We launched Alan's Hero Fund with a bang!

Our model rocket event to "launch" Alan's Hero Fund  on Sunday was a big success, despite the unusual rainfall last week. The skies cleared in time for the field to dry, the winds were calm, and we had a great turn out. We completely sold out of the raffle rockets, raising $507 from the raffle, merchandise sales (bracelets, Spirit Sticks, buttons, St. Baldrick's t-shirts and Lucky Shoulder Buddies), and refreshments. Added to the $350 in donations made before the event and the proceeds of the first sale of "I Launched Alan's Hero Fund" t-shirts, we are sitting at a total of $1,317.36 - so far. We have the second sale of "I Launched Alan's Hero Fund" t-shirts happening right now, which will add at least another $200 to our total. If you would like one, this is your last chance. You have until Sunday, September 29 to go to http://teespring.com/alansfund2 to order one.


The event t-shirts look great!  Order yours by 9/29 here.

Not only did we have great weather and a great turn out, we had reporters from the San Antonio Express-News and News 4 come out to cover our event, thanks to the hard work of friends and the PR team at St. Baldrick's Foundation.


We made Page A3 of the San Antonio Express-News on Monday, September 23


Dylan gives an interview to the news station.


Our television coverage

While we certainly had some hiccups with long lines to launch, having correct change, and making sure people knew how to find the field, it was such a great event, we are already coming up with ideas on how to make things run more smoothly. With all your amazing support, we are looking into making this an annual event.
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[Slideshow - Launching Alan's Hero Fund]



Click here for more photos from one of our event sponsors, the Alamo Rocketeers.

CCAM continues, two more weeks until we "launch" Alan's Hero Fund

This weekend, we continued observing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by participating in the Line of Hope/Conga Against Cancer Across America. It was a last minute thing, but we had some friends join us to remember Alan and stand with us to raise awareness for childhood cancer! Team Alan's Angels raised $150 for St. Baldrick's and had some great photos to share with the project.


The Padilla's, Vodrazka's and Sachanowicz's joined our portion of the conga line




Abbey with Alan's ribbon


Our friend Patti with the infusion nurses at UNC

Due to popular demand, we started another campaign for the "I Launched Alan's Hero Fund" t-shirts. We had to finish the first campaign after 10 days in order to have the shirts printed and delivered in time for the rocket launch fundraiser on September 22, but since there were enough people that had missed it the first time around, the t-shirts (available in four styles - crew neck, v-neck, kids, and ladies relaxed fit) will be available to order for the next three weeks. Order by September 29 - the shirts will be printed and delivered after the campaign ends. It is unlikely we will be able to offer this shirt again after September 29.




Thanks to all the orders from the first campaign, Teespring has already deposited the proceeds from the first round of t-shirts to our fundraiser! Thank you to everyone who ordered a shirt!



The rockets for the raffle prizes are in their final stages of construction. There's only two more weeks to go before the big fundraiser launch on September 22. We hope you can join us!

Some thoughts for Childhood Cancer Awareness month

Some thoughts as we go into September and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We're coming up on nine months without Alan. This weekend, however, is a different kind of milestone. We have been spending time at WorldCon right here in our home town. It's no secret we're a geeky family, and Harold and I had been looking forward to the time we could share this world with our boys. But last December I had to make the conscious decision to buy just three memberships for this Con. Alan was still with us, far longer then we had predicted or even hoped for in September. But we knew he would not be with us this weekend. So the plan for this weekend was our first step forward without Alan. We've tried to keep him with us in our family photos, usually with a photo or other image of him. At the Photo Booth though, we decided to hold penguins, one of those monochromatic animals he loved so much. Alan would have had so much fun tossing live action Angry Birds with Kevin.



I've had some people admire and ask about the SF-themed shirts I've been wearing to the Con so far. Because Childhood Cancer Awareness Month starts today, I won't be wearing my geek gear - instead, I'll wear gold for Alan. And if just one person asks me about my shirt, and I can raise awareness about the funding gap in pediatric research and why childhood cancer needs more attention, I'll consider it a good day's work.



Finally, we are so grateful to everyone who ordered an "I Launched Alan's Hero Fund" t-shirt - we sold 109 t-shirts and $460 will go directly to St. Baldrick's Foundation to support childhood cancer research in Alan's name. Thank you!

