Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Super heroes from comic books and movies with their special abilities and powers can really be inspiring to kids.  I wrote about a variety of ways in which these super heroes teach our children important traits for one of my Toy Insider Parents Panel posts awhile back.  There are also some special children in our world that while they can't fly, teleport or move things with their minds show resilience and tenacity everyday that would be inspiring to any super hero.  These are the kids that are forced everyday to tackle an adversary called cancer and can teach all of us some important life lessons.

With September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, I wanted to highlight one of these real life super heroes … a kid named Wes. At just 15 months old, he was diagnosed with stage IV high-risk neuroblastoma.  While most people have probably heard the term neuroblastoma before, it is the most common form of cancer impacting infants and can be deadly. It is caused when immature neuroblast nerve cells  in young children don't grow right. Instead of developing into functioning nerves these cells become cancer instead.

His family quickly began treatment for this type of cancer which required chemotherapy, surgery, stem cell transplant, radiation, and immunotherapy. Fortunately, just like Wes' favorite superhero Batman he didn't back down to his foe and his treatment was able to obtain a remission of the cancer. He has remained that way for 2 ½ years. Today, Wes is 4 years old and one of his favorite things to do is play with his super hero action figures. He is also taking on a new challenge … playing T-ball. Way to go Wes!

Wes is a super hero because of his ability to bounce back after everything he was put through. Cancer wasn't going to get the best of him! Of course every super hero needs a sidekick and that is where CURESEARCH FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER comes in. CureSearch is a non-profit foundation that provides children diagnosed with cancer and their families tools and resources for battling the disease while also supporting research to continually improve upon treatments and develop new ones. An average of 43 families per day get the news a child has cancer. CureSearch is on a mission to save these kids' lives.

Would you like to help make a difference? Consider organizing or joining in on one of CureSearch's SUPER HEROES UNITE events that take place across the United States. A typical event includes a free 1- to 3-mile walk, family-fun activities such as face painting, games, music, food, and pep rally type ceremony. Participating raises money that is used for children's cancer research and treatments.

For more information about joining in the fight against cancer, go to curesearch.org.