Hello Rally community! I have been working with Rally for the past 3 months now and it is almost time for me to head back home to the land of books and bulldogs…UGA of course! While I am excited to head back for my last semester of school, I will miss the Rally family who has made me feel at home. I have learned so much and the experience I have gained here has been truly invaluable.

Over the past few months I have learned how to whip-up Active web pages for our Rally Athletes at lightning speed, how to manage a very busy schedule (because Rally IS always busy!), and most importantly, I have learned the importance of childhood cancer research. To the parents who have a child going through cancer treatment, research is everything. Thankfully, no child in my family has ever had cancer, but my dad suffered from lung cancer last summer and my older brother passed away at Christmas in 2008 from pancreatic cancer. So while my life has never been affected by childhood cancer, I have seen the devastating effects cancer can have on a family.

The people at Rally put their hearts and souls into raising awareness about the need for more childhood cancer research and their dedication is awe-inspiring. You will not find more devoted, sweet and hard-working people than Dean Crowe, Amber Johnson and Lauren Flanary. As I continue the process of figuring exactly where I want to go in my life, I will take the experience I have gained at Rally with me. Thank you to each and every one of you who have made my time here so special. Rally on!

Sincerely,

Intern Rosanna

My name is Larry Deist and I began working with the Rally Foundation in August of 2008 when I was asked to coordinate a charity fundraising effort where I work. I was put in touch with Dean Crowe through a mutual friend and I met with her to see what the needs of Rally were and to see if we could help.

From the first moment she explained Rally’s mission, I was hooked. It was also a day when she on her way to visit Alexa Rorbach, (who I now credit as the angel who changed my life) in the hospital.

Her fight was so courageous it just touched my heart. Dean told me that if I wanted others to get involved, all I had to do was show the Rally video. I was skeptical until I viewed it and saw Alexa and her beautiful smile closing with “Fighting cancer was hard, but here I am still making the best of each day. Please help me and kids like me by joining the Rally for childhood cancer research.”

The rest, as they say, is history. I did indeed show that video and with the help of tons of volunteers we were able to raise a sizable amount of money for Rally in a few months.

Since that event, I have been involved in the last two Benefits Bashes and last year’s Celebrity Softball Game. I was even inspired by “Rally Kid” Catherine Rowan to become a Rally Athlete and successfully completed the Disney Marathon this past January.

I have met some of the most amazing volunteers and even more amazing children and their families who fight cancer every day. I am inspired by those who take the time to support Rally and certainly humbled every time I pick up the phone and speak with one of the staff or volunteers. Their spirit is infectious! I am thrilled to be a part of Rally through the Gentlemen’s Committee and the Board of Directors. I look forward to helping in any way I can in the future and hope that Alexa would be proud. She was truly an angel. Rally On!

Rally Kid, Mia and her Rally Brother, Noah have proudly worn their Rally gear all year long and I am amazed at their understanding of why Mia is a Rally kid. Mia and Noah tend to be a little shy, but are always thrilled when we talk about Rally. They were very excited to participate in the Rally Foundation Fantasy Baseball Tour in Seattle.

They both brought their baseballs to get autographed and as we walked to the field for batting practice, Mia repeated to me over and over “Mom, I’m just not ready yet, Mom, I‘m just not ready yet.” It was so cute; she was nervous! She of course enjoyed her time down on the field, smiled for the pictures and is quite proud of her autographed baseball. Thank you Rally Foundation for including both Mia and Noah!

Only fifteen months ago I learned my child had cancer, six months later I heard about Rally Foundation and as the past few months have gone by, we are so proud to be part the Rally NW Team.

Mia was diagnosed in 2009, with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. As a parent I was completely shocked, did the words “PEDIATRIC CANCER” mean that Mia would die? At that point all I knew is that my baby, my 2 year old daughter needed immediate medical attention and what I didn’t know is that Mia’s treatment plan would include 3 years of IV Chemotherapy, Intrathecal Chemotherapy, Oral Chemotherapy, Steroids, etc……. all drugs necessary to poison and kill her Leukemia cells. I am very thankful to Seattle Children’s Hospital doctors and nurses, Mia has been brave, fought hard and has responded well to most of her treatment.

