LLS Archives - Mom's Guide To Travel

June marked the 2nd anniversary of my youngest son’s leukemia diagnosis. Praise be to God we had a less hectic year than our first. Our monthly ER visit and resulting 4-6 day hospital stays did a 360 by July 2013. This meant our kindergarten year could proceed virtually uninterrupted.

Light the Night — A beautiful shot my friend took of my son.

Don’t get me wrong, we missed our fair share of school days due to fevers and scheduled treatment but it paled in comparison to the previous year where all we could manage was hospital home schooling. The school social worker mentioned at the end of the year how shocked she was at the dramatic difference in my son’s attendance roll.

As a result of a “quieter” year, I increased our family’s involvement with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society (LLS), an organization that has been helpful to us since our very first month. My son was an honored hero and the face of the IHOP-LLS pancake campaign for the Capital Region, I spoke to corporate donors about our journey and the importance of their dollars, we I signed up for a bike ride fundraiser with Team In Training for LLS, and now we’re helping to spread the word about LLS’s Light the Night.

What Is Light The Night?

Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk is a fundraising campaign which brings together families and communities to honor blood cancer survivors, as well as those lost to the disease. Light the Night aims to shine a light on finding cures and providing access to treatments for blood cancer patients.

Did you know that leukemia is the most common cancer in children and adolescents less than 20 years old?

Our treatments will total 3 1/2 years by January 2016, however, the journey back to a healthy life may possibly be a long one. Due to ongoing complications, some kids aren’t as fortunate as my son has been in the 2nd year and miss a substantial number of days at school. It’s that return to school after a long absence or continuous interruptions that presents additional challenges, from maintaining friendships to keeping up with schoolwork.

How can you make an impact in the lives of children living with blood cancers?

Sylvan and LLS Team Up

This year, Sylvan Learning is partnering with LLS through Light the Night, committing to raise $250k and to donate more than 12,000 hours of free tutoring services to nearly 200 communities nationwide. The purpose is to help young blood cancer patients and their families with the transitions back to school. Here’s how you can help:

Register and join a team – there are 200 Light the Night walks nationwide this Fall.
Learn more about the LLS and Sylvan partnership.
Join a Sylvan Learning walk team in your area.

We signed up to walk last year but unfortunately sickness decided to show up the day of the walk. This year we’re signing up again.

Join us! Let’s all walk to the end of cancer and, at the same time, help kids still undergoing treatment, get back into the swing of school and somewhat of a normal life.

I am a compensated ambassador for the Light the Night campaign. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Today while I was in the kitchen, my son Asad requested pancakes loud and clear. I think he was reminiscing about the fun morning he had yesterday at IHOP’s National Pancake Day, being celebrated as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Honored Hero.

Mother Nature

Months of planning and emailing lead up to National Pancake Day. Initially, we were worried that the day might be a bust because of the snow. However, the weather proved to be a gift. Many kids, including my own, had a snow day. This allowed droves of families and out-of-school teenagers an opportunity to cram into IHOP reception areas and wait for their stack of free pancakes. Overall, I think the day turned out to be a roaring success.

Autism and Leukemia

Our morning started early and was a fun-filled few hours of Asad being in the spotlight. The funny thing about it all was that he was the least bit phased. Most, if not all of the employees at the Rockville IHOP, where we celebrated National Pancake Day, were oblivious to the fact that Asad also deals with autism, in addition to the leukemia. In the end, I guess none of that really mattered.

Once Asad settled down from the initial onslaught of the crowd, noise, and attention, an overwhelming experience for a child with autism, he was able to find his groove. The stack of warm buttery pancakes dripping with syrup – a diet detour for my gluten free kids – was the vehicle that got him to his happy place.

A Celebration

National Pancake Day is not only a fundraising event for organizations like LLS but also a celebration of children like Asad, a celebration of life and survival with a disease that claims so many lives.

Breakfast at IHOP was one big party – a birthday party for my little Lion, filled with hundreds of guests, birthday cake, smiling faces, cameras, dozens of presents, and best of all, pancakes.

Asad and his brother loved the day – a second birthday, a second chance to smile, to forget about drugs, forget about hospitals, forget about needles, and just be a kid.

Gratitude

It’s so much easier to be a giver. I’ve learned that Humility requires strength and is an honorable trait. It allows you to graciously be on the receiving end of social good.

We, his parents, are humbled once again by the kindness of strangers. We are forever grateful for his “second day”, the celebration of life and survival. And most of all, we are grateful for the gifts of love, compassion, and pancakes.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, LLS, is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.