September is Childhood Cancer Month...and we're busy!

If you didn't know already, September is Childhood Cancer Month. A few facts: 

• Childhood cancers are the #1 disease killer of children.
• The National Cancer Institute’s federal budget=$4.6 billion. Pediatric cancers received less than 3% of it.  
• Overall, one out of every five children diagnosed with cancer dies. In some forms of cancer, as few as one out of every five children will live.. 
• The cause of most childhood cancers are unknown and at present, cannot be prevented.  In contrast, adult cancers result from lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, occupation, and other exposure to cancer-causing agents.
• Nationally, childhood cancer is 20 times more prevalent than pediatric AIDS yet pediatric AIDS receives four times the funding that childhood cancer receives.
• On the average, 12,500 children and adolescents in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer each year.
• In the U.S., about 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every single school day.

What can you do to help?

• Wear a gold ribbon to support childhood cancer.  Let's make Gold the new Pink!
• Attend fundraising and awareness events in your area.  There is a Cookies for Kids Cancer fundraiser in Carytown and one in Short Pump next Saturday (September 11th). 
• Contact your Senator or Congressperson and advocate in support of more research funding for pediatric cancer.  Visit the Advocacy section of our website for more information. 
• Support our friends at ReeseStrong by registering for their 5K race (and one mile kids run) on September 18th.  Proceeds will benefit Aileen Jones, a local girl fighting cancer. 

CJSTUF is gearing up for its second distribution of Financial Assistance Grants. Our next deadline is November 1st.  If you know of a family that has a child with a life-threatening, chronic illness that requires frequent hospitalizations, direct them to the application on our website.  The application process is short and simple.  We will give away another $5000 to 10 deserving families on December 1st.  Help spread the word.

As usual, the calendar is full of CJSTUF events and opportunities so LISTEN UP!  We don't want you to miss out on anything. 

Business of the Month: As many of you head back to school, our September business of the month is Kate Hall and her children's book Richmond Rocks.  This fun book designed for kids ages 4-8 years of age is full of photos and illustrations of some of the fabulous landmarks in the Richmond, VA area.  Kate is donating 30% of sales to CJSTUF during the month of September and we will have autographed copies of the book at Romp n' Roll-Mechanicsville.  The books sell for $15.70 (tax included). 

For more information about our Business of the Month or to get a sneak peek at our October businesses, go to our website for more details. 

Word on the street is that the Hokies are playing some football today. 

Word on the street is that the 'Canes fans are TROUNCING the Hokies fans in the Double Marathon Challenge. 

Roger is almost halfway to his $10K goal and the 'Canes fans (or non-Hokies fans) are leading the Hokies almost 2:1.  How can you help?  Download a PLEDGE FORM and take it to your next Game Watch party.  Make sure your pledges indicate VT or UM and submit pledges back to us as soon as possible so we can keep a running tally of the results.  

Speaking of which: does anybody have access to a turkey costume?  It would need to be something Roger could run in (we're thinking a headdress, fantail feathers for the "tail" and maybe something for the arms?).  Roger certainly doesn't want to run in VT colors but we want to be prepared all the same!

Finally: This may be last minute notice for some but we are having a small work party at our house tomorrow (Tuesday, 9/6) at 7 PM.  We will be assembling CJSTUF Swag Bags and making cards for families staying at the Houston Ronald McDonald House.  Bring your crafty creativity, come one, come all.  Email Rachel or Roger if you have questions or need directions.

 

 

Summer Wrap Up...but wait...there's more!

As usual, there is so much to talk about you don't know where to start.

I will start with the most recent and pressing news and push forward.  Don't forget as August comes to a close that Nichole Frise is selling her Mary Kay wares for CJSTUF.  Any orders placed before Tuesday will benefit CJSTUF.  Treat yourself to a makeover or stock up on holiday gifts. 

