Help fight Pediatric Brain Cancer for my son!

[SorryBro]

November 9, 2017 my son, Roarke, was sent to the emergency room because his eyes were wandering and his pupils were not dilating correctly. After a MRI, we received the news at midnight that he had a mass in the very center of his brain. The doctors couldn't tell us what it was, but we feared the worst. After brain surgery to biopsy the mass and a week of waiting for results we were informed that he had a cancerous tumor called a Germinoma.

You can't prepare for this type of news. It's worse than you could ever imagine. We basically retreated to our house in a fog and tried to figure out how to get through it. We went into survival mode where we shuttled back and forth to the hospital while trying to provide a normal life to my two younger daughters. We were surrounded by the love of our family, friends, and community which helped us immensely during treatment.

I don't really know how to describe our winter and spring other than a nightmare, but after a grueling 4 months of chemo and 2 months of radiation, the tumor that started the size of a golf ball is now the size of a grain of rice and benign. We still have a long road ahead as we monitor Roarke to see how much the radiation damaged his healthy brain tissue. He is doing well right now and we hope that his health continues to improve as he gets his strength back.

Brain cancer in children is brutal. Two-thirds of children with brain tumors suffer life-long side effects that greatly impact their quality of life. Many types of brain cancer are not curable and families are given the news they have months, not years, left with their child. My wife and I have attended too many funerals of kids whose cancer could not be cured. Pediatric cancer research receives less than 3% of the total federal funding for cancer research. This is not enough!

The reason for the long winded post is ask for your help. This community has an amazing ability to help in times of need. Seattle Children's Hospital saved my son's life and the doctors there need our help and support.

Run of Hope is a charity based in Seattle that raises money for pediatric brain tumor research. There is a 5k run or 3k walk on 9/23/18. 100% of donations go directly to funding research of pediatric brain tumors due to corporate sponsorships handling most of the overhead. We have participated in this charity for the past few years for a family friend whose daughter has fought a brain tumor never imagining that our family would become part of this community.

Please consider donating to Team Roarke to fund research to develop new treatments for brain tumors in children. Our hope is that in the future, chemotherapy and radiation will not be necessary to treat tumors and the side effects associated with radiation will be a thing of the past. Any amount will help the team at Seattle Children's work towards a future where kids won't suffer when given the diagnosis my son was.

Link to donate is:
https://www.firstgiving.com/fundrais.../runofhope2018

If you have any questions, please PM me or ask here. I can try to answer any questions about the amazing doctors and research they are working on. My family, and my son, thank you.

[Yonder_River]

Sorry to hear about your boy and I'm glad the tumor has shrunk. I'll happily put some money towards that. We've spent a few weeks at Seattle Children's ourselves and also have a neice who has been brain tumor free for over 10 years now so it hits home. Hope its all good news from here on out!

[Buster Highmen]

+++++

[iceman]

Cancer in children is literally the worst thing there is. I had sort of an emotional epiphany one night about how lucky we are when my kids were young and healthy and have supported St. Jude's Research Hospital For Children and The Jimmy Fund (a really stellar long-time New England charity associated with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute) for many years since then and I am happy to be able to extend some support your way too. Hang in there Bro and fam and Roarke, beat that shit.

For anyone so inclined:
http://www.jimmyfund.org
https://www.stjude.org

[Danno]

fuck, that's sobering.

[AK47bp]

November 9, 2017 my son, Roarke, was sent to the emergency room because his eyes were wandering and his pupils were not dilating correctly. After a MRI, we received the news at midnight that he had a mass in the very center of his brain. The doctors couldn't tell us what it was, but we feared the worst. After brain surgery to biopsy the mass and a week of waiting for results we were informed that he had a cancerous tumor called a Germinoma.

You can't prepare for this type of news. It's worse than you could ever imagine. We basically retreated to our house in a fog and tried to figure out how to get through it. We went into survival mode where we shuttled back and forth to the hospital while trying to provide a normal life to my two younger daughters. We were surrounded by the love of our family, friends, and community which helped us immensely during treatment.

I don't really know how to describe our winter and spring other than a nightmare, but after a grueling 4 months of chemo and 2 months of radiation, the tumor that started the size of a golf ball is now the size of a grain of rice and benign. We still have a long road ahead as we monitor Roarke to see how much the radiation damaged his healthy brain tissue. He is doing well right now and we hope that his health continues to improve as he gets his strength back.

Brain cancer in children is brutal. Two-thirds of children with brain tumors suffer life-long side effects that greatly impact their quality of life. Many types of brain cancer are not curable and families are given the news they have months, not years, left with their child. My wife and I have attended too many funerals of kids whose cancer could not be cured. Pediatric cancer research receives less than 3% of the total federal funding for cancer research. This is not enough!

