Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 174

(5/6) “These are my beads of courage. You get a yellow bead...

(5/6) “These are my beads of courage. You get a yellow bead for an overnight stay. A white bead is for chemo. A black bead is when you get pricked. And I have two special heart-shaped beads because my heart stopped twice. The first time my heart stopped was late at night. It started beating really fast, and my nurse got very scared, and suddenly ten doctors ran in. They pulled out a big bag of ice and put it on my chest. I was a little annoyed because Justin Bieber was performing at the VMA’s and I had to turn down the volume. The doctors said, ‘Grace have you ever been on a roller coaster? This medicine is going to make you feel like you’re going down a giant hill!’ And they started putting those shock paddles on me. And I heard them tell my mom they were going to stop my heart, and she took out her Valium and started chewing it so it would work faster. Then somebody screamed, ‘Everyone clear!’ And my Mom said: ‘Are you ready Grace? It’s just a roller coaster! Are you ready?’ And then they pushed the shot into my IV and it felt like the world stopped spinning. The machine was going ‘beep, beep, beep,’ but then it stopped. And then nothing. And then nothing. And it felt like a giant boulder was dropped on my chest. And then suddenly my heart started beating again. And I yelled: ‘That did not feel like a roller coaster!’”

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Grace’s life was saved by an experimental antibody, which resulted from the efforts of a group of parents who raised $2,000,000 to fund research. We are currently holding our own fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. Your donations will fund the science that saves the lives of children. There are three days left. Over 35,000 people have donated so far and we have raised over $1.4 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

(4/6) “I want to be a pediatric surgeon. Our friend Mark is a...

(4/6) “I want to be a pediatric surgeon. Our friend Mark is a surgeon and he told me all about it. Being a pediatric surgeon will be hard because you never want to hurt kids. You just want to cuddle them and hold them. But saving them is most important so it’s something you have to do. Also blood doesn’t bother me like it bothers my brother—and he’s sixteen! One time he got blood work done and he was so scared that he curled his toes and his hands. It doesn’t bother me though. I even had my surgeon film my surgery for me because I wanted to see his techniques. When I asked him, he was like: ‘Nobody’s ever asked that before.’ And I said: ‘Please? We can use my brother’s GoPro.’”

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Grace’s life was saved by an experimental antibody that was funded by a group of parents who raised $2,000,000. We are currently holding our own fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. This money funds the science that saves the lives of children. There are three days left. Over 35,000 people have donated so far and we have raised over $1.3 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

(3/6) “I wasn’t going to give up. We tried taking Grace to...

(3/6) “I wasn’t going to give up. We tried taking Grace to another hospital but they told us the same thing: ‘There’s nothing we can do.’ But then we brought her to Sloan, and they told us: ‘We think there’s one more thing we can try.’ It was an experimental antibody called Humanized 3F8. It triggered Grace’s immune system to attack her cancer. It was so painful. It felt like she was getting a root canal over her entire body. After two rounds of treatment they did another scan. They wanted to see if there was any progress. The therapy was so painful that if it wasn’t working they wanted to stop. They called me in the office to give me the results. They told Grace to wait outside. I was so nervous. I could barely stand. When I walked in, nobody was saying anything at first. I thought: ‘Oh, God. They don’t want to tell me.’ Suddenly they said: ‘This is amazing. It’s never happened before.’ And they held up her scan and the cancer was gone. It had been everywhere: her pelvis, her skull, her bones, her arms. And now it was gone. All of us started crying.”

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You may remember the post from a few days ago that told the story of The Band of Parents, who raised $2,000,000 to fund the development of an antibody. Humanized 3F8 was that antibody. Grace’s life was saved through their efforts. Right now we are holding our own fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. As you can see, this research saves lives. There are three days left. Over 33,000 people have donated so far and we are nearing $1.3 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

(2/6) “The radiation was so strong that I couldn’t sit next to...

(2/6) “The radiation was so strong that I couldn’t sit next to her for two weeks. But Grace handled all her treatment so well. She named her new dog after the chemotherapy medicine. She’d walk through the lobby of the hospital, and she’d see kids who’d lost limbs, or had brain surgery, and she’d say: ‘I’m so lucky.’ But when the treatment was over, the doctors did another scan, and nothing had changed. They told me: ‘We’re no longer treating her to cure her.’ In the beginning they were so optimistic. They were telling me about all these options and all this stuff they were going to do. And now they were telling me to give up. And I’m looking at Grace. And she looks OK. She looks strong. She doesn’t look like the girl that I’m reading about in these medical charts. But they’re telling me to give up on her. They’re saying our goal is to keep her as comfortable as possible. Keep her comfortable? What do you mean? What are you trying to say? I’ll never forget that day. The doctor told me: ‘Let’s not worry about this afternoon’s appointment. Go home and have some fun.”

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As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. This money will be used to develop innovative treatments for rare pediatric cancers. This research saves lives. There are three days left. Over 31,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised over $1.2 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

(1/6) “She came back from soccer practice one day, limping and...

(1/6) “She came back from soccer practice one day, limping and crying. And we knew something wasn’t right because Grace is tough. The doctors thought it was a pulled muscle at first but when they gave her the MRI, they could see stuff in her bones. They said it wasn’t leukemia, and we thought: ‘Thank God.’ But then they told us it was neuroblastoma. Stage four, high risk– as if stage four wasn’t bad enough, they had to add an extra label. I was so scared during our first meeting that I put a statue of the Virgin Mary on the table. I thought maybe it would protect us. The doctors started going through the treatment plan. They told us percentages but I didn’t want to listen. They might know about cancer but they didn’t know Grace. So I didn’t want to hear it. Two weeks after the diagnosis, a friend wrote Grace a really nice letter of encouragement. It basically said: ‘I had stage two cancer, and everything turned out just fine!’ Grace folded up the letter, and asked me: ‘Mom, what stage do I have?’ And I told her: ‘Four.’ And she said, ‘How many stages are there?’ I wanted so bad to say: ‘One hundred and fifty.’ But I had to tell her the truth.”