I have already heard from several people who had missed the opportunity to order a shirt. Unfortunately, we had to close orders after ten days in order to print and deliver the shirts in time for the launch. If enough people indicate an interest in ordering at least 50 shirts at $17, I can relaunch the campaign at Teespring (this time with a longer window to order). Send me an e-mail, comment on Facebook, or leave a comment here if you are interested and how many shirts you would want.

Launching Alan's Hero Fund

Two weeks ago, we announced the creation of Alan's Hero Fund at St. Baldrick's Foundation. We will be having a special event on the afternoon of September 22 to "launch" the fund - a special rocket launch at the Kitty Hawk Flying Field. This will be a fundraiser with raffle rockets, refreshments, and a few Childhood Cancer Awareness items for sale and some big high powered rockets from the Alamo Rocketeers. We'll share more details later for those of you interested in attending.

We are also selling t-shirts (with an amazing graphic of the St. Baldrick's mascot Lucky riding a rocket) through TeeSpring for anyone who wants to boast "I launched Alan's Hero Fund"! The shirts are $15 each and available in a Classic Crewneck, V-neck, Ladies Fit, and Child sizes. All the proceeds will go directly to St. Baldrick's Foundation, in honor of Alan and benefiting his Hero Fund which supports sarcoma research. TeeSpring sells t-shirts in limited time campaigns, so be sure to order your shirts by Thursday, August 29.



Thank you for remembering Alan with us and helping us create a legacy in his name!

Alan's Hero Fund

It has been very important for us to find ways of remembering Alan and making a mark on the world in his name.

The simplest way is to do an act of kindness in Alan's memory. While the Kindness Project set their International Day of Kindness last Saturday as a unified day to act, you can do an act of kindness any time. If you choose, there are customized cards with Alan's name you can use.

We have been telling you about Alan's research fund at MD Anderson. Last month, we were so able to announce that the fund had been endowed and we will start giving out an annual grant from the Alan P. Sanders Pediatric Sarcoma Research Fund next June. Though we have established the fund, we can continue to add to the endowment so the grants can be bigger.

But as we hinted earlier when sharing about Harold's second shave of the year with St. Baldrick's. we have another way to remember Alan. St. Baldrick's is starting to set up Hero Funds, a way for families to honor and remember their Honored Kid with a permanent presence under the St. Baldrick's Foundation umbrella. And the great news is, thanks to all the support to our Alan's Angels team, Team Harris, our friend Patti Morfeld and Alan's fellow cancer warrior Gavin, the $10,000.00 needed to establish Alan's Hero Fund has already been raised!

With Alan's Hero Fund, anyone participating at any St. Baldrick's event can dedicate their fundraising to his fund (without taking away from their team or event totals - this is a secondary designation of the money). It also means that fundraising events other than head shaves can be done to raise money for pediatric cancer research in Alan's memory. Joseph Moore has already committed to using his half marathon this fall to raise awareness and money for Alan's fund!

How is the Hero Fund different from the Research Fund at MD Anderson? The money raised for St. Baldrick's is not invested - it is put directly into research. Just this summer, St. Baldrick's gave more than $22 million in 63 grants to research projects in 17 countries. While that is true with or without Alan's fund, establishing the Hero Fund allows us to direct money raised in Alan's name to fight the cancer that took Alan away from us too soon. Sarcomas are so rare and varied, they need every possible source of research.


Alan and Daddy - post shave, St. Baldrick's San Antonio March 2012

Memories and the future

We are in Houston this week for the semi-annual memorial service that MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital holds for its patients. We were a little apprehensive at first, unsure how we would be able to handle coming back to MDA. We had shared what we like to call the "Tee Hee!" photo with our social worker Chelsea, one of the organizers of the service. It captures Alan's playful spirit, and since it was taken after we had come home from Houston last fall, it was a new picture for many of the staff here.

It was hard to see the pictures and hear all the names of the children who have lost the fight with cancer over the last six months. So many names, so many candles to light. But it was good to see the people here at MDA who had taken care of Alan and been such a big part of our time here. Before the service, we decided to do a bit of the "Grand Tour" that Alan liked to go on last summer. We went up to the Skybridge, where we saw Miss Fairy, Miss Linda, and Mr. Ron, the Skybridge cart drivers who always waved to Alan during our walks. We were so touched by how excited they were to see us, and many hugs were exchanged. Though the newly renovated Children's Hospital floor is complete, it just means that the construction has moved elsewhere, and we were not able to visit the fountain that Alan loved to throw coins into.

Darci, one of our nurses, came across us in the hallway. We remembered her of course, one of our many wonderful nurses. We were really touched by how well she and others had remembered Alan and us. They have so many patients coming through their floor they couldn't possibly remember everyone, but obviously Alan made a lasting impression on them.

Nurse Shelby and Art Therapist Mister Ian were a part of the memorial service, as well as Miss Sheila (the Child Life specialist whose pink-cased iPad was a big favourite of Alan's) and of course our social worker Miss Chelsea. We got to visit with the Two Sara(h)'s today when we came back to talk to Child Life about donating something to the new playroom or the PediDome in Alan's memory. We were especially excited to share a collage from a photo shoot that our friend Michelle had done of Alan's Beads of Courage with Sarah, who had helped us with a lion's share of the beads that Alan earned at MDA. She teared up a bit at the picture at the center of the collage, saying what a long strand it was. I nodded, and told her "98 feet, and over 9 pounds..."


Miss Linda and Miss Fairy


With Nurse Shelby after the service


A collage of Alan's Beads of Courage

One other thing we did before the service was to check in with the Financial Office. They confirmed that the insurance company had made a final payment, zeroing out our balance at MDA. We had been waiting for this day, so we could use some of the funds that people had raised for us to fully endow the research grant we want to establish in Alan's name. Someone from MDA's Development Office came to see us while we were at the reception after the service to take care of the paperwork and we will soon be updating Alan's MyMission page with the following:

... Alan was a tough little guy - fighting cancer was virtually all he had known in his short life. We would like to continue the fight against pediatric sarcomas in his name. Thanks to the generosity of friends who agreed that Alan’s name and fight needed to continue, we are able to establish the Alan P. Sanders Pediatric Sarcoma Research Fund. Starting in June 2014, a grant will be awarded every year to support research against the cancer that took Alan from us far too early. We can think of no better way of creating a lasting legacy for him.

While we have reached the goal of endowing a grant, pediatric cancer research is so woefully underfunded. We will continue to fundraise to increase the endowment of Alan’s fund so that the size of the grants can grow over time...

Yes! This is something we were hoping we could do this week and all the stars aligned. Alan's fund is endowed and we will be counting down one year until we can make the first grant. Thank you to everyone who donated directly to the fund or had supported one of the fundraisers organized to help us!

Two weeks

It has been two weeks now that Alan's left us and it has been a very busy, intense, emotional time. The last of the visiting family left two days ago and the house is so quiet now, especially when Kevin is in school.

We have been getting on with life, especially since we need to concentrate on Kevin now. There's plenty of paperwork to get started and we've started donating some of the less emotionally-charged items to the Ronald McDonald House. We've been dealing with so many firsts - the first trip to Costco, to Chuck E. Cheese, and so on -  often accompanied by memories. At Costco, we laughed over how Alan would insist on the big cup of frozen yogurt. At Chuck E. Cheese, we lingered over his favourite game. At school, passing his classroom and walking down the halls he used to walk. A particularly emotional moment came when the new blog posts pushed the last post written when Alan was alive off the front page.


Kevin hits the jackpot on our first visit to Chuck E. Cheese

Thanks to all your generosity, Alan's research fund is over half way to being endowed. Though we have five years to raise the $20,000.00 needed, with everyone's support we should be able to endow it this year, possibly as soon as this spring once we settle all the final costs and gifts.

We are also gearing for the San Antonio St. Baldrick's event on March 9, where Harold will be shaving again to raise money for pediatric cancer research. This year, Alan's Angels has a few more shavees on the team, including Alan's little buddy Dylan.

Yesterday, the PTA presented a half dozen books to the school library in Alan's memory. They chose so perfectly - lots of Sponge Bob, pandas and rockets - to cover Kevin and Alan's interests. They had some beautiful bookplates printed up so that even as kids grew up and moved on, there would be a remembrance of Alan at the school.


The school librarian, Harold, and Judy hold up the donated books


The books - lots of Sponge Bob! 


