Bunco for Alan's Hero Fund

We are very grateful that two groups of friends, one in Frisco and one in San Antonio, offered to organize fundraisers to mark the first anniversary of losing Alan at the end of January. It was also a wondeful way to recognize the great honor of Alan being chosen as one of the five St. Baldrick's 2014 Ambassadors. We got to unveil the banner prominently featuring Alan at the fundraiser in San Antonio and introduced a lot of new people to St. Baldrick's and the need for childhood cancer research with the pocket brochures from the Foundation featuring Alan.

The events were both bunco games with raffles and silent auctions - we were so overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and local business who donated. Some of the prizes came from the Votre Vu fundraiser that took place in the fall - a wonderful company that supports St. Baldrick's nationally with a donation with every cosmetic product sold and locally through the personal generosity of their Brand Ambassadors who have donated part of their commissions.

Both events benefit Alan's Hero Fund, a fund with St. Baldrick's to support pediatric sarcoma research in Alan's memory. Between the two events, we have almost $3,000.00 towards the $10,000.00 we have committed to raise annually! Everyone had a great time, and we look forward to doing this again next year for the next anniversary. Thank you!


Debuting the 2014 St. Baldrick's banner featuring Alan


Delicious treats from Hailey's Sweet Shoppe


More goodies for the Silent Auction


Let the bidding begin


Two of the many organizers and donors - thank you sweeties!


Having a great time!


Proud raffle winner!


Proudly wearing the Bunco tiara!


Thank you Tara! I just wish we had a picture of Denise and Sara, our organizers in Frisco!

Update - An article on our fundraiser was published on the St. Baldrick's blog as an example of a fun and different kind of fundraiser.

The first Angel-versary

We often hear how special we are as a family. To take what we went through and turn it into drive to raise money for research into a cure. How we've shown steadfastness in the face of adversity. Maybe we are special... but if we are it is because you - our friends, our family, our community - have made us that way.

Dealing with cancer has sometimes been described as facing the dragon. The thing is though, it is rarely possible to take on the dragon alone. Usually, you want an army at your side. They're there to fight with you, to help you up when you fall, to take the fight to the dragon when you need to rest. And what we have seen in our army of supporters we have also seen when we look in the mirror. We know that if you had to, you would rise to the occasion as we had to... because we saw it in how you rose to help us.

We truly do not believe we are special, but circumstances have forced us to step to the challenge. While obviously there are some people out there that break in the face of adversity, we know that our friends, neighbors and community are the type of people who would face it head on as we have, because they have been beside us and behind us to hold us up through our trials.

It was hard to face a new year for the first time without Alan, but knowing that he would continue to make an impact as one of five St. Baldrick’s 2014 Ambassadors was something for us to focus on. And we are grateful for wonderful friends that are organizing fundraisers to recognize the first anniversary of Alan's passing.

Through Alan's fight, we had met some childhood cancer survivors who gave us hope that not only could Alan beat cancer, but also pursue a full life. Shelby Robin was one of Alan's wonderful nurses at MD Anderson. Dr. Greg Aune shaves with Harold at the San Antonio St. Baldrick's event, sits on the organizing committee for the event with Judy, and is a pediatric oncologist and physician scientist at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute. We looked at them and hoped we were looking at Alan's future. He was so sharp, so curious, and had so much potential. Alan was tenacious and relentless, qualities that sometimes drove us crazy but that stood him in good stead through his fight with cancer and we hoped they would carry him through his future.

Supporting childhood cancer research is important to us. We hope one day that other families won't have observe an anniversary like this. We hope that one day more kids will have Shelby and Greg's future. Continuing the fight keeps Alan alive for us, creating a legacy for him - one that he didn't have the chance to create for himself.

Alan and Shelby do "Hurray!


Farewell angel


A retrospective of Alan's first year, one year after we had to say good bye

If you are interested in attending one of the fundraisers being held on January 31 to mark the first anniversary of Alan's passing, here are the details.

