One Monday morning in November 2011, our 7 year-old son Pierce woke up with a puffy right eye.  It looked like he had either slept on it wrong or he had been crying.  The next day it as worse and the doctor said he thought it was allergies.  After a week of progressive swelling in only his right eye, and listening acutely to Mommy’s gut instinct, every parent’s worst fear became a reality—Pierce was diagnosed with Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer of the smooth muscle.  Pierce’s tumor was about the size of walnut and was on the muscle on top of his eye that moves the eyeball up and down.

Pierce is our Superhero.  When I explained to him that there were some bad cells in his body and we need to get some medicine and help to the good cells fight the bad cells, Pierce simply asked, “Has the war started yet, Daddy?”  Since that moment, Pierce has done nothing but fight and we have done nothing but love and support him.  All we do is love support Pierce in any way we can and follow his lead.

Children with cancer are the most amazing people that I have ever met—and I am not just talking about Pierce.  The courage and strength exhibited by these little Superheroes every time they enter the clinic for their fight just leaves us in awe.  They are examples for us all as they exhibit courage and strength that we can all only hope that we have somewhere inside us.

Our lives were changed forever on that November morning.  From that lowest of lows moment and then moving forward through this fight, Pierce and our family has been lifted up and supported by organizations such as CURE.  Stated simply, CURE picked us up and allowed us to support Pierce in his fight.  We have found and been exposed to organizations that will forever have our support and CURE is just one example.  A Superheroes fight in this battle is life long and hard and we cherish organizations like CURE that help families love and support the Superhero in their life.

No child should have to endure chemotherapy, radiation, hospital stays, constant needle sticks, hair loss, mouth sores, nausea, and everything else that goes along with the fight these kids wake up with every day.  Please consider donating to CURE so that maybe, just maybe, someday in the future kids will no longer have to endure this fight and the Superheroes of the world can just be normal kids again.