want to know how to support you and your family. 

Here’s your guide to help them help you and your family: 

• Updates 

Ask one good friend or family member (who you trust is a good communicator) to text or email those nearest and dearest with the diagnosis details and updates, as well as ways that people can help you logistically or financially. 

• Inform teachers 

Have that same friend or family member call all your children’s schools and fill them in. Your kids will not be doing much homework this week, maybe not the next. Eventually, you’ll come up with a schedule for your school-aged kids who are in treatment and their siblings. For now, homework doesn’t matter (And I say this as a veteran teacher!). 

• Accept help from friends and family 

Whether it’s someone to sit with your child so you can put your face in the sun and cry, financial help, food, a drop-off of clean clothing, or a walk, you need the help. Take it. In The Cancer Parent’s Handbook, I teach you how to make all the offers of help work for you and your family, and if you are not getting those offers, how to ask for them.

• Explore networks of help 

If family and friends are not nearby, talk to your child’s social worker and Child Life Services department at the hospital to see what their volunteers can help you with at home or while you are inpatient. If you are part of a faith community, let the office know what’s up, asap, and volunteers will be there to support you. 

• Contact HR 

If employed, call HR and let them know what’s happening. Find out your rights and their policies around taking extended time off. 

Toolbox Tip: 

• Knowing how to ask for help and what to ask for is an entire chapter in The Cancer Parent’s Handbook because it’s SO important! Feeling stuck? Make a short list on Sunday nights with your partner and include all the stuff you have to do (pick up cat litter) and a few things you want (a massage). Give that list to your friends or co-workers and watch what happens. 
• Remember, people generally want to help; you just need to help them help you. 

3. What You Need to Know Right Now – The Medical Stuff 

This part can be intimidating. But it’s okay not to understand everything on day one. For now, ask questions. Ask again. Step out of the room. Cry in the hallway. Learn to guide your child through the painful things, and yourself, too. 

Now is when you begin to become a fierce, informed, and intuitive advocate. 

• Never be afraid to ask questions. Ask your doctor to repeat themselves as often as necessary. 

At least once a day, your oncologist will come by to update you and chat. Step out of the room and into the hallways when your medical team arrives so you can be

vulnerable and real without worrying about your child. You will have big, scary questions to ask your oncologist, and your child does not benefit from seeing your fear. It just freaks them out. 

• Center your child 

When the nurse or phlebotomist comes into your room, ask for details about what they need to do and insist they give you the time and space to center your child. 

Then, ask your child if they want you to hold their hand or cuddle—whatever provides comfort and gives them some agency. Nobody wants to get randomly stuck with a needle without warning. 

Toolbox Tip 

• Check out American Childhood Cancer Organization’s medical play kit to practice treatment procedures, before they happen in real life. 
• Speak up 

You know your child better than the doctors and nurses, so if you feel like something isn’t right, it probably isn’t. Report any behavioral changes, look, or mood, as nine times out of ten, you will be right, and something will be wrong. Doctors and nurses rely on you to spot things because you know your kid best. I realize this is freaking terrifying right now, but you can do it. Trust your instincts, observe, and report. Never shy away from speaking up. 

• Check everything (twice) 

You’re the parent, which means you’re now part of the quality control team. Check the medication and blood type labels every single time, ensuring that the medicine and blood type are correct, and, most importantly, that your child’s name is on them. As surprising as it sounds, it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure the medicine is for your child, that it is the correct medication, and that it is administered at the right time. Nobody else will do this for you. If something seems off, simply ask the nurse to double-check.

• Get smart 

Study your child’s treatment plan (often called the roadmap or care plan). Understand the treatment as best as you can. Your growing wisdom may shock the crap out of your doctors, but it will also help you know what’s coming up and what to expect. Right now, just study the treatment plan so you can ask initial questions. Later, you can dig deeper. 

• Connect with your medical team 

Strive to find a good connection with your medical team, but if it’s just not clicking, it’s okay to request a new oncologist. Your child will be with them for years to come, so that positive connection is important. But do give it time to evolve before deciding to switch. 

• Meet your social worker 

Introduce yourself to the hospital social worker. Next month, you can ask for help with both small and large financial issues. 

