Our Story
At the age of 15, Courtney was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Courtney entered a world we knew nothing about - pediatric cancer, neurosurgeons, cancer treatments and Children's Hospitals. Courtney had three brain surgeries, chemotherapy and proton radiation. We are one of the fortunate ones as Courtney just celebrated her 31st birthday and is doing well.
Courtney's journey is filled with meeting many other children with pediatric cancers. Those children and their parents struggled as we did. They prayed for the best outcomes while trying to educate themselves about the cancer and treatment options and then laboring over the medical decisions they needed to make.
During Courtney's treatment, we were surprised to find so little information on pediatric cancers. We learned that most treatments were just modeled after adult cancer treatments without consideration of the longer-term negative health impacts this strategy has on young children. We began our fundraising efforts to do our small part to provide funding to specifically treat and to eventually eliminate pediatric cancer and to provide hope to those with pediatric cancer.
Over the years, what started as a small Christmas cookie baking fund raiser, has grown to a year long effort to provide delicious homemade cookies and treats to raise money for the cause. We were thrilled to raise $1,000 that first year and now in our 14th year we are happy to have donated nearly $300,000 to fund the pediatric cancer mission.
We could not have done this without the generous help and support of our family, friends and our community. Thanks to all of you for your support - we are deeply grateful.