A Childhood Cancer Survivor Blogging about the World of Childhood Cancer

Archive for January, 2011

Who Raised Their Hands?

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Yes, the Floodgates have seriously opened, with thoughts, ideas, and plans riding the rapids while I attempt to find a rudder to control my path. With opportunities opening before me to be able to help children with cancer, I search for the path that will bring a cure. The “Messengers of God” I spoke of yesterday are depending on each of us; their families desperately need our help.

Since the causes of childhood cancers are largely unknown, people speculate as to what the causes could be. Some people blame the environment, some blame genetics, and some people blame God.

They shake their heads and say, “Why does God give children cancer?”

My mom has the best answer for this question that I have ever heard.

This is what she believes, and she will tell anyone who asks!

God does not give children cancer. God heals. She imagines God gathering His children before He sends them to Earth. He explains that He needs some volunteers for a mission. He also explains that these volunteers will have to endure great suffering for His Kingdom, but that they will be a light in the darkness of this World. They will lead great numbers into the light.

Guess who raised their hands?

The “Messengers” did.

God’s Messengers keep inspiring me. I hate that they raised their hands, because of all the pain they endure. I love their selflessness in expressing their love for God and humanity.

I love God’s Messengers.

Messenger Reefie and his Grampa

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Messengers From God

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

If we have nothing to give, what have we got?

Nothing.

My letters to Oprah have ended, but the floodgates inside me have opened. I know this is just the beginning of the feelings that have begun gushing out. Even after writing all of those letters, I feel that I have just started to say everything that people need to know about childhood cancer. Most of all, I want people to feel what I am writing.

I have no doubt there are those who are thinking, “Melinda, Melinda, chill out, will ya???? Why the heck don’t you just take a chill-pill and stick to dancing?”

If you knew the children, you would do exactly what I am doing.

If you knew the children, you would be so fired up to help them that elephants couldn’t hold you back.

If you knew even one of these cancer-fighting-warrior-children, you would know instantly the purity of their beings. You would know that their suffering must be for some greater purpose.

Could that greater purpose be to make us kinder, gentler, more compassionate humans?

What greater expression of kindness and compassion can there be for these little ones, than finding a cure that will end their suffering?

I have no doubt these children are Messengers of God.

"Messenger" Kristy Meeks

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A Salute to General Christine and Mr. Mark Zuckerberg

Dear Oprah…

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Just kidding! That really was my last letter yesterday. Now, we play the waiting game. What do you think? Will HARPO Studios respond?

Today, I want to bring to your attention the administrator of the Oprah Please Do A Show On Childhood Cancer Facebook Page. I call her General Christine, because in just a few short months, she has gathered together over 50,000 voices for childhood cancer all in one spot. She calls us “Army.”

Thank you, General Christine, for your hours and hours of effort to create a united force of passionate advocates for childhood cancer. Thank you most of all for your tender heart that opened wide when you saw the huge need. Thank you for using your talents and gifts to give straight from your soul. Thank you for keeping the Army of Soldiers positive, engaged and enthusiastic about working toward our common goal.

Little did I know what I would have missed if I had not been active with Facebook when General Christine began assembling the Troops!

I need to thank Mr. Mark Zuckerberg for creating Facebook. I held off longer than anyone I know before I finally created a page– for the purpose of connecting with other people whose lives have been touched by childhood cancer.

Mr. Zuckerberg, you have forever changed my life. The gratitude I have for the friendships I’ve made, and the opportunity I have to link together with those of similar passion, is priceless. When you created Facebook, I imagine you had no idea that it would be a Tool for change for children with cancer. Your creation is a blessing.

Mr. Zuckerberg, one more thing… will you please consider a donation to childhood cancer research as a member of The Giving Pledge?

Sorry… is it wrong to genuinely thank someone and also ask for something in the same letter?

My hand is in saluting position for General Christine and Mr. Zuckerberg. It has been quite the mission. Let there be an answer and please let it be the one we are all praying for.

Stop Childhood Cancer

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Golden Canisters of Hope

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

As I write this, nine Golden Canisters of Hope are on their way to you and your producers. There are over 50,000 people hoping, praying, and waiting for your response. Please let your answer be, “Yes!”

Please Oprah, do a show on childhood cancer.

You would think that if children were suffering anywhere, there would be brigades of rescuers who would show up. Yet, the smallest, most vulnerable of our world do not receive this blessing. The naked, ugly truth about childhood cancer is that it is virtually ignored.

I have been “Tapped.” Have you ever felt that God has called you to a mission? You see, I have this gratitude for my life that bubbles over… lives are precious, precious, precious… the love we have been given to share is everything. With this great gift and blessing of my life comes responsibility.  