Toolbox Tip 

• Insist that your care team listens to you and treats the whole child, not just their cancer. All your questions and concerns are valid. 
• You will have time later to figure out how you want to talk with your kid about treatment duration and what’s to come, so pace yourself. Later, especially if your child is older, they may want to be a part of these daily hospital chats from your oncologist, so they can also ask questions and feel that their voice is being heard. 

4. What You Need to Know Right Now – You & Your Child 

There will be a strong urge to say yes to everything, spoil your child, and toss all your usual parenting practices out the window because you just want to make your child feel good. Don’t. In the middle of the medical whirlwind, your child still needs what they’ve always needed: your love, your presence, and boundaries (yes, even now). And you? You need moments to breathe, cry, rest, and regroup: one step, one healthy snack, one deep breath at a time. 

Here’s how: 

• Avoid overindulging 

Do your best to limit the treats, junk food, excess gifts, or toys. It will be tempting to ply your kid with donuts and Legos because they have to get an IV, or if they won’t eat. But in the long run, this will be a difficult habit to unwind. 

• Set boundaries 

Continue expecting the manners and kindness your child has been taught. Unless they are a puddle of tears, let them know that please, thank you, and kindness are still part of your family drill. 

• Avoid comparisons 

Every child’s journey is different. What happens to someone else’s child doesn’t mean it will happen to yours. 

• Focus on yourself 

Your mental health is paramount. If you are not okay, nobody is. There will be hard days, but there will also be many silver lining days. Look for them and hold on to them tightly. Take this marathon day by day, moment by moment, and try not to worry about what might be, just about what is (surrender!). 

• Nix perfectionism 

You don’t owe anyone anything right now. Just focus on your child, your family, and genuinely helpful people. 

• Remember your partner 

If you are in a relationship, prioritize it because if you don’t, it could fall apart. And if you are handling this solo, prioritize yourself. Right now, keep it simple. Find times for rest, short walks, and some alone time to process what’s happening.

• One day at a time 

Take things one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time. Each day may look different, and inconsistency is part of this journey, especially right now. In a few weeks or months, a routine will be established. I devote a whole chapter, “The New Normal,” to this topic in my book, The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You. 

Toolbox Tip 

• Breathe. 
• Someday, this will all be a memory. 

For most families, that’s all you need to think about for now. The rest can wait. If you can only focus on one thing, focus on this: 

-Stay close to your child and take care of yourself. 

-Keep centered. 

-Accept what is, not because it’s fair or okay, but because fighting the reality won’t help you right now 

And remember, your presence is everything. Your child doesn’t need perfection; they need you, right here, right now, loving them through this moment. 

~ 

I wrote The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You to be the guide I needed when my daughter was diagnosed. It’s full of real talk, practical tips, and honest support on everything from hospital life to advocacy, sibling dynamics to asking for help, and becoming your child’s best advocate. You’ll find much more on this topic in TCPH and on my website. 

You’ve got this—and you’re not alone.

About the Author
Laura DeKraker Lang-Ree is a speaker, writer, and fierce advocate for parents navigating pediatric cancer. Her bestselling book, The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You, is a no-nonsense survival guide for overwhelmed caregivers. Follow Laura on Instagram @cancerparentshandbook or connect on LinkedIn.

👉 Grab the book: Amazon or at books2read

By Laura DeKraker Lang-Ree, childhood cancer advocate, speaker, and bestselling author of The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You

The classic children’s song about love in a family was our family’s theme song when the kids were growing up -you know the one? We would belt out the lyrics every time they came on in the car. Singing them out loud made us feel powerful and safe, and we knew that’s what we wanted to be forever: a connected family that truly understood what mattered—love in our family.

Cancer tried its best to rip that apart when our daughter Cecilia was diagnosed with ALL. But our persistence, intention-setting, and Positude (positive attitude) kept us grounded and committed to each other. And in this blog, I’ll teach you how to do the same with a few tried and true tips for managing caregiver stress, preserving partnerships, and finding balance amidst chaos.

Relationships of all kinds take a back seat during cancer treatment because your focus zeroes in on the crisis at hand and saps all your energy. Siblings of a cancer patient suffer when, suddenly and without warning, everything in their world is turned upside down. They can feel like they are being ignored, left in the dark, which fills them with fear and anger while their anxiety rises. And, they simply miss you and your family unit when you are at the hospital. 

Many kids also find themselves jealous of the attention their sibling is getting and feel ashamed of those feelings. That’s quite a mixed bag of emotions for a child of any age to handle.  

