Three years ago in August, the week I was supposed to be getting my daughter ready to start 5th grade, her first year in middle school, I found myself in a children's hospital going through the first definitive biopsies and tests that began our worst nightmare. My nine-year-old had cancer. It had silently crept into the bone of her leg, and had been growing, maybe for months, to the size of a wine bottle. Three years later, she is disease free but the cancer has somehow touched every day of those three years. In the beginning it was the intensity of the unknown, the chemo, losing her hair, the loss of weight, biopsies, blood transfusions, trips to the emergency room, surgery, physical therapy, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, and the list goes on.  After 10 intense months in and out of the acute care hospital, she continued physical therapy on her bionic leg at a special children's rehabilitation hospital.  She continued with counseling and quarterly visits to the oncology clinic where she would have x-rays, CT scans, bone scans, blood tests and more. Last fall, she had surgery and biopsy for some enlarged lymph nodes that frightened everyone and caused her pain. Two weeks ago, her leg was non-surgically lengthened to catch up with the growth in her other leg. She will return to PT for another round or two.

She begins 8th grade in September. She is a fully vested member of her class, with good grades and a sunny attitude.  She even marched with the school band, playing her flute up hill and down dale for the 3/4 mile route–something she could not do a year earlier.  The Clintons marched at the front of the same parade and did not know there was a real trooper–aside from the veterans–in their midst.

So with all of that in our lives, we have learned a lot about childhood cancer and how little is being done to advance the research for a cure.  We also have learned how devastating the disease is when multiplied by the lives it touches on so many levels.

Working Mother has created a special report: Kids With Cancer. It’s just in time for September–the third annual National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.  Read first person stories from moms, dads, doctors, and nurses. Meet the inspirations for so many wonderful organizations and a current movie.  Learn about funding and research and what quality holistic care means to survivors. Be touched. Become aware and find a way to help.