God has spoken to me, “Show me Melinda. Show me your gratitude.”

There is no greater way for me to show Him how Great He is, and how grateful I am, than to do what He has put before me to help children with cancer.  Although this is my last letter to you, I will continue to do what is before me with ever-growing passion.

I guess that when you answer the nine Golden Canisters of Hope, this will be the same answer for my Make-A-Wish. Yes, the girl who wished for you to do a show on childhood cancer is me.

Once more, I am not asking to be on the show. I will admit that it would be thrilling beyond my wildest dreams to sit in your audience and watch this show happen. Please give me a bit of notice if you respond positively… I will need to find a sponsor… Kleenex!

Farewell,

Melinda

16 Year-Old Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

 

Golden Canisters of Hope on their way to HARPO Studios

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Lives That Matter

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

With 52,000 people sending letters to you daily, asking for a show on childhood cancer, I imagine that you must be Statistic-ed to a pulp by now. I have no doubt that our group has succeeded in informing you of how overlooked and underfunded childhood cancer really is. I have nothing left but to appeal to your heart.

I know a boy who battled cancer for years. He lost one of his legs. All of his teeth rotted out of his mouth from years of chemotherapy. By the time he turned eighteen, he could not take the pain any longer. He ended his own life.

I know a seven year-old boy who died on Thanksgiving Day in his mom and dad’s arms. He had fought brain cancer… and at the same time, he inspired thousands of others to give to pediatric cancer research.

These are real children with lives that matter.

Our society is ignoring these children. We look off to the horizon, rather than noticing the suffering at our very own feet.  I love that our nation has money to send to far-off lands when there are global disasters.  I would like to add that childhood cancer is a national and global crisis that requires our equal attention.

Please help bring attention to the global crisis of childhood cancer,

Melinda

16 Year-old Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Little Angels-- Lives That Matter

 

 

 

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Word Are Just Words

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

By now, your producers must be befuddled as to why I keep writing each day to ask you to do a show on childhood cancer. Words are just words. Words cannot do anything for children who need our help. Words can’t do anything to bring back children who have died. Words won’t stop children from being diagnosed with cancer.

Words are just words.

If my words could take the form of my feelings, then my words could open the heavens. God’s healing Hands would reach down to instantly heal each of His hurting children. I wish, I wish, that life here worked that way.

Since it doesn’t, I will continue putting together words…  I pray for the words that will reach out and touch your heart. I pray for the words coming from the mouths of those tiniest ones who have never known anything but pain. I pray for the words coming from the mouths of the brave, courageous children who suffer silently, with gentle smiles to let others around them know that everything will be okay. I pray for the words from the parents and siblings who have lost the loves of their lives.

I pray for the words that will bring rescue.  

Please help bring awareness… this will lead to funding for research… which will lead to a cure.

It’s true that words are just words– what I am really typing are feelings from deep in my heart.

Please toss a life-preserver to childhood cancer,

Melinda

Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Sweet Baby Girl... Children depending on us to help them

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Courage Despite Grief

 

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

In my daily letter on this day, I ask you once again to please do a show on childhood cancer. I have read each of the stories posted on the Oprah, Please Do A Show On Childhood Cancer Facebook page since it was born in early September last year. I don’t know how anyone can read the stories and not take action in some way. It seems our society has become lazy, self-centered, and selfish. We wait for others to do what we can do ourselves. We busily pursue our own agendas… turning away from those who desperately need our help.

I know people who have not turned away from the daunting challenge of working toward a cure for childhood cancer. These people are the opposite of lazy, the opposite of selfish. The people I am speaking of are heroes to children with cancer—they are parents who have lost their own child to cancer and still fight on for others. They have created organizations that raise money for research and also help families through the financial/emotional struggles of childhood cancer. I would LOVE to see you feature these heroes on your show. Funny, after I wrote that last sentence, I heard a voice telling me what these heroes would say in response.

They would say that their heroes are the children fighting cancer.

The truth is, Oprah, children fighting cancer need tons of support—medically, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I don’t know what we would do without the individuals who have created Layla Grace Foundation, People Against Childhood Cancer, Alexa Nawrocki  Pediatric Cancer Foundation, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, Kids V Cancer, Children’s Cancer Association,  Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and I know there are more. I cannot express how much I admire these people, not only for what they are doing for children with cancer, but for their courage in taking huge leaps to assist children with cancer in the midst of their grief.