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As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. This money will be used to develop innovative treatments for rare pediatric cancers. This research saves lives. There are three days left. Over 31,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised over $1.2 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

“In the movies, scientists are portrayed as having a ‘eureka...

“In the movies, scientists are portrayed as having a ‘eureka moment’—that singular moment in time when their faces change and they find the answer. In practice, research is a lot of persistence and teamwork. So it’s hard to say what a ‘eureka moment’ would look like in my research. Maybe it’s when I’m finally able to look patients and parents in the eye and say with confidence that we have what’sneeded to cure them. All oncologists hunger for that knowledge. We want to take this impenetrable mass of data and finally reach the point where we never have to give another ‘percent chance of survival.’ Because that chance will always be one hundred percent.“

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There are four days left in our fundraiser to help the doctors, nurses, and researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. Over 30,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised nearly $1.2 million. To put that in context—the money we’ve raised is enough to run Dr. Kentsis’s lab for an entire year. Your donations will have an impact, and could very well save lives. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

“The fundamental question of cancer biology has always been...

“The fundamental question of cancer biology has always been the same: ‘What makes a cancer cell a cancer cell?’ And we are closer to answering this than ever before. It’s a historic time. It’s the molecular era. This machine takes cells from tumors and breaks them into individual molecules. Millions of molecules per second pass through this machine, and we analyze all of them. We’re looking for the molecule that does not belong. If we find it, we can target it. And if we can target it, we can eliminate the cancer cells that depend on it. Cancer biologists have already discovered this molecule in certain types of blood cancer. This is not an overstatement. Today, with certain groups of patients, we can achieve cure.”

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There are four days left in our fundraiser to help the doctors, nurses, and researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. Over 30,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised nearly $1.2 million. To put that in context—the money we’ve raised is enough to run Dr. Kentsis’s lab for an entire year. Your donations will have an impact, and could very well save lives. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

“It was one of the most despicable things I’ve seen in my...

“It was one of the most despicable things I’ve seen in my career. It was ten years ago. There were about twenty families being treated here whose kids had Neuroblastoma. The survival rate was about ten percent. One of our doctors developed an antibody that he thought was promising. But he’d run out of money. So he called a town hall meeting of sorts. He brought all the families together and told them he needed two million dollars. And they told him: ‘We’ll find it.’ We refer to them now as the Band of Parents. These people were desperate. Many of them were broke. And this burden was being placed on them. It made me sick. But they went back to their communities. They baked cookies, and organized bike rides, and held fundraisers named after their children. And they raised the money. All two million. And it worked. Dr. Cheung’s antibody worked. Today the survival rate is sixty percent. But it was so sad. Because deep in their hearts those parents knew the antibody would not be ready in time to save their child. But they raised the money anyway.”

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Small amounts of money can have outsized impact in the world of pediatric cancer. Because these cancers are so rare, only four percent of government funding for cancer research goes to pediatrics. Therefore research relies heavily on private donations. Almost 30,000 people have donated so far to our fundraiser, and we’ve raised nearly 1.1 million to help Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center develop treatments for these cancers. As you can see, this amount of money can and does save lives. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

“Nobody ever tells each other the truth around here. It’s not...

“Nobody ever tells each other the truth around here. It’s not to say that anyone is lying. Everyone just hides what they’re really thinking. Mommy doesn’t want the child to feel sad. The child doesn’t want Mommy to feel sad. So everyone wears a mask. Everyone is doing ‘just fine.’ Everyone is ‘feeling OK.’ Everyone is so excited about going to see the ball game or spending a day in the park. I think the only people who really see the truth around here are the night nurses. In the middle of the night, nobody is depending on you to be someone else. There’s no more distractions or visitors or physicians. It’s just you, your medication, and time.”

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Just a few days left in our fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center fight pediatric cancer. Over 28,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised over $1,000,000. This money will be used to help develop innovative treatments for the rare childhood cancers that MSK helps fight. If you’ve been inspired by the stories of these patients, doctors, and nurses, please consider being counted in our effort to support them: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy

“Her tumor was the size of a grapefruit. I don’t even know how...

“Her tumor was the size of a grapefruit. I don’t even know how it fit in her body. There’s no protocol for neuroblastoma. Everything is experimental. Different doctors have different opinions, so I have to make choices that you couldn’t imagine. Horrible choices. She’s had several rounds of chemo, antibody therapy, a stem cell transplant, and a twelve-hour surgery. The surgery was risky. One doctor tried to talk me out of it. I don’t understand this stuff but I still have to make these decisions. I think I’ve made all the right choices so far but the next one could be the wrong one. It’s so stressful. You know that feeling you have when you’re waiting for a call back from a job interview? That’s all the time for me. Except it’s not a job. It’s my kid’s life. I push all the emotional stuff to the back burner. I feel like the only way to keep moving is to stay numb. My only therapy is talking to the other moms here. We’re all going through the same thing. So that helps. But then again we lose a lot of our friends here. Her best friend’s cancer just spread to the brain. So that’s scary as shit.”

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Just a few days left in our fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center fight pediatric cancer. Nearly 28,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised over $1,000,000. This money will be used to help develop innovative treatments for the rare childhood cancers that MSK helps fight. If you’ve been inspired by the stories of these patients, doctors, and nurses, please consider being counted in our effort to support them: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy