I've been writing blog posts here, but I've never actually introduced myself. I'm Missy Ticer, content writer for Velocity Mazda. Normally I write about Mazda technology, car news and other vehicle-related topics that might interest East Texans.
Today I want to talk about something different. I'm introducing myself because I want to tell you about three amazing women I know and share their advice on how to fight childhood cancer.
Heather Rucker and Gold Network of East Texas
Heather Rucker, Gold Network founder knows what parents go through when their child has cancer from personal experience. Her son Sawyer was diagnosed with infantile leukemia when he was seven months old. Sawyer is a healthy four-year-old now, but the journey to get there was long. They provide regular updates through
 Facebook and you can follow them here. Heather is passionate about helping other parents going through the same.
Gold Network of East Texas helps parents in these four ways:
- Supporting local families in treatment with things like VISA gift cards they can use for gas and expenses, tote bags to carry things back and forth to the hospital, rolls of quarters for laundry and vending machines, new parent bags etc.
- Working toward a cure by donating to childhood cancer research organization Alex's Lemonade Stand
- Uniting families for support at local Connect Meetings and events like the Tyler Gold Run
- Working to raise community awareness of childhood cancer-related issues
Inspiring In the Face of Inconceivable Loss
Before I was a writer I taught school for Brownsboro ISD. Shelby Skiles started teaching there the same year I did. She's one of those cheerful, energetic young women with a passion for children. Every morning I met students as they got off the bus and saw Shelby as she came in for the day.
Shelby bounces when she walks, like she's too excited to take regular steps. It made me smile just to see her coming up the sidewalk, and she often had a story to tell about her two-year-old daughter Sophie.
In May she had to take a day off because Sophie had breathing problems, and at first everyone thought maybe it was asthma. On May 18 Sophie and her husband Jonathan rushed to the ER because Sophie couldn't breathe. The hospital sent them to Children's in Dallas, and they discovered the tiny girl had a softball-sized tumor in her chest.
What happened next is every parent's nightmare. Sophie originally seemed to be responding to treatment, but she relapsed in December. She died January 4.
Shelby's goal has always been to offer transparency in the face of suffering. She's open about the raw pain, the treatment horror that never stops slamming into you with one shock after the next. She's willing to talk about mouth sores and vomit, spinal taps and chemo complications. She doesn't try to hide the emptiness left in her life.
She'll tell you her arms ache to hold her little girl again and some days she can't stop crying. Tiny crocs, macaroni and cheese and holidays bring fresh heartbreak. She encourages others not to take loved ones for granted, and to realize the world is bigger than your box.
She says the Gold Network provided support when they were in the hospital with gift cards, support visits, a new parent bag and so much more. When they arrived at the hospital, she had been on a field trip all day. She had no idea what was ahead and didn't have anything she needed.
Shelby refuses to let Sophie's struggle be for nothing. Right now she's is helping other families by putting together binders to help organize medical information. She also gathers emergency items for parent bags. She says some of the inspiration for what she does comes from what Gold Network did to support her family when Sophie was in the hospital.
You can read more about Sophie on the
Sophie the Brave blog. Find out what Shelby is doing to remember her daughter and fight childhood cancer on
her Facebook page.
When Cancer Treatment Lasts More Than 3 Years
Jonah Daily was diagnosed with leukemia ALL Type B at the very beginning of 2016. He was in the hospital for most of that year and is still receiving treatment. For a long time, his tiny body had a difficult time maintaining his immune system. Even when he was home he couldn't attend kindergarten because of his reduced resistance to infection. His teacher visited him two days a week to provide classroom instruction.
Jonah is recovering. In first grade, he was able to start school. Right now he goes once a month to Children's in Dallas to get chemo. The rest of the time he has chemo at home every day.
When I asked his mother Amy how the Gold Network supported them throughout, she had a hard time speaking through the tears. She said Heather Rucker brought her food and sent care packages to the hospital. Gold Network regularly helped them with little details and big challenges.
The biggest thing, she said, is that Gold Network kept them from feeling alone. She was thankful she could stay at the hospital with Jonah every day, but it was incredibly isolating. The organization didn't just connect her to parents who had been through it, survivors visited Jonah.
One young man who had had a similar diagnosis visited Jonah in the hospital. He was a high school football player, and when Amy saw the healthy athlete talking to her son she said, "At that moment it was like I saw this bright light. I knew he was going to get through this. One day he was going to be doing things like playing football and having fun."
East Texans Can Fight Childhood Cancer Now
I followed Shelby's family when Sophie was so very sick, and my heart was breaking. I was in Jonah's kindergarten classroom when he was too sick to come to school.
However, part of me knows I will never be able to comprehend what these moms went through. I want to do something for families dealing with childhood cancer, and it's hard to know how to help. When I asked Shelby and Amy for some suggestions, here are a few of the ideas they offered.
- Sign up for the Tyler Gold Run annual 5K on September 22.
- Text an encouraging message to a parent you know has a sick child.
- When you ask parents how you can help, often they draw a blank. Offer to do daily, mundane tasks. Mow the yard or drop off dinner. If they have other children, take them for a burger or a movie to let them feel like life is normal for a little while.
- Put together a new parent bag with items like tissues, travel sized toiletries, pens, makeup remover, Tylenol etc. Or donate to Gold Network knowing that's what a portion of donations go toward.
- Donate blood. It's not just for trauma victims, cancer and chronic disease patients need regular transfusions just to keep them alive.
- Send a Be Brave Binder to Dallas Children's parents so they can organize medical information as it comes in. Here's a link.
Velocity Mazda and Gold Network of East Texas
Camden and Amanda Jones of Velocity Mazda believe no family should have to fight cancer. This is a cause that matters to us deeply. We invite you to stand with us this September 22 at the Tyler Gold Run 5k so maybe one day this disease no longer claims the lives of our most precious resources, our children.
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Content by Missy for
Velocity Mazda