Speaking of our Business of the Month I will take this time to let you know that we are BOOKED through February with local and home-based businesses who will be doing their part for CJSTUF.  Every little bit helps and we are excited and appreciative to partner with local entrepreneurs.  A sneak peek towards September and October:

September's Business of the Month will be local author and RichmondMom.com entrepreneur extraordinaire Kate Hall sharing her childrens book Richmond Rocks.  More info to come in a future post but we will be selling signed copies of her book and a portion of the sales will come back to CJSTUF in September.  Woo hoo!

October's Business of the Month will be M.Chase Photography.  Do you need beautiful family portraits for those ubiquitous holiday cards?  This is a great opportunity!  More details on Madison's beautiful website but mark your calendars for October 16th or give her a call today to set up your own photo session.  

In running news: 
Roger will be trekking it through Ashland this Saturday for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon.  I have duties at Romp n' Roll so if you're in the area, come out to cheer for the Mother Runner. No official word yet on whether the ladies raised that $1K and got him the pink running skirt BUT if they do, this is not an event to be missed.  I hope someone has a camera.

Roger's essay recalling his inspiration for running is featured in the August newsletter on the Chicago Marathon website.  Out of hundreds of entrants to the contest (and thousands of entrants in the marathon), Roger's essay was one of about a dozen chosen.   Hope it results in some good PR for CJSTUF too!

This fall weather reminds us that it's almost FOOTBALL SEASON!  In fact, College Game Day is coming soon.  The UM and VT camps are running neck and turkey-neck in the fundraising efforts so here is your challenge: take a pledge form to your next tailgate/gamewatch/football party.  You don't have to be a Hokie or a Hurricane.  We want Cavaliers and Spiders and Tribesmen (women) and even those Seminoles (I shudder as I write that) to do their part in Roger's Double Marathon effort.  Every little bit helps!  Our goal is $10K and we're already almost halfway there. 

We've got some 'Canes over here!
(Whoosh-whoosh)

Now for a few moments of advocacy for some of our friends... 

The folks at Miras Movement contacted us about spreading the word regarding brain tumor research funding that is currently making its way through Congress.  If you are willing and able, please visit the Advocacy section of our website (it's new!) with information about WHY this bill is important and HOW you can contact your DC representatives to advocate for this important bill.  

ALSO our good friends at ReeseStrong are registering for the 2nd annual ReeseStrong 5K .  We were so fortunate to benefit from the event last year.  Much of the money that was raised for our cause actually became seed money for CJSTUF when we found it would not be necessary for medical bills.  This year, the Kids Run is benefitting a 9 year old girl named Aileen with a brain tumor.  Please register today for the race on September 18th!  Maybe we can have a butterfly brigade?!? 

Ok, I think that does it for our major news.  On a personal note, I was able to get away to Boone, NC for a few days and it was a great time for rest, relaxation, and reflection.  This has been a week of vacation for The Faison School so I'm using it as an opportunity to catch up on projects big and small. 

Thanks to everyone who braved the rain and wind for the ReeseStrong 5K yesterday.

Thanks to everyone who braved the rain and wind for the ReeseStrong 5K yesterday. I got there at the height of the rain and there were some great troopers out there. Big thanks to all the volunteers, organizers, and participants who made such a fun event happen.Roger has posted many pics on his Facebook site with the little princess. She and Reese hung out in the truck for most of the race after doing their obligatory princess waves and grand marshal duties. She went home to eat...and eat...and eat. I even made a late night (ok it was only 7 pm, but still...) run to Chick-Fil-A because the princess wanted chicken nuggets!She was in bed by about 8:30 and Roger and I were able to settle in and spend an evening together with a movie. Yay.She was awake, however, at 5:30 this morning!!! I got up with her and she watched tv downstairs for a while. I did get her some breakfast but she didn't eat anything. About 8 AM, she vomited. Yikes! We had every intention of taking her to church today but those plans got scrapped. No fever so we cleaned her up (good excuse to do some laundry) and my mom stayed home with her so I could go to church. Roger, of course, is off at Romp n' Roll doing his "thing".She fell asleep again around 9 and slept for most of the morning. Since I got home from church she's been eating some light stuff (cereal and crackers) and being kind of lazy. I'm hoping maybe she just over-did it the last few days.So my latest task today is to decrease the ENTROPY in the house. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it's a science term referring to chaos in a system. With props to my high school science teacher (Hooray, Mary Frances Aumiller!), the forces of ENERGY and ENTROPY are inversely proportional. As Mrs. Aumiller used to explain via a wonderful analogy, if you are busy and working and getting things done (increased ENERGY) there is usually less chaos and mess (decreased ENTROPY) but if you sit around on the couch all day or ignore your daily tasks and chores (decreased ENERGY), trash and clutter accumulates resulting in mass chaos (increased ENTROPY). So that is your chemistry lesson for the week. My house is MASS ENTROPY at the moment. Not dirty but cluttered and chaotic. When we don't have the energy (or time) to put things in their rightful place, chaos ensues. I must increase my energy to decrease the entropy...off I go.