The PTA printed up special bookplates for the books

Fundraisers for the Alan P Sanders Pediatric Sarcoma Research Fund at MD Anderson

So we were given a pair of Spurs tickets (Scott King, thank you so much!) during Alan's Make A Wish event that we will obviously not be using. They are for the game against Dallas this Sunday night, December 23. If I'm reading the tickets correctly, they are for Section 125, Row 33, Seats 9 & 10. We'll give them to the person who pledges the highest tax-deductible amount to the Alan P. Sanders Pediatric Sarcoma Research Fund at MD Anderson by Friday Midnight, Central Time.



We have also been given "Cure for Kids" spirits sticks in childhood cancer awareness gold by Lisa at Spirit Monkey. If you have elementary school aged kids you may be familiar with these. We'll be selling these for donations to the Alan P. Sanders Pediatric Sarcoma Research Fund at MD Anderson.

Team Summer and Team Alan's Angels

The bad news about Summer this weekend spurred me to take care of some bookkeeping. I had received the local proceeds of the Team Alan's Angels bracelets that Summer and her mother, Lynne, had given us. Not only had Summer's organization, Team Summer, been giving gifts to other kids with cancer, they had also offered "Team" bracelets to other families to sell. Half the proceeds would be kept by the family and half would go to the Team Summer organization to help other kids.

They have already sent us a cheque for bracelets sold on the Team Summer website. Now it is time to send them the money for the majority of the bracelets that had come home with us. Thanks to the generosity of our local community, I just sent $500 to Team Summer. I added a little to send a nice round number, but not that much more. We are grateful to everyone who supported us and Summer's mission.

Summer's family has asked for donations to Team Summer in lieu of flowers. With such a promising life cut short, with all that lost potential, I understand wanting to continue the mission of Team Summer - it is her legacy. When we watch Alan play with numbers, one of the things that breaks our hearts is seeing how clever he is, knowing that he will not have the time to realize all that potential. I had entertained dreams of Alan becoming a researcher like Dr. Aune, a childhood cancer survivor whom we had met at the St. Baldrick's event in March, or an oncology nurse like Shelby Robin, one of our favourite people at the Children's Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson. We are in the process of setting up an endowment to fund pediatric sarcoma research in Alan's name at MD Anderson. Pediatric cancer and sarcoma research is always underfunded and we want to support the work that Alan's doctors at MD Anderson are doing. We hope we can create a legacy in Alan's name that will go on and help kids like Alan and Summer in the future.

Office visit 4/9 - PJammin results

04/09 11:20
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A quick visit this week with Doc P back in the office. Alan's blood return came quickly and the counts were good, so we have the rest of the week off! At least from trips to Doc P - he OK'ed Alan's trip to the dentist on Wednesday. Friday will be a field trip to Morgan's Wonderland!

Last week's PJammin event at the boys' school was a big success! With approximately a thousand students and a hundred staff members, there was great participation as they raised over $1300 for the American Childhood Cancer Organization! I was especially touched our friend Angela's story - not only did her son take his donation out of his own money and doubled the minimum $1 contribution, he hit her up for matching funds to give! Even though he didn't want to wear PJs to school, he insisted on donating since he lost his grandfather to cancer three years ago. And he never forgets to wear his Alan's Angel bracelet! We are so grateful to have such a supportive community.


Big brother Kevin was ready to go in rocket PJs!


Alan was ready to go Sponge Bob!


Alan helping count the donations.

Friends Crushing Cancer

It's been three weeks since Harold shaved his head for pediatric cancer research and the hair has already grown back in! The first few days were funny for him, automatically reaching for the shampoo or brush before he remembered he didn't need it. The funniest moment was trying to pull on a t-shirt the first morning and having it catch on the stubble and stick to his head like velcro!

The fight continues though, as I spent this morning helping my friend Becky sell raffle tickets at the Cancer Center Council's Spring Luncheon. It really resonated when the Director of Patient and Family Services spoke about the juggling act that cancer patients have to do to keep day to day life going. We've been juggling for three years and it was another reminder to be thankful for everyone who has made it possible to keep all those balls up in the air.

The Relay For Life is coming up in May and our team's big Bunco and Silent Auction fundraiser is on Friday, April 20 at 7:00. If you're in San Antonio and would like to have a fun evening and support the American Cancer Society at the same time, please let me know and I will e-mail a copy of the invitation. Harold is planning a second round of Rockets for Relay as another fundraiser for the team during the event.

