Rise to Action, a conference series that aims to help young adult survivors of childhood cancer explore topics relevant to their long-term health care and survivorship, is coming to New York City on October 6 - 7. The conference series is hosted by the Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy (CCCA).

The Rise to Action conference will be held at the Harvard Club is is free for young adult survivors, age 18-25, and their families. The conference will feature sessions on issues such as health insurance, fertility concerns, employment challenges and education transitions, in addition to other topics.

For more information and to register see the Children's Cause website or email RTA-NY@childrenscause.org.

In 2000, Alexandra Scott, 4, known as Alex, came up with the idea of starting a lemonade stand to raise money to help her cancer doctors find a cure for kids with cancer. With the help of her older brother, Patrick, they set up Alex's first lemonade stand for pediatric cancer on the front lawn. For the next four years, Alex held an annual lemonade stand fundraiser for childhood cancer research. Since then, Alex's idea has caught on, and thousands of lemonade stands have been held across the country by children, schools, businesses, and organizations, all to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer. As of December 2005, her national campaign has raised over $5 million for pediatric cancer research.

On August 1, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of 8 after battling cancer for 7 ½ years. In this world, bad happens to the good and innocent all the time. You can choose to be bitter, cynical and dark, or you can choose to meet the bad with the goodness of hope and light. A little girl had the spirit and wisdom to know, that when life gives you lemons -- you make lemonade.

Last week, the postponement of the final ten dates of U2's Vertigo '06 tour was announced, due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band. Speculation for the cause of the postponement pointed to U2 guitar player Dave Evans, The Edge, seven-year-old daughter Sian, who has leukemia. However, the only public comment Evans has made regarding Sian, his daughter, was in February, when he dedicated one of U2's Grammy Awards to her.

Today, Bono made an official public announcement that U2 will reschedule the postponed shows for November.

As to why the shows were cancelled, "I can't really get into details why," Bono said. "There was a lot of distress and angst." Bono promised that the rescheduled shows would be something special. "It will be the only time, you know, we get a chance to play these songs for a long time, it will be extraordinary."

If the tour was temporarily postponed due to Sian Evans leukemia, it is clear that U2 and the Evans family do not wish to go into detail with the public the very private and often painful moments a family faces when a child is struggling to overcome cancer. Out of respect, I am going with Bono's public announcement, and leaving it at that. We wish the Evans family, and little Sian, only the best for now, and into the future.

The tour promoter of The Next Adventure has announced the postponement of the final ten dates of U2's Vertigo '06 tour, due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band. New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii fans will be affected by the cancellation of these show dates. In January, The Irish Voice newspaper reported that U2 guitar player Dave Evans, The Edge, seven-year-old daughter Sian was diagnosed with leukemia. The only public comment Evans has made regarding Sian, his daughter, was in February, when he dedicated one of U2's Grammy Awards to her. Speculation surrounding the postponement of the remainder of U2's Vertigo '06 tour is that Dave Evans was called home to be at his daughter's bedside. Our prayers are with the Evans family, as we hope only the best for little Sian. In 2001, Bono lost his father to cancer.

In 1948, Einar Gustafson, 12, was a child being treated for cancer by Dr. Sidney Farber, considered a pioneer of modern chemotherapy. Gustafson was selected to speak on Ralph Edwards national radio program, "Truth or Consequences," and to protect his privacy, was simply called "Jimmy" for the broadcast. During the national broadcast, held in the boy's hospital room, Gustafson visited with his heroes from the Braves baseball team, as they stood by his hospital bed. The show raised more than $200,000 dollars from listeners to the benefit of Dr. Farber's research and Children's Cancer Research Foundation. The Jimmy Fund was born.

Einar "Jimmy" Gustafson went on to make many public appearances at The Jimmy Fund events, and was considered an inspiration to many people in New England. Then Gustafson disappeared. For years, everyone at the Children's Cancer Research Foundation, renamed the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, believed the boy had died, because cure rates for pediatric cancers were so low during the era in which he was treated. Gustafson remained anonymous until 1998, the 50th anniversary of the original radio broadcast.

After his return to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Gustafson went from years of public anonymity to celebrity status. People Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and newspapers nationwide, told the story of Einar "Jimmy" Gustafson. He was named honorary chairman of The Jimmy Fund. Today, The Jimmy Fund, working toward "a world without cancer," enjoys the major fundraising efforts of the Boston Red Sox, Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston, The Pan-Massachusetts cross-state bicycle ride, Challenge Scooper Bowl ice cream extravaganza, The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, and many other organizations who raise funds for the charity. Great things can happen from the simplest of beginnings.