Great day yesterday! We went to the field hockey game and saw the seniors honored (Yay, Walker and everyone!). They scored two goals early and seemed to have things well in hand so we left before the bad weather could really move in. Charlotte was as sociable as she'd been in a couple weeks. I got a few very good pics of her. Some are on my Facebook page already. More coming. The Lady-Jackets won 4-1!I really hope we can get together with the team again soon for a function of some kind. I think we should have a big party with the women's basketball team which has adopted Reese (we keep doing together and that's cool!Speaking of that, the Reesestrong 5k was wet but successful! We had lots of fun and even though the rain came down in buckets. Charlotte and Reese had their throne in the back of the pickup truck before the rain came and everyone had to come by and take pics and say hi. It was great and Charlotte did wonderfully. I think the fact that people were far enough away that they couldn’t get too much in her face helped keep her sociable.
The rain moved in and we moved Reese and Charlotte into the back seat of the truck where they remained for the rest of the event.
The Lollipop Kids Run had to be run in two waves and there were some great costumes! My personal favorites were the Cub Scout costumes until someone told me they were actual Cub Scouts! Imagine that! J
The adults lined up next and after a rendition of the National Anthem with a questionable lyric or two, the countdown was on. I left the Princesses in good hands (Reeses Daddy and Meredith among others) and zipped down to the starting line. I didn’t really decide to run until that morning and of course everything depended ion Charlotte who was actually happy as a clam hanging with Reese, eating pizza and other goodies. It’s almost as satisfying to see Reese come back into her own personality as it is to see the same in Charlotte. Reese is back to being perky, precocious, and calling me “really silly!” LOVE IT!
So I ran with the rest. My costume was the Romp n’ Roll referee shirt combined with a black cape that we have and I called myself “Count Ref-ula.” It was cute until the wind and rain came. The clothing got soaked and heavy and the wind pulled at the cape making me remember what Edna said in The Incredibles, “NO CAPES!”
Rachel came down from her conference in DC and made it before the end of the race. She has been at the finish of many of my races and it’s always nice when that happens.
What’s amazing about the run/walk is how many people were there and finished the race even with the rain. It was also great to see all the people who came out to support the runners, to volunteer and all that. Big “hats off” to the Mudds and everyone who put the event together. Can’t wait to see how big it gets next year!
The only downer to the weekend so far is that Charlotte was sick to her stomach this morning. It’s a little concerning but we think it’s most probably the barge-load of food she’s been eating the last few days. I’m at Birthday Bashes today and the last call I had was that she was sleeping.
For our Houston network, there is a friend of ours, Vincent Tickle, is in Houston now getting treatment so I’d appreciate if you’d reach out the his family to see if they need any help. Here’s his CB site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/vincenttickle
Thanks everyone.

Charlotte's race day!