Alan's Angels Bunco Night - DFW
Alan's Angels Bunco Night - San Antonio

Introducing one of St. Baldrick's 2014 Ambassadors!

Back in August, we were contacted by the St. Baldrick's Foundation - they wanted to know if we would be willing to include Alan as one of their 2014 Ambassadors. The five Ambassadors they choose every year represent the thousands of kids who face childhood cancer. One of the Ambassadors is always an angel like Alan, to represent the one in five children who don't survive.

We took a little time to think about it, if we would be up to the commitment so soon after Alan had passed. But it wasn't a hard choice - if we can help raise awareness about childhood cancer and the need for research, if we can help bring attention to the Foundation and it's mission, then it something we had to do.

So far it has meant going through photos and choosing the favorites we wanted to share and working on Alan's story. Now that the Foundation has announced the names of the 2014 Ambassadors, we will be more active. We look forward to sharing Alan's story with a wider audience.

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!

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

Harold shaves with the 46 Mommas

After the local San Antonio event for St. Baldrick's in March, Judy started looking ahead to the national St. Baldrick's event for the 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave to be held in San Antonio at the end of June. One of the organizers was Lisa, another San Antonio mom who lost her daughter Rayley to a brain tumor. Rayley was an Honored Kid on the St. Baldrick's website and was chosen to be honored by Coda and Wyland when they first started shaving six years ago.  Coda and Wyland were the ones to introduce us to St. Baldrick's three years ago when they asked if they could shave in Alan's honor, and were ultimately responsible for us meeting Lisa.

Though the weather did not cooperate and we couldn't hold the event at the Arneson River Theater as planned, the shave went smoothly enough that we were able to include two groups of last-minute shavees. Harold jumped at the opportunity - he had thought the event was just for moms, and though the focus is on moms, there were plenty of siblings, dads, advocates, survivors and supporters both male and female joining the eponymous Mommas as Honorary Mommas shaving.


Before, During, and After Harold's Shave

It was a great opportunity to meet other cancer families, especially other Angel Moms. One was Carla, an almost 40-year survivor of childhood cancer who now fights for all the kids. She has a large collection of bracelets, to which has been added a Team Alan's Angels bracelet.


As one of the Mommas said, Carla bleeds gold

It was an amazing group of people, coming together from all over the US and Canada to fight childhood cancer. Some have been with the 46 Mommas through all four years of their campaign, some were first-timers like us. It was a wonderful community though, and one we look forward to being a part of going forward.

Stay tuned for word from Harold on what he plans to do with this bald head and other exciting news about our relationship with St. Baldrick's!


An amazing group!


Harold shaving


Kevin takes pictures of Harold shaving, thanks to the Pablove Foundation Shutterbug program


Kevin as a paparrazzo


Canadian Mommas!


Harold and Kevin with Miss Ginger, Lisa's mom, post-shave



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[video - Harold Shaves with the 46 Mommas 2013]

St. Baldrick's San Antonio 2013

Saturday was a very long day but so worth it. In the second year of St. Baldrick's in San Antonio, we had 135 shavees and raised almost $51,000.00 to fund pediatric cancer research!  This time we added a raffle on the day of the event in addition to direct donations and Harold make a special custom St. Baldrick's rocket as one of the prizes. We were pleased to see what a sought-after prize it became and even more pleased that it went to one of the firefighters from Station 46. You may remember that the firefighters of Station 46 brought two fire trucks to our house for Alan to explore back in November. We'll help him shoot it off at one of our local launches.

This year, Harold had some company on the Alan's Angels team - Alan's little buddy Dylan and his big brother Tyler, and fellow MoCAA mom Trish. Our team is currently sitting in 2nd place, thanks to the fundraising prowess of Dylan and Tyler who are also in 2nd place of participants for the event. And the donations are still coming in! Harold held Alan's picture while shaving, so he was with us in spirit.

