Aaron my 4 year old son was a happy and healthy boy until he wasn't. On February 25, 2012 he was rushed into emergency surgery for a large mass on his spine. Most cancers take months to detect but because Aaron's tumor wrapped itself around his spine, and caused him to lose the ability to walk we found out relatively fast.
Aaron had to not only undergo 14 rounds of chemotherapy, 28 rounds of Proton Beam radiation 5 hours from home, have major spinal surgery, surgery to install a port, but he also had to relearn how to walk. We spent 82 nights in the hospital.
It was a long, scary, and intense 8 months of treatment. We felt like we might have lost our boy many times. But with the right protocol of drugs and an amazing teams of Doctors and support staff by his side he was declared No Evidence of Disease in October 2012. He is now more than seven years cancer free!!
Many children with similar stories are not as lucky. We need better and safer treatments for all children. A lot of childhood cancer protocols use adult strength drugs on small children, drugs that have been around for a very long time and cause terrible side effects.
During Aaron's last round of chemotherapy we were invited to our first St. Baldrick's event. Instantly I knew I wanted to be a part of this amazing charity.
This will be my 8th event, and my 5th as Lead Event Organizer. St. Baldrick's gives me hope that one day all childhood cancers will have a cure, and that no one will ever lose their child to cancer again.
I hope you will join me in our fight for better and safer treatments. Shave your head or don't, buy raffle tickets, silent auctions, listen to the families who have been affected by pediatric cancer. Whatever you do, you will not want to miss this event!
~~~Beth Pinsky
I'm volunteering and raising money with St. Baldrick's to help kids with cancer! Every 2 minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer worldwide, and 1 in 5 of those in the U.S. will not survive. I refuse to accept this reality, so I’ve decided to fundraise for lifesaving research to find cures and better treatments for kids.
Now I need your support! Your donation can fund research to help kids survive and thrive. Join me today and let’s #DFYchildhoodCancers together.