Big day today!The Randolph-Macon College women's field hockey team play their last home game today at 2pm and Charlotte is going to be there to help celebrate Senior Day, weather permitting. It's cloudy and occasionally rainy but that's not too bad as long as the thunderstorms that are threatening clear out by then. (I don't do lightening very well)It's also the day of the Reesestrong 5k for Reese Klauer and Lollipop Kids' Run for Charlotte. We'll also try to be there at least for the send-off. Rumor has it, some old, fat, bald guy is going to sing the National Anthem. The rain won't stop the run. Go to reesestrong.org for more info.Then maybe after that we can actually gather as a family once again.Charlotte continues to improve. She ate like a horse yesterday and is "moving it through effeciently" (if ya know what I mean!).Everyone be careful on your travels through the rain today, not the least of whom is my lovely wife, headed down from DC.Happy Halloween week!

I'm thinking (hoping) we've made it over the hump.

I'm thinking (hoping) we've made it over the hump. Charlotte's appetite seemed to come back with a vengeance yesterday. She was eating and drinking a LOT and she only had a two hour nap yesterday. We continued the fluids overnight just to be safe, but I think we will skip them tonight. She ate two chicken strips from Chick Fil A, about 3-4 bowls of cereal, some fruit, a few cookies, and LOTS of chocolate milk and apple juice. I hope that this means that the somnolence syndrome is fading.We go in to see Dr. Khan tomorrow and I'm sure they will run numbers as well as take a look at all the other vitals. We just got a letter in the mail today telling us that her MRI has been scheduled for early morning on Friday, November 7th (a Friday). The countdown begins!She had a busy day at Romp n' Roll today. Roger stopped by with her in between running errands while I was teaching this morning and she decided that she wanted to stay. She didn't participate a lot in classes. In fact, Ms. Annette ended up becoming Charlotte's personal reader but then we went home for a mid-afternoon nap and came back to RNR this evening for princess class and two for 2's. She participated to the best of her ability and it's been good to see her trying.I heard that the ReeseStrong 5K got a great plug this morning on Lite 98 by Bill Bevins! What a great connection for getting the word out. We are very excited about the weekend's activities and it looks like the weather will cooperate.Big today tomorrow, including the arrival of granny and gramps!That's all for now,Rachel

The ReeseStrong 5K and Charlotte Lollipop Kids Run is this Saturday!!!

The ReeseStrong 5K and Charlotte Lollipop Kids Run is this Saturday!!! Are you ready?If you have not registered, you still have time! You can register online through Thursday at midnight at www.reesestrong.org OR in person at the packet pick up here in Royal Glen Friday from 4-7 or Saturday from 2-4. We have 274 people registered as of yesterday!IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE RACE/WALK - here are some things you may want to know:1) Packet pick up - Friday from 4-7pm OR Saturday from 2-4pm here in Royal Glen.2) Parking - I recommend carpooling if you can! There will be parking in the neighborhood on the streets of Royal Glen and there is a parking lot with some additional spaces as well. Overflow will be directed to a church just north of our neighborhood with a shuttle back to the neighborhood. I would shoot to be here no later than 3:30 and no earlier than 2 (we have another event in the neighborhood from 11-2).3) There will be a RAFFLE for some wonderful gifts and gift cards. If you would like to participate, please bring cash! We have restaurant gift cards, spa services, a big Longaberger basket - just to name a few...don't miss out!4) We are still in need of some volunteers - mostly to help guide runners during the race. If you can help out please let us know!This is gearing up to be a busy week. At the end of the week, I have a conference to attend in N. VA (Friday and Saturday) and then I will be rushing back here for the race. Granny and Gramps will arrive on Wednesday and we plan to immediately put them to work! Fortunately, this is a "no-Velcade" week for Charlotte. Her appetite has already picked up. She ate a good deal yesterday during her playdate at the Ferias. Lots of popcorn and chocolate milk. Then she came home and ate even MORE popcorn and chocolate milk. This morning, she ate 3 bowls of cereal! Now she is resting but she was up and awake at 3 AM (as was Roger...thanks, dear).I am hoping that maybe we are "over the hump" of this syndrome and maybe another week will have Charlotte back to normal. We have a visit with Dr. Khan on Wednesday. Plans are kind of up in the air for Saturday's race although we have every intention of having Charlotte there for the big day. Roger and I had a very nice date yesterday. We had planned to do dinner and a movie but we just ended up going to a LONG dinner and talking and then missed the movie times so we used the opportunity to walk off our huge meal and do some window shopping (and a little actual shopping) at Short Pump Mall. Gotta get a move on before the day runs away...Rachel

Register for Charlotte's Run!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!Registration for the ReeseStrong 5K, Family Walk, and Lollipop Kid’s Run for Charlotte has reached 211. To see the list of those who are participating, visit www.reesestrong.org/5k and click “See who’s participating.”

