Small Town News

ML mom, son help spread word on child cancer

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Pair organize first Candlelighters Walk for Childhood Cancer Awareness around Medical Lake, Aug. 28

Shelly Schneider doesn't need a special month to remind her of the moment everything changed for her family, that day in 2006 when her then 9-year-old son Clayton was first diagnosed with lymphoma.

But she and other volunteers are using the run up to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September to spread the word about a fact that others may not know: cancer kills more children in the US. than AIDS, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and asthma combined.

Through Candlelighters of the Inland Northwest, a local non-profit affiliated with the National Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, Schneider helped organize an awareness walk around Medical Lake Aug. 28, beginning at Waterfront Park at 10 a.m. and ending with a picnic potluck at 2 p.m.

Participants are welcome to donate to Candlelighters, which promotes childhood cancer research and support for patient families, but Schneider said the walk isn't really about fundraising. "It's more about putting this in front of people to say 'this is here, this is happening,'" she said.

Few people are more familiar with the devastating effects of childhood cancer than local Candlelighters executive director Mary Anne Ruddis, who lost a son and a daughter to the disease. After her daughter died, Ruddis moved to Spokane, where her son was diagnosed v dth a brain tumor in 1997. He passed away two years later, but not bel ore Ruddis was introduced to Candlelighters of the Inland Northwes:.

"When my daughter was trea ted we didn't have Candlelighters, sol know the difference of having that support and not having it, and it's a big difference," she said. "You're thrown into this world where first you're in shock, then you dcn't know how you'll ever deal with something like this. But you neet other parents who are actually breathing and brushing their Lair and it gives you the sense that,'( )K, I can do this.'"

In addition to support, Ruddis said Candlelighters offers fami ies education. She's learned that, w ith the exception of leukemia, mDst childhood cancer research has stalled in the past few decades. £ >he also expressed frustration that f bw cancer treatments are tailored to children, resulting in complications for survivors later in life. .

"Part of the reason we don'tru ve a set registration amount for t lis walk is because we just want peo ole to know that this is happening a rid there needs to be movement in 1 he research and less toxic treatments," she said.

Schneider said having the si ip-port of people like Ruddis, who intimately understands what her family is going through, has been vital through years of ups and downs. After her son Clayton was initially diagnosed in 2006, doctors were able to remove a tumor from skin on his stomach with few lasting effects other than a large scar. Two years later, however, he was re-diagnosed with lymphoma. Chemotherapy treatments made school attendance impossible for the fifth grader, who suffered from fatigue, intense headaches and nausea. He received tutoring at home that year and in sixth grade also attended short after school sessions one week out of every three.

Clayton persevered through a steadily reduced treatment regimen and gained enough strength to attend seventh grade at Medical Lake Middle School last year, earning straight A's in his last semester and a spot in the National Honor Society.

But just this week the Schneider family's world took another dip, when the results of the 13-year-old's latest biopsy revealed a recurrence of the cancer. Clayton is scheduled to undergo further exams and testing next Thursday.

In the meantime Schneider is busy preparing hundreds of gold ribbon childhood cancer awareness pins and handing them out to everyone she sees, telling them to wear one for the kids. "She bought Wal-Mart out of gold ribbon three times," Clayton said with a grin.

Schneider said she hopes her efforts will get people to pay attention. "The bigger group we get talking about this, the more awareness there will be and hopefully more funding for research," she said. "We want our kids to get their college degrees, hot their angel wings." For more information or to register for the walk, visit www.candlelight-ersinlandnw.org. or call 474-2759.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at iyan@cheneyfreepress.com.



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© 2010 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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