HFC Friends-- Time to Renew or Join

It’s the time of year again to join or renew your membership in HFC Friends. HFC Friends is our women’s auxiliary that provides support to Heroes for Children. In the past HFC Friends focused on fundraising events and volunteer support for Heroes for Children. Under new leadership for the 2008-2009 year, HFC Friends has adopted a new purpose statement.

Purpose Statement

HFC Friends supports the mission of Heroes for Children through volunteer efforts to strengthen and expand social and emotional assistance provided to families with children battling cancer. HFC Friends strives to ensure that the special moments in the lives of these children are recognized and celebrated despite their ongoing battle with cancer.
Throughout the year members are encouraged to help with the social and emotional assistance program Heroes for Children provides for families. These programs include:
• Heroes Milestones— members assist in the coordination of and donations to special events for cancer patients as needs arise throughout the year.
• Holiday Heroes—members shop, wrap, and donate gifts to selected cancer families during the holiday season. The families receive their gifts at a holiday party attended by member volunteers.
• Valentine’s Party—committee members plan, coordinate, and host a special dinner for cancer parents to include a nice meal and childcare. This event is an opportunity for the parents to have a “date night” while their children enjoy a fun evening of activities.

As a benefit of joining HFC Friends, the members and prospective members are invited to a Fall Membership Coffee with special guest speakers and to the Spring Family Picnic held annually in May. See below for great shots from this year's Spring Picnic.






If you are looking for a way to become more involved with HFC and the families we serve--- Consider joining today! From planning a birthday party for a child who has to spend his birthday in the hospital, or wrapping presents for an entire family for Christmas, to planning a date night for parents, some of whom haven’t had the time or energy to go on a date in three years, HFC Friends has got it covered.

If you would like to join HFC Friends click HERE.

Busy Week at Heroes for Children

Wow! We've had so many entries for the naming contest. It's not too late. Make your suggestion on the comment section of the entry below. Even if you don't have a blog to win the makeover, don't hesitate to make your suggestion. We love to hear from you. If you read this from a subscription through Feedblitz, be sure to come over to our site itself to leave us a comment about how you think we're doing.

We've had a busy week to help families with children with cancer. Just this week, we will spend $17,000 in financial assistance to twenty-two families, ship five laptops to teens living with cancer, and plan two Heroes Milestones events. Our assistance includes:

• Sperm banking for a newly diagnosed teenage boy diagnosed with Germ Cell Carcinoma.
• A laptop for an eighteen year old year girl with a brain tumor who has battled cancer off and on through remissions since the age of twelve. She hopes to begin college in a month while still keeping up with her cancer treatments.
• Financial assistance for a young woman, age 17, and her mother to assist with living expenses while they live in Houston displaced from their Louisiana home due to her impending stem cell transplant.
• Help towards the purchases of basic child needs such as diapers, clothing, and baby food for the siblings of a cancer patient as his treatment has left mom unable to work.
• Funeral assistance for a seventeen year old male who lost his three year long battle with Osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer.
• Two special parties for cancer patients--one a Sweet Sixteen and the other for a seven year old through our Heroes Milestones program. The Sweet Sixteen is for a young girl with Medulloblastoma, a brain tumor. Given less than six months of life to live, she is combining her sixteenth birthday with a Celebration of Life party. This young lady has been very active in the planning and coordination of her party, happening this Saturday night, providing her a distraction for her current situation.

Name this Blog

The “Name Heroes for Children’s Blog Contest” is officially underway!

Our blog needs a new name to go with the new design Ruby & Roja Design is putting together for us! The person who comes up with the winning blog name will receive an amazing prize… a free blog design by Ruby & Roja Design (a $90 value)! Leave your blog name suggestions in the comments section of this post. The contest will end at midnight on July 25, 2008. The winner will be announced on July 30, 2008. Have fun, be creative!

Let the naming begin!

The Most Adorable Little Pet Shop

Why we are here!! See below for one family's journey with Leukemia.

“This is the story of Mycha’s battle against childhood cancer. She is a beautiful 5 year old who loves animals (especially horses and unicorns), making crafts, reading, and playing. Her spirit is as bright as the sun.

Mycah was diagnosed with (ALL) Leukemia September 2007.

It started as a persistent fever that wouldn’t go away with normal dr. visit and antibiotic. She was sleepy a lot and just wasn’t improving with the normal treatments. After a couple of dr. visits, we took her to the ER in Waxahachie on Tuesday night, September 18. She was immediately transferred by ambulance to Children’s Hospital in Dallas with scary low blood counts.

For 3 agonizing days, we waited for bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps, and tests to render a diagnosis. “Leukemia”…. The word just hung in the air as my worst fears were confirmed by the doctors.

Mycah went straight into remission after only a few chemo treatments. We made the decision to then place Mycah in a clinical trial where she was randomized into one of four treatment arms. The decision was extremely difficult, but was made in faith.

Mycah bagan “Maintenance Therapy” in April of 2008. She goes for chemo in the clinic once a month and will do so for the next 2 years. She has had much success through the tough 7 months of intense chemo treatments. She is in remission, has not been readmitted to the hospital since her initial diagnosis week, has sailed through her protocol chemo phases and is doing great! We are gracious for all of these miracles.