Taking Care ~ Of All of You

Learning how to carve out time for all your children and yourself, while establishing healthy communication about treatment as a family, is imperative during treatment. Why?  Because all of you are dealing with cancer, not just the patient in the house. The way your family responds to the demands of treatment and how you talk about your frustrations and worries (or not) impacts how you will get through this experience. You want your family to get through this stronger, not be torn apart by years of disconnection, right? But statistically, relationships suffer when a child has a long-term illness because tensions and anxieties mount over time unless they are addressed.  

There are solid strategies you can use, starting right now, to avoid becoming a statistic as a family and as a couple if you are in a relationship.  Let’s get to it.

Tangible Tips for Your Whole Family

1. Create Your Hero Squad

As much as you want to crawl back under the blankets after getting a cancer diagnosis, life in the childhood cancer world quickly demands that you wake up, pay close attention, and get organized as you become the unwitting advocate and gatekeeper for your child’s treatment years and follow-up care while taking care of the rest of your family.  And nobody tells you this is what you’ve signed up for, at least not in the medical community—they are busy saving your child’s life, after all. 

You need what I call ~ Your Hero Support.

When your child is diagnosed, it’s important to remember that your friends and family are in shock too, so in the beginning, they may not be super helpful. Grandparents suffer; close friends and their children do as well. Sometimes their fear results in silence or a seeming absence from your life as they navigate their own feelings and process their own fears and “give you space.” This can be hard to bear from people you love and who you thought loved you back.

Try to remember that the “C” word freaks everybody out, and friends and family rarely get what you are going through. How could they? Instead of suffering in silence and frustration, empower them. Tell them what you need!

Toolbox Tip

Ask one good friend to help you figure out what you need, and then let them organize your Hero Support Team (neighbors, playgroup, soccer team parents, or colleagues).  Most people truly want to help, they just don’t know how.

What can you ask for? Anything and everything that will make your family life run more smoothly, from regular meal deliveries to driving siblings to their events, weekly errands and regular baby sitting.  

2. Establish a Schedule

Now that you have your Hero Support in place, you can make strides to keep your family’s routines going.

During a family trauma, kids become angry when they are not getting their fair share of attention during their sibling’s treatment, and they simultaneously worry deeply about what their sibling is going through. As parents and caregivers, we might can be gone for days or weeks at a time for treatment, which means that the rest of the family’s schedule is disrupted or canceled altogether because you are not there. But keeping your other children’s routines going can help them stay grounded, happy and centered as they process what their sibling is going through. That might look like:

• Aiming to keep them in school/pre-school
• Allowing them to spend time with their friends
• Keeping them involved in their after-school activities, like choir or soccer 

Toolbox Tip:

Ask the teacher of your child’s choir or soccer team to send out an email or text from you, explaining that one of your children is in treatment for cancer, and getting sick can be dangerous for them. Ask them to keep their kids home if they are ill, and make efforts not to spread germs. Or, request that they inform you if their kid has the sniffles so you can decide whether to keep your child home.

In addition to keeping your other children’s schedule going, remember to carve out moments of 1-1 time with just them. Let them plan the ‘date’ and keep it simple. Maybe it’s a date at the park, sharing a book, or going out for pizza. Give each child the time and space to talk (or not) and indulge them with words and love so they feel seen, too. Strive for some 1-1 time once a week, even for a few minutes.

3. Put Your Oxygen Mask on FIRST

As parents of kids with cancer, we spend most of our waking moments thinking about and obsessing over every aspect of our child’s mental and physical health. Perfectly natural. But what about you?  

You are Person #1 for your child in normal times, and now you find yourself as their health advocate for a life-threatening illness. That’s a mighty big undertaking. You might also be juggling a job, other children, parents, and a partner or spouse, so the idea of putting yourself first can seem selfish. But it’s essential. Commit to putting your oxygen mask on first and learn to thrive, yes thrive, despite your circumstances.

One key way to put your oxygen mask on first is to make sure you are not doing this alone. With the help of your spouse, partner or friend, establish a schedule so that you rotate who is going to the hospital for treatment or in-patient stays so that you can find some space to re-fuel yourself with whatever is nourishing for you. 

Toolbox Tip

Ask your Hero Support Team for regular Friday night babysitting so that you can take a break, or have them visit you while inpatient and let them hang out with your kid while you grab some sunshine and a coffee.