On March 23, 2006, at the Mid-America Truck Show in Louisville, Ky, Speedco, Inc. will host "Tribute to the American Trucker," an event to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. All proceeds from the show go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make-A-Wish Foundation grants wishes to children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses by creating an experience of hope, strength, and joy through the granting of a child's wish. Guests to the event who make a $10 dollar donation will attend the unveiling of the Speedco Chopper, a custom bike built by Paul Sr., Paul Jr. and Mikey Teutuls of Orange County Choppers and stars of the Discovery Channel cable show American Chopper.

The Teutuls are no strangers to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last Christmas, they built a custom Make-A-Wish chopper and gave presents to nearly 50 wish kids at a special holiday party. Earlier in October, the Make-A-Wish Foundation honored the Teutuls with the Chris Greicius Celebrity Wish Granter of the Year Award for the generosity they have shown to the foundation and wish kids.

“It's hard to imagine a family with a more generous spirit. They didn't just make an incredible chopper — they delighted our wish kids and made this a special afternoon for each of them,” said Make-A-Wish National Board Chairman Carl Hansson.

Paul Sr. and Mikey Teutuls will be delivering the Speedco Chopper during the "Tribute to the American Trucker" event. If interested, you can get a VIP pass by visiting any Speedco location and making a $10 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In 2004, Michael Friedman, 15, was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He underwent two surgeries, seven rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, and radiation therapy, which caused his liver to fail. Friedman spent weeks in the hospital due to surgeries, chemotherapy and liver failure. For a teen, it was boring. To take his mind off the treatments and dwelling on an uncertain future, he distracted himself from his circumstances by watching DVD's and playing handheld video games.

During his cancer remission, the Make-A-Wish Foundation offered Friedman the chance to have one wish come true. Any wish. He told the foundation his wish was to start his own foundation, The Mikey's Way Foundation, with the mission of providing, at no cost, high-tech, interactive electronic toys and games to hospitalized pediatric cancer patients and computers, printers and other electronic equipment to the hospitals that treat children with cancer.

"Anything to distract them from the fact that they're in the hospital, they're sick, they're not feeling well," Friedman said. "It really makes an impact on the lives of these kids."

The Mikey's Way Foundation was launched, and he distributed his first gifts in December 2005. Friedman has suffered a cancer relapse, but remains focused on helping others. Now during hospital stays and cancer treatments, as CEO of The Mikey's Way Foundation, he spends his time thinking of ways to make the foundation grow.

Camp Sunshine is a free retreat for children with life threatening illnesses and their families. The camp has the distinction of being the only one of its kind in the nation, because it considers the impact and serves the needs of every member of the immediate family, when a child is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Over 16,000 families have been able to have fun, relax and find solace in the haven of these week-long camps.

Accommodations and meals; onsite medical services including a physician and medical staff; and counseling services are all provided at the camp. The camp is staffed by dedicated volunteers, who come back each year to make the camp the special place it is for families. Each family is sponsored by an individual, civic group, corporation, or foundation, which enables the family to spend a carefree week at the camp.

For a week, families can remember the simple joys of having fun as a family, before the devastating diagnosis of a child's life-threatening illness cast its shadow on a more innocent family time. Together, at Camp Sunshine, families have the opportunity to reconnect and heal.

The Climb For Cancer Foundation's 50-50-1 stands for 50 states, 50 peaks, and 1 goal, a nationwide mountain climbing event planned for June 24, 2006 as a fundraiser to give children with cancer and their families an opportunity to attend Camp Sunshine, and to raise money for continuing research into finding a cure for cancer. On the day of the scheduled event, climbing teams will scale the highest mountain peaks in each of the nation's 50 states.

The Climb For Cancer Foundation reflects the combination of founders Ron Farb's desire for adventure in mountain climbing with Dianne Farb's and his commitment to working towards finding a cure for cancer in their lifetime. To date, Farb has climbed five of seven summits, choosing the highest mountain in each of seven continents, and has raised over $300,000 for cancer research. In 2001, the American Cancer Society recognized Farb's hard work and dedication by presenting him with the Excalibur Award. The goal of 50-50-1 is for each team, in each state, to raise $5,000. Farb is looking for climbing teams and sponsors for this event. If you are interested, contact 50-50-1.

Charlie Marr, 12, and Isabelle Richmond, 13, have signed on to climb the highest peak in their home states. Marr says, "I hope someday that all kids with cancer are healthy enough to climb the highest peak in their state. Most importantly, I want kids with cancer to know everyone cares about people with the disease." We want that too.

Successful long-term childhood cancer survival is creating a whole new set of questions without answers. One of the questions researchers will try to answer is whether of not children with cancer, traditionally treated with high-dose chemotherapy and radiation, will pass on inherited health risks to their children when they become parents. The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $4 million dollar grant to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and an international team of researchers, to begin a five-year study of this issue. According to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, thirty years ago, the focus was a singular one of treatment and survival for children, and because of treatment success, there are approximately 270,000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States today. Now long-term quality of life issues need to be understood.