The reason for the long winded post is ask for your help. This community has an amazing ability to help in times of need. Seattle Children's Hospital saved my son's life and the doctors there need our help and support.

Run of Hope is a charity based in Seattle that raises money for pediatric brain tumor research. There is a 5k run or 3k walk on 9/23/18. 100% of donations go directly to funding research of pediatric brain tumors due to corporate sponsorships handling most of the overhead. We have participated in this charity for the past few years for a family friend whose daughter has fought a brain tumor never imagining that our family would become part of this community.

Please consider donating to Team Roarke to fund research to develop new treatments for brain tumors in children. Our hope is that in the future, chemotherapy and radiation will not be necessary to treat tumors and the side effects associated with radiation will be a thing of the past. Any amount will help the team at Seattle Children's work towards a future where kids won't suffer when given the diagnosis my son was.

Link to donate is:
https://www.firstgiving.com/fundrais.../runofhope2018

If you have any questions, please PM me or ask here. I can try to answer any questions about the amazing doctors and research they are working on. My family, and my son, thank you.

Bump for the donations. Good cause


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Art Shirk]

The SorryBro family are an amazing group. I would not wish this hell on anyone, but I'm especially angry that cancer can wield this sort of destruction over such good people and a young child especially. That picture crushes me. I see a captain of ship at storm and a little boy who has been robbed of an innocence he deserves so much.

Seattle Children's helped keep my cousin alive for 23 years when he would have zero chance otherwise and I run this event each year. I will do so for my cousin and for Roarke this year. Hope this gets continued visibility.

[Meadow Skipper]

Dude, I’m so sorry.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Hang in there SorryBro, and hoping it all turns out well. Dysgerminomas generally tend to have good outcomes, he seems to have gotten an optimal response to therapy, and young brains have a lot of plasticity and ability to recover from tough treatments like chemo and rads, so there's that at least. Seattle Children's are top notch. All the best.

[wicked_sick]

What a worthy cause, and what a strong resilient boy. I look forward to hearing positive news about his improving condition and journey to full strength and health.

How can we participate in the run/walk? Would anyone else local to the Seattle area be into getting together and pounding some pavement for Roarke and for all the other kids and families and doctors who spend every day fighting so hard against pediatric cancer?

[Tippster]

Hang in there SorryBro, and hoping it all turns out well. Dysgerminomas generally tend to have good outcomes, he seems to have gotten an optimal response to therapy, and young brains have a lot of plasticity and ability to recover from tough treatments like chemo and rads, so there's that at least. Seattle Children's are top notch. All the best.

What the Doc said. Hang in there Roarke and family!

[::: :::]

In

I’ve been following some of your happier moments in IG

I’ve done fundraising events for Team in Training, and I’ve discovered how cancer is so widespread and affects everyone in some manner.

Strength to your boy and your family as he continues his recovery!

[byates1]

getting around to shipping skis to berko, og

igneous

wishing you the best. of course

[SorryBro]

Thank you all so much for your donations so far! I see some names I recognize, but others who I don't. Thank you all! I am overwhelmed with your generosity. Thank you to whoever made this a sticky.

I forgot to add a link to join the run for you locals! Wicked, thanks for bringing that up! There will be lots of people running/walking with Roarke this year and I would love to see maggots there who can make it. It's a great event to come to and meet some doctors, parents, and kids in the brain tumor community. Roarke will be giving a short speech about his journey before the run. The signup fee of $35 also goes directly to research and you receive a t-shirt to wear during the run/walk. If you are coming to the run, PM me and I can let you know where our tent we be.

Run of Hope: https://www.runofhopeseattle.org/ The run is Sunday, September 23rd
Direct link to signup for 5k run or 3k walk: https://www.firstgiving.com/event/se.../runofhope2018

Thank you all for your support in this.

[byates1]

in

[SorryBro]

Hey everyone, thank you so much for the donations so far! Keep them coming and let's get these doctors the money they need for research.

Due to a super generous private donor, all donations between now and Sept. 9th are matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000!. This is huge. If you were wavering or hadn't quite gotten around to donating, now is the time!

DONATE RIGHT HERE!

During treatment, we had charities help us by setting up experiences for Roarke to take his mind off the pain and suffering of treatment. I graduated from University of Washington and so the family are huge Husky fans. Roarke was asked to be an honorary captain at one of the Husky basketball games. The game was during his third round of chemo, which was the worst as far as nausea and fatigue. Rallying to the game after his infusion, he got to meet the players during warm up. These young men were so genuine and nice to him. They all took time to chat with him and give him high fives. I could not believe the maturity of these "kids".

Roarke fought nausea throughout the visit, but ran out of the tunnel with the team and stood on the court for the national anthem next to Coach Hopkins (great guy by the way). He had to leave right after the anthem as his body just couldn't sustain the energy anymore. We are all stoked to go back to the arena this year now that his energy is coming back.

