 |
Or mail checks to or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com |
and say THANKS to Jim Robinson! IT'S IN THE BREAKING NEWS SIDEBAR THANKS! |
|
Posted on 10/10/2003 4:29:53 PM PDT by meanoldfatbastrd
Parents Launch 'Lunch For Life'
POSTED: 12:39 p.m. CDT October 10, 2003 UPDATED: 12:49 p.m. CDT October 10, 2003
CHICAGO -- It's nearing midnight and a bleary-eyed homemaker makes another update to her son's Web site.
As the text she has entered over the last hour becomes HTML code and is posted for anyone in the world to read, she tenderly kisses her 17-month-old son, John, on the forehead, tucks him in tightly and switches off the lamp.
While other mothers might be running their children to soccer practice or preparing a meal, Jennifer Kwasinski is adding the latest entry to her Web site journal, chronicling the progress of her son's fight against Neuroblastoma.
To help raise funds for research, Kwasinski has joined with other families around the country to launch a bold campaign that she hopes will raise $10 million in 10 days -- "Lunch for Life."
Kwasinski is asking followers of her son's Web site to donate $5 each -- the equivalent of one person's lunch for one day -- to the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation, ask five friends to do the same and have them pass it on to five friends, and so on. With this strategy, the Kwasinski's along with other families scattered across the country and in Canada hope to raise $10 million in donations for the foundation in 10 days.
"As our nightmare with childhood cancer has unfolded and we have come to know and love family after family battling this terrible disease, I have been consumed with how we can make a difference. We want to find a cure for this disease and spare other children and other families from the suffering" Kwasinski said. "So I'm asking our friends to donate the equivalent of one day's lunch and to ask their friends to do the same, and so on, in order to help find a cure for this horrible disease."
Donations may be made online by visiting Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation or in person by calling (866) 671-2623 or (817) 846-6085.
According to the National Cancer Institute, Neuroblastoma cells are neuroblasts, early-stage nerve cells (also known as neural crest cells) that begin replicating before they reach maturity. In children under the age of one, many of these cells are known to spontaneously combust or turn into adult nerve cells. But, for reasons as yet unknown to scientists, in children over one year of age they simply remain Neuroblastoma cells and replicate aggressively forming tumors and metastases.
Neuroblastoma typically returns to the patient after years of a diagnosis of "no evidence of disease." When it comes back, it usually goes to the neck and brain and is more resistant to chemotherapy.
Neuroblastoma is a cancer that has baffled many researchers and oncologists due to its unpredictable nature. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, of all cancers diagnosed among children under the age of five, 7 percent are Neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is the third most common type of childhood cancer in the United States, and accounts for 50 percent of cancers in infants.
Approximately 650 new cases of Neuroblastoma are diagnosed each year in the United States. The National Cancer Institute states that Neuroblastomas are by far the most common cancer of infancy, with an incidence at twice the rate of leukemia. However, these same statistics show that Neuroblastoma is responsible for 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths.
John Kwasinski's battle with cancer and his family's struggles have become legendary in their own right - hundreds of people across the country regularly visit his site for updates and the number grows daily.
At John's four week physical, his pediatrician palpated a large mass in John's abdomen. Just two days later, his parent's worst nightmare came true, John was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma.
The unfortunate circumstance of this particular cancer is that it was deemed inoperable because John's major arteries were embedded deep within the tumor. John endured chemotherapy, three major operations, one being over 10 hours long in New York City, and countless scans, tests and procedures. Although John is not currently in active treatment, he is being followed very closely via CT for several abnormalities. On Nov. 4 John will be sedated for his eighth CT scan this year alone.
As the last 16 months have passed and the Kwasinski's have been forced to make excruciating decisions, they have felt compelled, "called" as Jennifer says, to help families who are currently struggling with the disease as well as those who may have to in the future by raising funds to support research into finding a cure for Neuroblastoma.
"We want to create hope for these children and their families," says Kwasinski. "In 10 years, there will be another family who learns their child has Neuroblastoma. But instead of hearing that their child has a 10 percent to 30 percent chance of survival, they will hear that there is a cure or, at the very least, a high probability of survival. They will hear that their child will live. That is our purpose"
|
Or mail checks to or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com |
and say THANKS to Jim Robinson! IT'S IN THE BREAKING NEWS SIDEBAR THANKS! |
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.