Here's an exponential idea. What if, each time someone did a good deed for someone else, the good deed was paid back by paying it forward to three additional people? In turn, each day, each person, having received a good deed, did a good deed for three more people. According to the Pay It Forward Movement, based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, in just two weeks 4,782,969 people will have been touched by the pay it forward principle. In cancer awareness for the needs of cancer patients, there are many who live by example with generosity and giving.

• At Alvin Primary in Alvin, Texas, one of Missy Nichols third grade student class projects was collecting change for "Pennies for Patients." In three weeks, they collected over $1500.00 for a charity organization for children with leukemia.
  

• Megan Bahnmiller, age 8, decided three years ago to grow her hair out for the purpose of having it all cut off. Megan is donating her hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that gives hairpieces to financially disadvantaged kids suffering from long-term medical hair loss. Approximately 8,000 people a month nationwide donate hair to Locks of Love, with 80 percent of donations coming from children.

• Leena Bourne, age 11, started Leena’s Love Beads for Leukemia. Realizing the costs of her father's cancer treatment medications and the amount of money that is needed for cancer research, Leena started making bead bracelets and selling them. Within one year, she presented a check to the Canadian Cancer Society for $6000.

• Natalie Kehl, was 12 years old when she had a skin cancer scare. As a result of her experience, she created and distributed sun-safety kits to 117 schools. She speaks at many events, and has organized fundraisers for the purchase of a new MRI machine for the Windsor Cancer Centre.

• At Highlawn Elementary, Ms. Clemons fourth grade class donated 2,000 hats, scarves and stuffed animals to Where Love Grows, for children with cancer.

Good people, good deeds and good news deserve all the appreciative recognition the world can give them. Do you know of a person, or group project, that has benefited cancer patients or the cancer community? You are invited to share their story in the comment area following this post. 

International Childhood Cancer Day is a day designated to raise awareness of children with cancer. With the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organizations, ICCCPO, 65 countries worldwide will observe International Childhood Cancer Day with fundraising and media events. According to the ICCCPO, 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer live in developing countries, and estimates that up to 100,000 children die needlessly from cancer each year because they lack access to optimal treatment. The goal of International Childhood Cancer Day is to bring about the changes necessary to insure all children receive early cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment. ICCCPO was founded in May 1994 in Valencia, Spain, and is a worldwide network of organizations of parents of children with cancer. As part of International Childhood Cancer Day February 2005, children from around the world were invited to take photos of their hospital, as they see it. Through My Eyes was such a success, once again the ICCCPO is inviting children worldwide to submit photos.

What can you do to observe International Childhood Cancer Day? Some ideas are: wear a gold ribbon on your lapel, the official symbol and color of children with cancer worldwide; ask your child's school to recognize the month with a fundraiser or to include information in the school newsletter or website; contact your local library and ask them to feature books about childhood cancer; or write a letter to your local newspaper that informs readers about childhood cancer.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, a cancer cluster is defined as a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time. Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I never stopped to wonder if I was living in a cancer cluster area. This is a brief list, from 1 in 9, of famous cancer clusters:

Tom’s River, New Jersey: 103 children are part of the nation’s largest cancer cluster. 4,500 drums of toxic liquid were dumped at a nearby landfill.

Woburn, Massachusetts: 21 children diagnosed with leukemia at the time the town’s drinking water was found to be contaminated by a hazardous waste deep-injection well.

Hinkley, California: cancer cluster chromium from the utility winding up in the residents’ well water. This was the site used in the movie, Erin Brockovich.

Oak Park, Illinois, 1989: four children in a small town of 12,000 diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer usually striking 9 in a million, living nearby a toxic stew of coal tars left behind by a manufacturing plant 70 years prior.

Niagara, Canada (“Love Canal”) 1979: A federal report indicates a 1in 10 chance of residents contracting cancer, thousands of toxic chemicals were buried on-site 20 years prior.

Fallon, Nevada 2001: Fourteen cases of leukemia in children in the past three years, adjacent to an old mining area containing arsenic and mercury.

I do not live there now, but I lived in a famous cancer cluster area without realizing it was considered a cancer cluster area. I discovered this information after my breast cancer diagnosis, by accident, while researching breast cancer information. Imagine my initial shock and stunned realization as I began to slowly wonder if it might have been a factor in the development of my disease. It is not likely I will ever have definitive proof of the origin of my cancer. But it does make me wonder. It will always make me wonder.

If you are interested in finding information about the possible dangers where you live, because finding out on your own is possibly the only way you are going to find out about it, check the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List Sites for your state. You can access information about current site listings, proposed site listings, and final site listings.