After walking the walk, knowing that many families will walk in our shoes or be faced with losing a child to cancer, our family supports the Rally Foundation in hopes of more awareness and funds for Oncology Research at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The knot in my stomach that came on March 13, 2009 will never go away now that I’ve heard the words “Pediatric Cancer”, but my hope is that treatment will continue to get better until one day there is a cure! We Rally for Mia; she’s my hero!

By Lani, Rally Kid Mia’s Mom

Donna Watkins, our Operations Coordinator, is a tireless worker for Rally. Often coming in before the rest of us, Donna brightens up everyone’s days with her wit and funny anecdotes. For all of the love and hard work she puts into Rally, we have decided to name her Volunteer of the Year! A true southern belle, Donna is sweet as can be and is an indispensible part of the Rally team. So thank you Donna for all of your hard work over the years, Rally would not be the organization it is today without you!

Here are some quotes about why we all love Donna so much:

Dean Crowe: My favorite Donna quote is when I ask her to do something that completely overwhelms me and she says, “Oh, that’s not a problem.” The best part—she means it!

My favorite non-work related quote is, “Hey Baby #1.”

Lauren Flanary: She always makes people feel comfortable and makes me laugh every day…sometimes not on purpose. I’m still working to teach her that a protein bar does not count for all five food groups.

Claire Olson: I love how no task is too big or too small for Donna. She always gives 110% into everything she does, even the small and simple jobs. And yet somehow she takes on huge jobs like they’re no big deal!

Robin Rohrbach: Donna just has it “all together.” She is very organized and is a great asset to Rally! I think I would probably describe her as the backbone of our organization!! She really helps all of us keep everything straight.

Veronica McGee: “I still don’t like Google Docs.”

Rosanna Cruz: Donna is my personal source of information. If I’m ever unsure about something, she’s there to answer my question or at least provide moral support. And no matter how crazy it gets, she always answers her phone with a “hey my love” and finishes it with a “I love you so much” for her children.

We love you Donna!

During the week of March 15th 175 children at the Catholic Church of St. Ann Preschool hopped like bunnies and earned money as a Lenten project by giving of ourselves to others. Parents and family members were asked to pledge money based on the number of hops their child could do in one minute. Older children hopped on one foot while younger children hopped on both. The amounts pledged ranged from a few cents to a few dollars per hop.

The teachers and staff took time during the week prior to the bunny hop to practice jumping and also hopped during their playground time for extra practice. The number of hops hopped ranged from 4 to over 100. Everyone had a great time as they hopped to help children who are sick like their friend and Rally Kid, Welles.

Thanks for checking out the Rally blog! I am Harrison’s Dad and the founder of the Tour De Harrison bike ride scheduled for June 20th! The event is a 10 mile family bike ride to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

This race means a lot to me so I encourage you to come out and ride, cheer or just celebrate Father’s Day with family and friends. Here is some more insight on why I started the Tour de Harrison ride and why it means so much to me.

Why a bike ride? My son Harrison learned to ride a 2 wheeler at age 4 which is early on the scale of development for a kid. He tackled the city sidewalks of Richmond’s Fan district learning to avoid giant sidewalk cracks, tree roots and craters. He even mastered riding ahead of me and stopping at corners as I walked the dog, read the paper, carried his little sister on my back. At 5, he received a much yearned for motocross style helmet which lead me to believe he was pretty much invincible.

His bike riding prowess coincided with Lance’s run of many Tour de France victories and we would rise every morning in July and read about the previous days’ race.

Harrison’s ability to balance on his bike, ride slow, ride fast, steer accurately, brake, and navigate was exceptionally developed for a little guy and would come in handy sooner than we thought…

For more information on Tour de Harrison or to register, CLICK HERE.