Courage.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher

 Be back again tomorrow,

Melinda

 

AJ and his Dad, Bob... one of my heroes

 

 

 

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Land of Suffering

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

This is Melinda again, with my daily plea, asking you to do a show on childhood cancer. What I have discovered is that the topic of childhood cancer seems to be some sort of taboo. No one wants to look at it, no one wants to talk about it, and as a result… no one knows about it.

Oprah, since no one knows about it, and no one talks about it, children are dying who don’t have to die. When children are diagnosed with cancer, 80% have advanced stages of the disease. The lack of awareness for childhood cancer is startling when you compare this fact with the fact that only 20% of adults have advanced stages of cancer when diagnosed. Imagine– you can close this gap by educating your audience.

Just ONE new drug has been approved to fight pediatric cancer since 1980. In that same period, 50 medications were approved to fight adult cancers.

The National Cancer Institute divided its $4.6 billion budget: breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7% and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers COMBINED received less than 3%.

We are failing our sick children in this country BIG TIME. Please help set the wheels of HOPE in motion.

I just cannot stop asking. I can’t stop trying because I know there are many, many children out there who would love to ask, but their suffering makes it impossible, or their angel wings have taken them far, far from this Land of Suffering.

Still asking,

Melinda

16 Year-old Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Cure Kids Cancer!

 

 

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Hero Braden

 
 

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

Today, in my daily letter, I want to tell you about one of my heroes. His name is Braden Hofen and he is six years old. Over three years ago, on Halloween night, Braden’s mom and dad took him to the hospital. Although he was ready for Trick-or-Treating, dressed as Woody along with his brother, Zach, as Buzz, he was crying and didn’t feel well. His parents thought the problem might be his asthma. After a chest X-ray revealed a small gray shadow, the medical staff sent Braden home the next day, with iron drops. They believed Braden’s problem was an enlarged liver due to a virus and lack of iron. His parents were vigilant in following up on his problems with doctors, yet they faced doubt with their calls and questions– until they returned to the ER in December. The new X-ray revealed a mass that was pushing Braden’s small organs. The mass was stage 4 neuroblastoma. Doctors missed Braden’s diagnosis in October—this meant Braden’s cancer secretly advanced. The Hofens do not blame doctors for this.

Want to hear something that will give you chills?

That same Halloween, my mom took me to a specialist (after months of doctor visits to search for what was wrong with me) who examined me and told us I did not have cancer. After “vigilant follow-up,” like the Hofens, my cancer was discovered a couple months later– the same December as Braden’s.

This story of missed diagnosis repeats itself over and over.

We need awareness.

We need funding for research

We need less-toxic, targeted therapies that cure without leaving life-long devastating effects

My six –year old buddy, Braden, has inspired thousands of people to join together to speak for children with cancer and work for change. How can we, when we see this sweet boy just wanting to be a boy, not do all we can to see that he and others have HOPE?

Braden is fighting for his life.

Please help open the floodgates of care and compassion by doing a show on childhood cancer.

My thanks,

Melinda

16 Year-old Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

 
 

Hero Braden!

 

 

 

 

 

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Building The Childhood Cancer War Machine

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

Dear Oprah,

Persistent in my mission, I write to you again today with great hope you will make the choice to do a show on childhood cancer. Childhood cancer is grossly overlooked and underfunded; our society is virtually clueless about childhood cancer. Our knowledge beyond, “Oh yeah, it’s the bald kids and St. Jude’s,” is glaringly absent. What this group of over 52,000 people is asking you to do is to produce a show that will educate your enormous audience about childhood cancer.

It seems to me that those who are doing the most to stop childhood cancer are the people who have been torn, beaten and ravaged by it. They know the seriousness… when children are diagnosed, 80% have advanced stages of the disease, compared to 20% in adults. Late effects from harsh cancer treatments are common, causing lifelong health problems for over 40% of childhood cancer survivors. Some types of childhood cancer have a 0% survival rate.

We, as a society, have far, far, to go in implementing a healthcare system that will detect cancer earlier in children. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon– with the announcement last week about Johnson & Johnson developing a new blood test that they say can detect cancer cells. What a giant step forward this could be for earlier detection of cancer in children!

Please do a show that educates our citizens about childhood cancer by inviting childhood cancer experts to explain truths. Please invite others with huge hearts and huge wallets to join them. Please begin the process of assembling the most powerful Childhood Cancer War Machine possible. With adequate funding for research, a cure is within our reach.

I can’t help taking this one step further… this fact is unnerving…

The causes of childhood cancer are largely unknown.

We need brilliant-minded scientists/researchers to operate this Childhood Cancer War Machine so they can locate the cause and finally rip childhood cancer out by the root!

Hoping and praying,

Melinda

Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

 

Therapy Dog Echo Helping me through chemo

 

 

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