Although children and adults can register until the day of the event on October 24, children 12 and under will need to register by TODAY (Thursday, October 1) in order to have their names listed on the back of the event t-shirt.

To register, go to www.reesestrong.org/5k. From there, you can register online or print out a mail-in registration sheet. If you print out a registration sheet, please place it in our mailbox at 9465 Assembly Way in the Royal Glen subdivision. Registration sheets are also available at Romp n' Roll-Virginia Center (on Brook Road...Target Shopping Center)

Mimmos Pizza is hosting a fundraising night to benefit the Klauer and Reynolds families. On Tuesday October 6th, Mimmos will donate 10% of their sales. So please go out and enjoy a pizza on Tuesday.
Thanks, Y'all!!

Waiting for the Son of Epic

It was a VERY busy weekend so I apologize for the lack of update. I understand that Roger's "EPIC" is still in process. Please be patient. I do not think, as my aunt inquired, that we will be waiting for years a la the Harry Potter Franchise but let's hope the anticipation is worth it. (ha ha!!)Anyway, I did have a very nice birthday and if anyone local to Richmond has not checked out the Goochland Drive In, you should. It's great family fun!!! I also got some wonderful birthday messages and wishes throughout the day and the folks in NM sent me a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement that surprised me on Saturday. Saturday was super busy. We had an open house event at Romp n' Roll. Then, while I wasn't supposed to stay for the afternoon parties, I ended up needing to help because of an unexpected illness from one of our staffers. Roger had jetted off to Williamsburg for a Romp n' Roll appearance at a FACES event so I helped the birthday staff. Charlotte was a DREAM. She sat and read books in the lobby during both parties. She also had some special visitors who stopped by the Klauer organized bake sale. She was great!The bake sale was a HUGE success and thanks to all who showed up. I understand they made $500 for pediatric cancer research! Yay!Anyway, after Romp n' Roll we zipped over to the Inflatable Palace for Anja's birthday party. Charlotte got to see lots of her preschool friends and I think she had a good time. Roger even suited up to try the velcro wall! Hilarious!We crashed Saturday night. Sunday was a picnic at church. It was so nice to see everyone as it had been MONTHS (literally) since we had been able to come to church. The weather was beautiful, the food was yummy, and the fellowship was divine. Then I trotted off to do some paperwork at Romp n' Roll. Roger and Charlotte met up with me there and we all trekked to the Children's Museum for the Kourageous Kids ceremony. Charlotte was honored by ASK as one of about 22 (?) Kourageous Kids who have been receiving treatment for cancer at MCV during the past year. She had her picture taken by Commonwealth Photography back in May and all the kids' pictures are on display at the museum for the rest of September. Please stop by to check it out! The event featured ice cream, popcorn, the Maggie Walker Governor's School Jazz Band, clowns, face painting, and a lovely ceremony honoring the kids. We got to see some of the "regulars" with whom we commisserate from week to week in clinic. Then the kids got to play in the museum for about an hour. Back home Sunday night to do some prep work for the week ahead and then we all crashed. Now it's off to OT, clinic, and work...busy day ahead.Before I forget, don't forget to register NOW for the ReeseStrong 5K and Charlotte Reynolds Lollipop Kids Run on October 24th! You can register at ReeseStrong.org OR we have registration forms and information at Romp n' Roll. Any kids who register by October 1st will get their NAMES on the t-shirt!!!Gotta run. Busy day ahead....