If you have never experienced a Rally event before, you can expect almost the same things every time: organization, eager volunteers proud to be wearing the Rally logo on their back and participants excited to be involved for the cause of childhood cancer research.

Saturday, March 15th was no different. Rally teamed up with Skirt Sports to host Atlanta’s first Skirt Chaser 5k, a unique competition that could be considered a “bachelor’s running event.” The idea is that the women start the 5k three minutes before the men. The men then attempt to “catch the skirts.” Not only do they attempt to catch the women, but they also pull off a sticker that women have conveniently placed on their hind end if they’re single. During the after events, the women attempt to find a man holding a sticker, already having an ice breaker to strike up a conversation. Like I said, it’s a very unique competition.

Aside from all of the enjoyable attractions Skirt Sports provides, such as energy drinks, protein shakes, and their fun and comfortable shirts and skirts, you still felt the Rally vibe. Any person wearing a blue shirt felt happiness in aiding the research in childhood cancer, excitement for being at such an event and hot from the scorching heat Mother Nature gave us on Saturday.

That’s the beauty of working with Rally. Their events are enjoyable for everyone while still accomplishing their main goal. No matter the conditions, whether it is like Saturday, hot and humid, or like the Lanier triathlon, cold and early, Rally always shows up with a smile on their face and a hard day’s work in mind. Pope High School National Honors Society will continue to be active and involved with the Rally Foundation, and encourage all others to volunteer, contributing to the funding of childhood cancer research.

By Hank Strmac, Pope High School National Honors Society

Would people come? That is the question that was on all of our minds as the night of our big fundraiser approached. The Rally NW team had many individual fundraisers planned; however, this was the big one. “A Night of Hope” involved almost 30 of our athletes, who canvassed more than 250 local businesses for donations of services and/or goods. The response from those businesses had been outstanding and we had so many great items. Ticket sales had been slow, however, and we were all very worried if there would be people at our event to buy all of those great items…

The event was held at the Talon Grill at the Hawks Prarie Golf Club in Lacey. Contrary to popular opinion, Western Washington can and does have beautiful weather. However, it appeared this day would not be one of them. But, just as our event got started the weather cleared up and it turned out to be a great evening.

Our attendees started the night out by grabbing the drink of their choice, munching on appetizers and strolling around looking at all the great items we had up for bidding. We had a short introduction to our event by the mayor of Olympia, Doug Mah.

This was followed up by a great video put together by Coach Jason. Next we had Rally Kid Rhema’s mom, Kirsten, who gave a touching speech on how Childhood Cancer has affected her family (for those who have not yet read Kirsten’s blog, please take the time to read it). Kirsten is a talented writer and speaker, and speaks from the heart. Later in the evening, a live auction was led by Coach Jason. Our MC and photographer for the evening was the husband/wife combo of Chris and Dena Curtis. They did an outstanding job for us and helped make the evening a great success.

By the way, people did come! We had an outstanding turnout with approximately 160 people. Those that attended had a great time and with their support we raised over $14,000! A big thanks to Kathi, Lani, and too many others to list that made the event such a success.
This event further solidified my belief that if you can get people’s attention on the need for funding and awareness for childhood cancer, they will step up and help. I feel this event did just that!!!

Thanks for reading,
Ron

On Mother’s Day I participated in my first race as a Rally Athlete. I was athlete #584 in the Danskin Triathlon – a women’s sprint triathlon held at Disney World.

My sister and I have done this race together 3 times – but this year when I was beginning my training, I learned that Madie, my friend’s 5th grade daughter, was fighting cancer. I decided to do this year’s race in Madie’s honor – and raise money for the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer research.

One thing you should know about me is that I am no elite athlete! I distinctly remember being called “slow” by a number of my elementary school peers – and was always picked last for the kickball teams. I became a triathlete (I still chuckle when I call myself that!) in honor of my own sister’s fight against breast cancer. She just celebrated 5 years of being cancer-free and is doing great.