This is a picture of his running out of the tunnel throwing the double "W" for Washington



Thanks for donating and please feel free to share the donation link with your friends and community.

[byates1]

did i miss my chance to double my dollars?

I wish and hope the best for you and yours!

[wyeaster]

Hey everyone, thank you so much for the donations so far! Keep them coming and let's get these doctors the money they need for research.

Due to a super generous private donor, all donations between now and Sept. 9th are matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000!. This is huge. If you were wavering or hadn't quite gotten around to donating, now is the time!

DONATE HERE!

During treatment, we had charities help us by setting up experiences for Roarke to take his mind off the pain and suffering of treatment. I graduated from University of Washington and so the family are huge Husky fans. Roarke was asked to be an honorary captain at one of the Husky basketball games. The game was during his third round of chemo, which was the worst as far as nausea and fatigue. Rallying to the game after his infusion, he got to meet the players during warm up. These young men were so genuine and nice to him. They all took time to chat with him and give him high fives. I could not believe the maturity of these "kids".

Roarke fought nausea throughout the visit, but ran out of the tunnel with the team and stood on the court for the national anthem next to Coach Hopkins (great guy by the way). He had to leave right after the anthem as his body just couldn't sustain the energy anymore. We are all stoked to go back to the arena this year now that his energy is coming back.

This is a picture of his running out of the tunnel throwing the double "W" for Washington



Thanks for donating and please feel free to share the donation link with your friends and community.

great pic, sb.

[SorryBro]

did i miss my chance to double my dollars?

I wish and hope the best for you and yours!

Thank you! The donation match started 9/5, so your donation was doubled! I've had many Moments of Clarity during this journey and they continue with each day.

great pic, sb.

I wish I could take credit for it. If you look in the upper right of the photo, the blurry guy with the goofy grin on his face is me. I was so happy he was able to go out with the team. It was touch and go right up to the last minute before he walked out.

[wyeaster]

Thank you! The donation match started 9/5, so your donation was doubled! I've had many Moments of Clarity during this journey and they continue with each day.



I wish I could take credit for it. If you look in the upper right of the photo, the blurry guy with the goofy grin on his face is me. I was so happy he was able to go out with the team. It was touch and go right up to the last minute before he walked out.

you and i have only talked briefly once or twice but when i saw his picture i saw a lot of your face. i'll try to make my modest contribution while it's still getting doubled.

[SorryBro]

The donate link in the last post was broken. Now fixed! Two more days to get your donations matched dollar for dollar. Thank you for your continued donations. We are getting closer to my fundraising goal. I really appreciate it.

DONATE RIGHT HERE!

Getting through treatment means finding humor in day to day life. We saw this sweatshirt online, bought it and gave it to Roarke on his last day of chemo. I then cranked Straight Outta Compton so he would understand the connection. He doesn't really like swearing, so it was pretty funny to watch his face become more and more horrified as NWA blared throughout the house. My wife and I didn't stop laughing for the rest of the day.

[Coño Frío]

Sorry SorryBro. I know that feeling all too well. My daughter is a Leukemia survivor and the thought of diagnosis day...we’ll, it’s still tough...14 years later. Raising funds is not only super-helpful to the cause but it is also therapeutic. Mrs. Cono has raised over $100k for LLS over the past decade and now is on their Board of Directors. It’s a passion to give back. I support you and your family and am sending prayers and positive vibes in your direction. Oh, and a donation to be matched as well!

[wyeaster]

done!

[tyfalk]

Sending good vibes and few bucks your way

[SorryBro]

One week away to Run of Hope! I had a busy week and didn't update. Sorry

Thank you you all for the donations so far! Another donor has come through with a dollar per dollar match up to $100,000 through Sept. 21st. It started 4 days ago, so the past few donations have been matched. I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but pediatric cancer receives such little research funding (only 4% of the federal budget for cancer) and most people have no idea it is so low.

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundrais.../runofhope2018

You find out what type of people you have surrounded yourself with in your life when something like cancer enters your world. We found out that our friends, family, and neighbors were AMAZING. Life can be very isolating when going through treatment. Roarke's immune system was often compromised enough that public outings were not possible. This meant many days not leaving the house and missing out on normal kid events. Roarke's godmother contacted our local movie theater and through the generosity of the manager, arranged a private screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Roarke couldn't see it when it came out due to his immune system, so early one morning, we drove to the theater, brought about 10 gallons of hand sanitizer and the 5 of us sat in our own private theater to watch the movie. Roarke was so stoked. He was even able to scarf down some candy during the film. It was a good day in a sea of bad ones.



Thanks for reading and all your donations.