We have a lot of friends doing their part in the fight against cancer too. Thanks to Alan's teacher Ms. Anna, Hardy Oak will be PJammin later this week. The children at the boys' school have been donating a dollar in order to be able to wear their PJs on Thursday. A trio of fifth grade girls have been working for weeks decorating the collection boxes for the classrooms.


Collection boxes for PJammin Day at Hardy Oak

Our dear friend Sara will be walking in the Dallas Cure Search Walk for Children's Cancer on April 14. She has been tireless in supporting us and we appreciate her efforts in raising money to fund ongoing clinical trials in Alan's honour. Also on April 15, my yoga friends Daniel, Mason and Mark will be holding a benefit concert, Chords of Hope, to provide funding for breast screenings to low income, uninsured women.



Our friend Trevor has participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a two-day cycling event from Vancouver to Seattle, two times already. At this year's event in June, not only is he dedicating his ride to Alan, he is directing the money he raises towards research on childhood cancer. Thank you Trevor!

St. Baldrick's San Antonio 2012

After our visit to the St. Baldrick's event in Austin last year, Harold thought he might want to participate himself and sure enough he signed up when a St. Baldrick's event was organized in San Antonio this year. Because Alan's counts were a little low, he and Harold waited in the hospitality suite until it was Harold's turn to be trimmed. In the meant time, Judy and Kevin waited up front with some great friends who came to lend their support (thank you Vodrazka and Padilla families and Erika!).

During the shavings, we were moved to tears several times. Once was with the introduction of Dr. Aune, a pediatric oncologist and cancer researcher at the CTRC who is himself a pediatric cancer survivor. Another was Luis, who lost his son Jason to cancer when he was only 3 1/2 years old. Harold came up for his shave after a large group of firefighters and Alan was quite fascinated with the process and result.

The recurrence of Alan's tumor has really brought home to us how little research there is on his cancer so we really want to concentrate more of our advocacy and fund-raising efforts on pediatric cancer and sarcomas. Thank you to everyone who donated to Harold's campaign. You all helped us beat his goal of $1000 raised for pediatric cancer research!

Here is Harold's story that they read as he was being shaved.

Alan Sanders was diagnosed with a sarcoma three years ago and since then has been fighting through several surgeries, different chemotherapy regimens and two recurrences of his tumor. When the family found out about Alan's tumor and both his relapses, the doctors kept saying "There isn't much research on his cancer". That is why his Dad Harold is here today - to shave his head in solidarity with Alan who has lost his hair a third time and also to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Harold wants to help prevent other families from going through what they have had to go through. And besides, he likes having short hair...

Alan and Harold waiting for his turn at the shears

Before the haircut


Starting the shave...


Being interviewed by the MC while getting shaved.





Alan compares his head...



... with Daddy's new hair-do!


Alan with the Harris boys, who introduced us to St. Baldrick's

The whole family post-shave.

Crush Cancer!

With the tumor coming back, we have worked on events and organizations that raise money for research and awareness of pediatric cancer and sarcomas with a vengeance. We will be walking this weekend at a local event, the Wilenchik Walk for Life, to raise money for the the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center. Several friends will be joining us to walk for team "Alan's Angels" and we so appreciate your support! It's not too late to join us if you're in town.

Next week, Harold will be shaving his head for pediatric cancer research at the first St. Baldrick's event in San Antonio. We will be at the Hotel Valencia on the Riverwalk on Sunday March 11. After attending a St. Baldrick's event in Austin last spring, we are glad to have one here now.

Then, on April 5, the boys' school will be PJammin' for the American Childhood Cancer Organization. Alan's PPCD teacher Ms. Anna is leading the way for the fundraiser, where the staff and children at the school will donate $1 to be able to wear their PJs to school that day. Our school community has always been so supportive to us from the very beginning. We were surprised by a gift from the Second Grade class. Every year they put on an economics fair where the students make items for sale and manage the "store". They chose to give part of their earnings to help us out. Alan made a tour of the second grade classes one morning so the students could meet him, then the second grade teachers presented Judy with the cheque that afternoon. What a blessing and a surprise!

And of course, we will participating in the 2012 Relay for Life on May 4, Alan's treatment permitting. Judy will be walking with her team Friends for Life, Alan will do a Survivor's Lap, and Harold will be repeating the Rockets for Relay fundraiser that was so popular last year.


"Kids Caring For Kids" - Judy with Ms Anna, the Grade 2 team, and school administrators