A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our wonderful Ragnar team. We were able to raise over $4000 FOR THE KIDS! We all had an amazing time!

Shortly before Ragnar, we had lost a member of our family, Dominique Bigler. She had fought synovial sarcoma and cancer finally took her away from us. Below is a picture of Dominique at last year's Kids' Party before the Hope Express kicked off for 2014. She did something so selfless. She took her money and bought toys for the other kids! She was so kind and selfless. Our team decided to honor her by wearing gold "Hope" pins while we ran Ragnar. 

Click here to see pictures from the race!

For the kids, always.

Some childhood cancer facts:

• The incidence of invasive pediatric cancers is up 29% in the past 20 years.
  
• Each year around 13,500 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US, that’s more than a classroom of kids a day.
  
• 35,000 children are currently in treatment for cancer.
  
• More children die of cancer every year than adults died in 9/11.
  
• 74% of childhood cancer survivors have chronic illnesses, and some 40% of childhood cancer survivors have severe illnesses or die from such illnesses.
  
• Childhood cancer survivors are at significant risk for secondary cancers later in life.
  
• Cancer treatments can affect a child’s growth, fertility, endocrine, immune, and cognitive systems.

Here is just a small sample of how your donation goes to work:
$20.00 : Help to one family for one week to offset gas for commuting parents
$25.00 : One hour of music therapy
$50.00 : Fifteen minutes of nutritional therapy
$60.00 : One hour of Child Life coverage on the Inpatient and Outpatient units
$75.00 : One hour of a staff psychologist meeting with families and patients and siblings
$150.00 : One day of ongoing outpatient treatment for a Leukemia patient
$300.00 : Helps buy a wig for a patient who has lost their hair
$400.00 : Medical education doll used for play and teaching
$750.00 : One routine maintenance visit for treatment/therapy for a child with leukemia
$750.00 : One experiment in a research lab
$800.00 : One day of research in the search for a pediatric cancer cure
$1,000.00 : One day of a Social Worker team dedicated to the Pediatric Cancer floor at the Hershey Medical Center
$1,500.00 : One day of a Specialized Nurse Coordinators team to manage all patient needs at the Pediatric Cancer floor at the Hershey Medical Center

Please, consider donating to or joining our team and our mission! The children, the families, the researchers, and the clinicians truly appreciate it.

In September, as part of the virtual Hope Express, we have formed a team of 12, which will run in an overnight relay from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC to remember children we have lost, fight for those undergoing treatment, and hope that one day, we will find cures for pediatric cancers.

I will be running with these amazing people:

• Katee Nellie Brown
• Brittany Vanbuskirk
• Greg Smith
• Britnei Godusky
• Joel Smith
  
• Matt Huber
• Dan Green
• Julie Agee 
• Janine Marczak
• Amanda Unger
• Mark Willard

To donate in support of one of us, visit The Hope Express donation site!

Every year, about a month before the Hope Express run, the runners get together for an entire weekend to meet each other, go on a team run, and relax a bit. This year, Mike and Patty McCauley, Four Diamonds parents, graciously offered to house almost 40+ runners! Also new this year, the 2014 Hope Express will have 3 teams: Hope (135 miles), Conquer (123 miles), and Extreme (140 miles), all of which will depart from Hershey Medical Center on Thursday, February 20, 2014 and will arrive at PSU time for the start of THON on Friday, February 21, 2014! 

Runner's weekend encompasses many emotions -- it can be overwhelming and nerve-wrecking (running with 40+ people and being timed for the first time this year!), but above all, it is a fun and exciting weekend. It was a reunion for us extremers (to be on extreme, you must first run on the hope team). There were laughs as the newbies unveiled their funky tights and tears as we heard stories from Four Diamonds moms and watched the THON documentary, "Why We Dance". This is the weekend when everything becomes real and gives many of us even more motivation to keep logging those miles outside, even when temperatures reach single digits. 

In a little over a month, we will be carrying children's letters on our backs, tackling the mountains, as we run with hope in our hearts for those who can't - kids with cancer. And so, the countdown begins!

Check out a few pictures here!

Read about the therapy here. Watch Emily Whitehead's video below!