We would like to especially thank the Heroes for Children organization for their support during this time. Cancer puts a strain on families in many ways and we are thankful for the role Heroes for Children has played in our journey. We are touched by the generosity and legacy of Taylor Anne and Allison Leigh. Our prayers are with this organization as well as the families who suffered such a loss for its sake.”

Thank you all for being supporters of Heroes for Children. Because of you, we are able to help adorable pet lovers like Mycah and her famiy.

Who I Am

I am a wife to a loving and understanding husband and a mom to 2 beautiful and wonderful kids, Brayden, age 5 and Kennedy, age 3. Before coming to Heroes for Children I worked for a nonprofit blood bank in California. When my son was born in 2003 I became a stay at home. We moved our family of 3 to Texas in 2004. Right around this time, I was involved in an online mom’s board and two days after Allie was diagnosed with AML there was a site message that took us to http://www.scotthousehold.com (yes, I was one of those internet stalkers). I was immediately captivated by those blue eyes and her mom’s strength. I remember staying up late hoping for the day’s update, many times reading through tears. I remember being in awe of how much courage Jenny had to share every bit of Allie with so many people. Shortly after moving to Texas we found out we were pregnant with our baby girl. When Allie passed away I so badly wanted to go to her funeral but I felt I would be intruding on this family I only knew through the computer. I continued to follow Allie’s story. When Jenny and Larissa started HFC I knew I wanted to get involved but I also had a 6 month old (who screamed A LOT!!) and a 2 year old with no family in the area to help me with babysitting. I participated in the 5K in 2005 to support HFC and still knew that I wanted and needed to get involved with the organization.


In the fall of 2007, Brayden started his last year of preschool and at registration time (that happens 8 months before the school year starts) I didn’t register Kennedy, thinking she wouldn’t be ready. But of course she proved me wrong the first day of school when she kicked and screamed “where is my class,” while I dragged her away and right pass the director. She gave me one of those I told you so looks but also offered to see what she can find for Kennedy. Oh the excitement I felt walking out of that school that morning. I was going to have both my kids in school 2 days a week. It took 2 months for them to find a spot for Kennedy but once they did, both Kennedy and I were hooked...preschool rocks!


By January I was feeling the need to do something with my free time. I had too much of it apparently. So I finally filled out the volunteer form for HFC! In March I started with addressing envelopes and that progressed to volunteering every Monday in the office while my kids were at preschool. Jenny and I hit it off and I feel like we walked into each other’s lives at the precise moment we needed to. When Jenny started talking to me about coming to work for HFC I was ecstatic to be offer the opportunity to not only do what I love to do (events) but to be working for such an amazing organization, I couldn’t resist. Though I do admit I had a few “what I am doing going back to work after being a stay at home mom for 5 years” moments during the 2 month approval process. But I couldn’t ask for a better job, with wonderful co-workers, and being able to make a difference in people’s lives.

New Addition to the HFC Team!

We've had some changes around the Heroes for Children office. Christi Disch has moved over to become our Program Services Coordinator. Christi's main responsibility will be working on ensuring the mission of the organization are fulfilled through things such as Heroes Milestones, Laptops for Love, and other special services to families with children battling cancer. She will lead the HFC Friends Women's Auxiliary, along with our 2008--2009 President Christie Cahoon to coordinate volunteers to impact families as well. We're thrilled to have Christi in this new role.

With this change came the need for a new Special Events Coordinator. I'm very excited to announce that Danielle Soffa has joined our team! Danielle started last week with Heroes for Children and is already hard at work on the Heroes for Children Golf Classic and the 5K Run/Walk.


I don't want to steal her time in the spotlight. I'll let her tell you all about herself and why she's involved with Heroes for Children. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Danielle to the HFC team!

Shining Star Jocelyn Celebrates 15 in Style!!

Jocelyn’s Quinceanera was a night for her and her family to remember for a lifetime. With the help of HFC Friends and other Heroes for Children supporters we were able to provide Jocelyn with a fantastic Quinceanera Celebration.

Jocelyn arrived in style at the Hampton Inn in Mesquite at 7:00 PM. She was welcomed by the Hampton staff and multiple Heroes for Children volunteers. She arrived in a stretch Hummer with her 12 attendants, her date, and a few other friends.

Thanks to many gracious supporters of Heroes for Children, we were able to provide Jocelyn with the party of a lifetime. She wanted a star theme with light blue and silver colors- so we filled the room with balloons and stars. The balloons were donated by Balloons Everyday .The venue and food were donated by John Q Hammond Hotels (They run the Hampton in Mesquite). Mesquite High School Hospitality students and Hampton Managers were the servers. The dress, accessories, cake, and limo were all donated by HFC Friends members. The glowing floral centerpieces were arranged by Megan Williamson, our resident graphic/ floral designer:) And HFC Volunteers came to help set-up and tear down. We can’t thank you all enough for helping us celebrate Jocelyn’s life in such an extravagant manner.

The best quote of the evening was from Jocelyn’s father, “ I just want to thank Heroes for Children for making my baby girl’s dream come true!”. Jocelyn and her family thanked us profusely for providing them with this special celebration!

Check out NBC for a great segment from the event.

Event photos courtesy of the fabulous Taylor Made Messages (Taylor Pointer) and Haute Shot Photography (Jennifer Zindler). Pre-event photos courtesy of Stacy Sims .