This year I wanted to honor Madie’s courage – and felt really passionate about contributing to the fight against childhood cancer. My friend Nicole (who works for the Rally Foundation) told me that childhood cancers are different than adult cancers and need their own research. I wanted to raise some money to help!

My training began well – this was my year! But then 6 weeks before the race I tore a muscle in my back. Ouch! The pain was pretty intense and my doctor told me I ‘might’ still be able to do the race. Then 2 weeks before the race my left knee became painfully swollen and the doctor said ‘no running!.’ Aagh! I was so incredibly disappointed – but still determined to do the race.

I was really nervous the day of the race, but when I looked over and saw that a woman near me was going to race with only one leg, my fears just evaporated. I laughed out loud, and thought of Madie – and how much more courage she has than I do – and I got in the water. I did the race – swam great, biked pretty well, and ran very slowly – but I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment when I crossed the finish line!

There were so many cancer survivors (including my sister) standing next to me that day – proudly standing after a long fight, and I was so proud to stand with them! I am honored and humbled to have raced with these amazing women- in honor of such an amazing girl, Madie!

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The tragedy of childhood cancer has touched some of us very deeply. For my family it started on a dreary Friday in a non-descript hospital ER room when I heard the words every parent dreads, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, BUT….”

What followed those fateful words remains muddled in my mind to this day. What I did know was that my beautiful 12 year old daughter had a belly full of cancer and we were being immediately transferred to Seattle Children’s Hospital where she would undergo further testing and eventual treatment. What I did not know then was that my daughter had a very rare and aggressive pediatric cancer called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumors and would face the harshest chemo/surgery/radiation protocol available. As she suffered through the days and I became more knowledgeable about her cancer and childhood cancer in general, I was appalled to discover childhood cancer’s dirty little secrets.

For instance, everyday 46 children are diagnosed with pediatric cancer. 46! That fact never ceases to stun me. Of those children diagnosed with cancer, 7 eventually die from their cancers or their cancer treatments. Seven died yesterday, seven more today and seven more tomorrow and every single day after that. In fact, childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children in our country today. Number one! Of the survivors, fully 60% face one degree or another of after effects from cancer and its treatment. And for the final and most appalling secret of all………cancer research funds. Breast cancer receives far and away the most funding dollars at 13% and that excludes all of the privately raised monies it also enjoys. Childhood cancer??? Well, that is funded at less than 3%!!! It does not receive corporate funding, national support or big rallies dedicated to it. It is left up to lemonade stands and cookie bake sales put together by already strapped and exhausted families who desperately seek help for their children. These are dirty little secrets I want every American to know and seek to end.

Which brings me back to my daughter. Why do I Rally? What drives me? Rhema’ cancer is incredibly aggressive. Only 17% of children diagnosed with this cancer live 5 years out, cancer free. Her cancer is so rare that most hospitals have never treated a single case. So when you stop to consider that less that 3% figure previously quoted….what percent is left for my daughter’s cancer? What kind of research will it get? I’m afraid of the answer, honestly. As of this writing, my beautiful, charming, outspoken, funny little 13 year old daughter was officially found to have a new occurrence of her cancer. For this cancer, there is no standard protocol for when a child relapses. There is no cure and the only hope for her, for all the kids who follow her is a clinical trial. My own daughter has now become the guinea pig in a clinical trial. Although it is not targeted to her cancer specifically, it is targeted to the general family her cancer belongs to. Will this therapy prove to be wildly successful? Will it be the magic bullet that allows us a chance to enjoy watching her grow up into a beautiful, successful young woman? No one knows the answer to that. But what I do know is that if childhood cancer research had been better funded in the past, she may never have had to face these hard choices today. My hope for running for RallyNW and raising funds for childhood cancer research is that no family ever has to face to this unthinkable journey upon which we are now embarking.

Written by Kirsten Butler, mother of Rally Kid Rhema