A group hug with fellow angel moms Lisa Sanders and Janet Pollok was a tearful highlight for Judy. We are glad to have each other for support and companionship on this unusual journey. With this weekend's event done, it's time to look forward to the 46 Mommas event at the Arneson River Theater on the Riverwalk this summer. Cancer mommas from all over the United States and Canada will be coming to shave and celebrate reaching their million dollar fundraising goal for St. Baldrick's. As a San Antonio local, Judy will be volunteering at this event too, while Janet and Lisa shave.

Fighting pediatric cancer and funding research is one way we can create a lasting legacy for Alan. We will keep up the battle.


Get To Know Honored Kid Alan


The family manning the raffle table


With the St. Baldrick's rocket


Harold getting shaved


Alan's Angels center stage, post shave


Always remembering our angel Alan

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[video - St Baldricks Shaving - San Antonio Thank you for the video Becky!]

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

Pain management: The Sequel, chemo recovery, and St. Baldrick's in San Antonio

Since the last chemo treatment, Alan has been sleeping and resting a lot, but very restlessly. He was in a good mood all day but wasn't up to staying at school on Friday. He napped his way through the day, but was still tired enough to fall asleep at bedtime. We spoke to Marcia, Doc P's chemo nurse about last night's difficulties. We were worried about the medications he threw up while vomiting last night, especially the steroids. Since Marcia had given him some of the steroid by IV on Thursday, she wasn't concerned about the dose he lost that night as long he got his dose for Friday and Saturday.

Just before midnight on Friday he asked "Owie please!", his way of saying he was in pain. We gave him a dose of Hydrocodone but an hour later he was still in pain and asking for help. It was time to use the Fentanyl patches that Doc P had given us as a backup. It would take some time to work through his system - he was restless and up playing with the iPod Touch. He finally settled into a calm sleep between 5 and 6 am and proceeded to sleep through until 3 PM in the afternoon. We were a little worried at first with all the sleeping. He had a little wheezy snore and slept with a tight grip on the iPod Touch. Consulting a physician friend about the effects of Fentanyl made us feel better. The Fentanyl will make him sleepier than the Hydrocodone did, which in combination with the chemo and sleepless night resulted in yesterday's sleep marathon. The snoring just meant he had fallen into a very deep sleep - a good sign.

Another good sign? Alan slept through the night! He woke up around 7 am and asked for milk, then came into mommy and daddy's bed to sleep for another hour and a half. It looks like we have his pain under control again. We will consult with Doc P tomorrow about these developments.

Finally, a St. Baldrick's Foundation event has been organized here in San Antonio for March 11 to raise money for childhood cancer research. Mr. Cheeks regulars may remember that last year we went up to Austin, where several participants at a St. Baldrick's event there had dedicated their shave to Alan. Coda and Wyland have gone up to Austin to participate for several years, but their parents Paul and Lana had been working on bringing an event here to San Antonio. Well they have succeeded and scored a great location on the Riverwalk to boot! If you're on Facebook, please "Like" the St. Baldrick's-San Antonio page to keep up to date. Even if you are not on Facebook, you can go to the page to see information without signing up.

St. Baldrick's 2011

We are in Austin today to cheer on some kids who are shaving their heads in support of the St. Baldrick's Foundation, funding childhood cancer research. Fundraisers volunteer to shave their heads as a sign of solidarity with cancer patients who have no choice about going bald.

We are touched that Coda, Wyland and Cameron had signed up for this St. Baldrick's event and dedicated their shave to Alan. Our fellow cancer mom Jodie will also be shaving her head in September as part of the 2011 Class of 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave!

The Dell Children's Medical Center hosts the event in conjunction with their Childhood Cancer Fair, so it was a rather festive day. It was also a little windy - the birds are going to be nesting well this spring!

Before...


Getting ready to sit in the chairs...


Cutting...






... and after!




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[slide show]

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