When people ask, “What do you need”? Advocate for yourself by telling them! Maybe it’s a massage once a month, or dinner delivery so you don’t have to think. Pick something that you know will help you restore your sanity, then ask openly. You’ll give it back tenfold later to someone else.

3. Remember The Romance Baby

Taking care of your partner romantically takes a back seat when cancer calls. It’s easy to be upset and tearful, especially with those we trust the most. But being grumpy with each other won’t make anything better. In the early months, my husband and I often found ourselves in random bad moods, sniping at each other for no specific reason while we held it together with everyone else. Cancer is all-consuming, and it takes priority over everything. It’s not surprising that the majority of parents see negative changes in the amount of fun they have with their partner, as well as overall closeness.  It takes intention and attention not to become a statistic. 

Here’s the trick: nurture yourself and your love with regular self-care moments and date nights. Yes, I know that sounds frivolous, maybe even ridiculous. But you must take care of yourself first, and then your partnership. This is the foundation for a strong family. It’s normal to become tactical and transactional in those early months after diagnosis. Time together puts you as the priority and strengthens your ability to advocate and care for your family.   

Toolbox Tip:

When friends and family are wondering how they can support you, ask for a regular babysitter. 

• Take a walk to a nearby park and hold hands
• Sit at the beach together and read a trashy novel for an hour
• Go to the movies
• Hit your favorite pizza joint and just chat
• If you have the energy, get all dressed up and see a concert

4. Include the Sibs  

When a child is diagnosed and treatment begins, stress and anxiety levels rise in your other children as they are forced to deal with big, scary questions:

• “Will my sister die?”
• “When will Mom and Dad come home?”
• “Will I get this, too?”
• “What about me?”

Left unchecked, anxiety can lead your family members to show elevated levels of PTSD, experience negative emotional reactions, and report being unhappy with life years after treatment ends. Just like their parents. They need to be spoken to in age-appropriate ways, of course.  That’s why it’s so important to find the time to connect with your kids, to keep them as informed as possible, and to open up conversations so their voice is heard.

Our baby, Madi, was fifteen months old at the time of her big sister’s diagnosis, and she knew something bad was up. Initially, we thought we would spare Madi from the reality of our trauma, especially in the early months. Madi’s initial reaction to us leaving her behind when we went to the hospital—crying jags, clinginess, overall sadness—broke my heart. Within a matter of weeks, it became clear what she was telling me: she needed a job.

She taught me that children want and need to be deeply involved with everyday treatment life to normalize it. Her fear of the unknown was much worse than actually being a part of it all. So, from then on, Madi went with us everywhere, from bike riding with her sis to labs, to holding her hand for weekly methotrexate shots in the leg, and whale breathing along with her during IV insertions at the hospital. It didn’t matter that Madi was too young to understand all the scary details (nor did we tell her). She knew this was a family journey, clearly advocated for her needed, and told us clearly that she needed to be on board. 

Trust your child, no matter how young, to step up. They most likely will if you let them.

Toolbox Tip:

If you are hospitalized, create new family rituals that keep you together. This could include dinner via FaceTime with the same pizza delivery, or bringing the whole family to the hospital for take-out and a movie. 

If your treatment schedule includes regular labs and you have little ones at home, advocate for your family and ask your team if you can do them locally and turn it into an adventure! One of my favorite routines was piling the kids in the bike trailer with books and yummy snacks, riding around the neighborhood for a workout for me, and ending up at the lab. While Cecilia sat on my lap and did her ‘whale breathing’, Madi held her hand, and we were outta there with no drama, headed for bagels. This is a great way to establish a new routine that involves the whole family, takes care of business and involves a little bit of joy.

5. Therapy

Our local childhood cancer support group, Jacob’s Heart, had an incredible program called Art from the Heart. Volunteers helped our kids play and create beautiful art while processing their feelings, and we benefited greatly from concurrent free couples’ therapy. With our therapist, my husband and I cried, vented, processed, and sought solutions to bring us together versus tearing us apart. One of the main things we learned from therapy was the concept of surrendering and acceptance, and the power of finding both in our lives.

After the first month of Cecilia’s cancer treatment, we were burned out and we couldn’t see or understand how we were going to make it through two-and-a-half years of treatment, let alone another week or another day. Through therapy, we learned that accepting that she had cancer and surrendering to the reality that she would be in treatment for a long time, was the first step in finding our coping strategies. 