Pretty good day today

Pretty good day today. It's still hot and humid as hell. I think that's my biggest complaint. (Can you do anything about that, God?) Otherwise, a good day.Proton was at 10 today so not too early but not too late in the day. I got the princess up around 8-ish and she was NOT happy. First of all, she slept in her scrubs (didn't want to put on PJs), which was fine, but she also didn't want to change her clothes, change her diaper, or have her teeth brushed. And her breath STANK!!! Unfortunately, there was no arguing with her, so Grumpy and I just left RMH as-is. We trekked over to MDA first because I had an important mission. Many of you know how rabid I can be about recycling. I'm not a raging environmentalist, but I try to recycle as much as possible. We even recycle at RNR (We collect all the cardboard, glass, plastic, cans, etc. and haul it back to my house to put in with our home recycling). I just refuse to let REFUSE that can be recycled go in a landfill. I think it's a pretty easy thing to do if you're organized about it and have a place in which it can be deposited. It just takes a little effort. And, yes, I feel INCREDIBLY guilty about Charlotte's diapers. If I knew we would be back in diapers at this age, I would have started cloth a long time ago!!Anyway, I digress. So RMH doesn't recycle. They have ONE container for aluminum cans but even that isn't well marked so people even throw the aluminum cans in the trash. The dumpster fills up every day with plastic bottles, cardboard, glass, mixed paper. AGH! They DO recycle at MDA in the cafeteria and a few other select places so I've been trying to take at least the plastic bottles that I have personally used and deposit them in the recycle bin there. So if anyone in the Houston area wants a pet project, maybe they could work with RMH to get some kind of recycling program going? Sounds like a great Eagle scout project to me. I know that some places will even get their own recycling dumpsters on their property and then get income from the recycling material once it is hauled to a recycling center. I don't know if that can be done here, but it's worth looking into. So Walter Johnson was our shuttle driver again and he took us over to the proton center. Once that was done, I decided not to brave the heat and just hang out until the 12:30 shuttle from RMH. There were two adult patients "graduating" today so there was food for celebration. Charlotte really enjoyed noshing on some brownies and was telling all the little old ladies her mantra ("chocolate makes everything better").Then the RMH shuttle driver came to pick us up and we headed back to the house. We've been here all day, alternating between spending quiet time in our room and socializing with the other kids downstairs. It was a quiet but good day. This was one of those rare days where there was no group coming in to provide a meal so we were on our own. I didn't make it to the grocery store as I had intended so I got "creative" with my dinner. Here was my recipe:1 can of chicken breast (drained and cut up)1 package of frozen broccoli (steamed and cut up)mix chicken and broccoli in a bowl with black pepper and garlic/herb seasoningadd fettucine alfredo noodles from a frozen dinner left in the community freezerI made a meal that was big enough to feed three people and the 770 calorie, 46 gram of fat frozen dinner became instantly healthier when I ate less than 1/3 of the pasta and sauce and just added chicken and veggies. And now I have leftovers for tomorrow or the weekend. I love it when I can make a meal like that. Big news on the fundraising front: looks like the concert series tonight raised about $250 for us. Thanks to everyone who came out. I will let Roger name our specific angels since I missed it all...ALSO, the ReeseStrong 5K and Charlotte Reynolds Lollipop Kids Run is starting registration. You can go HERE for more information or also go to www.reesestrong.org On that note, once we get back from Texas, I want to jump more seriously in getting CJSTUF (CJs Thumbs Up Foundation) officially up and running. Our friend Colleen has developed a logo that I love and will be used in our upcoming website (still in progress). We will need to set wheels in motion to officially launch the foundation so if anyone wants to lend their expertise in that, please throw your hat into the ring. We are not 100% sure yet what the charitable "focus" of CJSTUF will be, but that's part of what the Foundation and its board will determine. I will sign off now as I need to get the princess in bed. I finally convinced her to take a bath although I did NOT succeed in getting the teeth brushed. I pick my battles....Think energetic thoughts for Roger. He has a long day tomorrow again.