Emily's Kids Foundation

Emily's Kids Foundation's mission is to provide "charitable contributions to directly benefit families with children who have cancer."

"to directly benefit families" ... this says it all. During the cancer fight, the family can fall apart - emotionally, financially, and physically. Emily's Kids foundation aims to alleviate some of that financial burden which, in turn, alleviates some of the emotional toll of the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Emily was "on the floor" when Lindsay was. I will never forget the night she became an Angel. I can't write about it here -- in part because it isn't my story to tell and in part, because it is simply too hard. What I will share is that her mother reached out to me at a time when Lindsay's diagnosis was SO new and SO painful. I am not at all surprised that Emily's parents are continuing to reach out.

Even though you may have never heard of Emily's Kids, this is exactly the type of organization that makes the biggest difference. Please consider them for your office's Secret Santa charity!

The Best of the Best

If you scroll below the picture of Lindsay on the left, you'll see the beginnings of a list. The Best of the Best is where we'll link to groups that help families facing childhood cancer.

My goal is to highlight groups that fund pediatric cancer research as well groups that provide support to families during and after treatment. Hopefully there will be some groups that you've never heard of. I felt that these smaller, volunteer driven groups were the ones who were the most helpful during Lindsay's treatment. There will also be some bigger groups, as I'm guessing corporations would prefer to donate their dollars to organizations with a reputation. Please know that there are groups with BIG reputations and yet seem to do very little for pediatric cancer (in terms of dollars to research and in actual support to families). If a group is "missing" from the list, there is probably a reason. That said, feel free to email me ideas of groups that I should highlight. I'm sure there are many good ones that I've never heard of!

The first organization I'm featuring is St. Baldrick's. If you know a kid with cancer, you have probably heard of St. Baldrick's. The St. Baldrick's foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancer and give survivors long and health lives. St. Baldrick's provides more money for pediatric cancer research than any other organization except the federal government.

More importantly, read the list of grants they have funded! I am impressed by their focus on both rare and more common cancers as well as the late effects of cancer (organ failure, secondary cancers, etc). As a parent of a survivor we live in fear of both relapse, secondary cancer (resulting from treatment), and late effects of cancer. St. Baldrick's is committed to the kids during treatment AND after!