Therapy, during treatment and after, can give you a safe place to be, permission to process the grief, and a plan of action. 

Toolbox Tip

Check with your hospital Social Worker or Child LIfe Services advocate to see if your area has childhood cancer groups that offer therapy for everyone in the family, most often for free.  

Gratitude ~ 

Your child—and their siblings—are looking to you as a mirror. The way you respond to crisis shapes how they understand and navigate it themselves. Gratitude doesn’t erase pain or injustice, but it does help reframe your story so your family isn’t swallowed by trauma. Noticing what you still have creates space for hope and resilience. It also calms your nervous system. And when you’re grounded, you’re better able to process information, make clear decisions, and advocate effectively. Gratitude helps you make that switch.

You might be thinking, right NOW? What exactly do I have to be grateful for when my kid has been diagnosed with cancer? That’s exactly how I felt when somebody introduced me to gratitude journaling during our treatment years. 

A gratitude journal turned out to be a life-changer, grounding me in the present and forcing me to look for moments of light and joy in my day throughout treatment.   And it gave me the bandwidth to advocate for what is best for my family both in the hospital and at home.

When you can focus on the little things and find joy in the smile on your child’s face, a hot cup of your favorite tea, or a day without tears, life becomes much lighter. Your resilience builds up as you realize there is still good in the world and you are able to see where you need to take action and where you can chill out. 

Toolbox Tip:

Include the whole family by starting a Roses and Thorns practice, and allow everyone to share both the difficult and the joyful parts of their day. You’ll become stronger together.

I wrote The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You because it’s the guidebook I needed when I was in your shoes and the one all of us need and deserve. You’ll find so much more on this topic in my book, including full chapters on supporting siblings, the art of asking for help, and creating your new normal—plus additional tools and articles on my website to help you find your way.

You don’t have to do this alone. I’ve got you.

About the Author
Laura DeKraker Lang-Ree is a speaker, writer, and fierce advocate for parents navigating pediatric cancer. Her bestselling book, The Cancer Parent’s Handbook: What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Have Time to Tell You, is a no-nonsense survival guide for overwhelmed caregivers. Follow Laura on Instagram @cancerparentshandbook or connect on LinkedIn.

👉 Grab the book: Amazon or at books2read

A small county in Idaho is GOING GOLD®! Learn how YOU can too! 

On June 2, 2025, the Cassia County Sheriff’s Department proudly unveiled a newly wrapped cruiser featuring the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO) logo and the iconic winged gold ribbon — a powerful symbol of the fight against childhood cancer.

This initiative began in early 2025, when Corporal Tyler Jones reached out to ACCO and chose our organization as the nonprofit he wanted to support through this meaningful vehicle wrap.

ACCO had the honor of helping Corporal Jones organize a special unveiling event right in his community. The gold ribbon-wrapped cruiser was showcased alongside a QR code to drive donations — turning awareness into action and hope into tangible support.

This cruiser is more than just a mode of transportation; it’s a mobile message of strength, compassion, and commitment to the children and families impacted by childhood cancer.

By GOING GOLD®, the Cassia County Sheriff’s Department is not only spreading awareness — they are reminding every child in this fight that they are seen, supported, and never alone.

Want to Get Your Sheriff’s Department or First Responders Involved?

What started as a simple email asking for logo usage permission became an awareness fundraiser! Email Blair at bscroggs@acco.org to get started!

Meet Nolan, a brave acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) warrior. ​

At just five months old, Nolan began showing flu-like symptoms and would wake up screaming in pain, inconsolable. His parents took him to the emergency room, where bloodwork revealed that he had acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). 

Nolan was enrolled in a clinical trial and began treatment immediately. During his therapy, he spent six months in isolation, unable to play in the hospital’s playroom, make friends, or spend holidays with extended family. Despite these challenges, his mother, Kim, recalls, “He never once threw a tantrum. He was always happy and loving throughout treatment despite all of his side effects.”​

His treatment regimen included chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, multiple bone marrow aspirations with lumbar punctures, central line placement and removal, and a lip tie clip. These treatments, while necessary, led to numerous side effects such as rashes, fevers, neutropenia, fatigue, stomach issues, fluid overload, sepsis, and feeding difficulties. These complications made it challenging for Nolan to reach typical developmental milestones.​

“He learned to stand and crawl in a small hospital room,” Kim shared. “He didn’t get the infancy of most every other infant. We made the best of it. Too many milestones were met in a hospital setting.“​

Today, Nolan has been in remission for the past year. His resilience and cheerful spirit throughout his arduous journey make him a true Gold Ribbon Hero.

Together, we can make a difference. Donate today, because kids can’t fight cancer alone!®

Meet Blake, a resilient ependymoma warrior.​

At just 16 months old, Blake began showing signs of extreme fatigue, moodiness, and early morning cries of pain—symptoms that were out of character. He also lost some of his ability to move around, which deeply concerned his parents. Initially, his pediatrician dismissed these symptoms, but trusting their instincts, his parents took him to the emergency room for further evaluation.​

A CT scan revealed a large tumor in Blake’s brain causing hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up in the brain. He was immediately taken into emergency surgery to place an external ventricular drain (EVD) to relieve the pressure. Doctors performed another surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. When Blake woke up, he had lost function on his left side.​

Over the following years, Blake underwent multiple surgeries, including two craniotomies, chest port placement, and an Ommaya surgery. His treatment plan included several rounds of chemotherapy, 32 rounds of proton therapy, and photon radiation. Despite these intensive treatments, Blake experienced two relapses. As a result, he continues to face challenges with mobility, speech, and limited use of his left arm and hand.​

Blake’s spirit remains unshaken. He loves watching Bluey, playing soccer, and spending time outdoors. Currently in post-treatment observation, Blake completed his last treatment in November 2024 and is awaiting his next scan in May. His courage and positivity make him a true Gold Ribbon Hero.

Together, we can make a difference. Donate today, because kids can’t fight cancer alone!®

Meet Oliver, a B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia warrior.

When Oliver was 3 years old, what seemed like a simple cold turned out to be B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. He had nosebleeds, rashes, fevers, and felt very tired. Doctors thought it was an ear infection, and he even caught COVID-19. After several doctor visits, a nurse noticed he was anemic and sent him to a hospital over an hour away — during a snowstorm in Wisconsin. That trip led to his diagnosis, and treatment started immediately.

Oliver began a tough 2.5-year journey with chemotherapy, steroids, and many spinal taps. He spent a month in the hospital, becoming so weak he couldn’t walk. But as soon as he got home, he worked hard to walk again — showing incredible strength.

His journey wasn’t easy. He had a seizure from a chemo drug, had to ride in an ambulance, and even stopped breathing. He faced surgeries, infections, nausea, and extreme fatigue. He had three surgeries for his port — one to place it, another to replace an infected one, and a final surgery to remove it when he finished treatment.

On top of everything, Oliver went through this during the pandemic. He had to stay isolated and missed out on being around friends and family. Still, he stayed positive and kept smiling.

Now, Oliver has been off treatment for a year. He’s still dealing with some side effects, like weakness and changes in how his brain works, but he’s getting stronger every day. He loves singing, dancing, building with Legos, and playing Minecraft. He’s a social butterfly who loves making people smile.

Oliver is a true Gold Ribbon Hero because he never gave up. He showed what real strength and bravery look like.

Together, we can make a difference. Donate today, because kids can’t fight cancer alone!®

Meet Caitlin, a two-time cancer warrior.​

In January 2022, after experiencing shoulder pain during gymnastics, Caitlin was taken in for an x-ray and MRI. Doctors discovered that she had Ewing’s Sarcoma and started treatment immediately.

Initial treatment consisted of ten months of chemotherapy at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth and nearly 40 radiation sessions at the Texas Center for Proton Therapy in Irving.​

Just as she completed treatment in November 2022, Caitlin was diagnosed with a secondary cancer: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Initial chemotherapy was ineffective, leading her to a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In May 2023, Caitlin underwent a bone marrow transplant, with her mother as the donor.

“Watching Caitlin suffer and go through this has been the hardest thing I’ve ever witnessed,” said her mother, Jessica.

Throughout her journey, Caitlin has faced numerous complications but has remained a beacon of positivity. Known as the “Mayor of the Floor” at Cook Children’s, she immersed herself in understanding her treatments and spread kindness wherever she went.​

Caitlin continues to inspire with her resilience and joy for life. She loves being active, crafting, dancing, and reading.​

Together, we can make a difference. Donate today, because kids can’t fight cancer alone!®