Courageous Kidz

When I asked Debby Stephenson, known as Flash to her friends, to share a story or two about children who have been helped by Courageous Kidz, I did not expect to be hit with 20 pages of letters from the families of those children. That was two hours ago and it took this long to dry my tears, still my heart, and even be able to think about writing.

To a child with cancer, there is no such thing as a “normal” day. There are treatment days and post-treatment days and sick days and getting-through-it days, but the carefree days of just being a kid are few and far between.

Anyone who has experienced cancer, including me, can tell you that it is much more than a disease. When the word “cancer” is used in a sentence with your name or the name of your child, everything about your world changes. From that point forward, the Big C becomes the elephant in the room, dominating every choice. Thankfully, we have a strong medical community to treat the disease, but who treats everything else? I learned through my own experience that there is a huge difference between treating or curing the body and healing the person.

Thankfully, for kids with cancer in Charleston, SC there is Courageous Kidz.

You need to know this. I have been asking and asking for Debby to tell me how she became so passionate about helping children with cancer. Every time, she responds with stories about the children! For Debby, this is simply who she is. I suspect she would just curl up and expire herself if she could not help these kids.

Consider the story of Jessica Clark.

Jessica Clark is now 19 yrs old. She is a two time cancer survivor. At the age of 13 months, Jessica was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. She did several rounds of chemotherapy, but after going into remission for a while, she developed all sorts of health issues, including a heart condition, as a result of the chemotherapy. That required more surgery. But here’s the good news…she has now been in remission for over 10 years which to cancer patients usually signals “home free.”

Jessica reached her freshman year in high school and at the age of 15 was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Because of the location of the tumor surgery was not an option. Devastated Jessica took the one round of radiation therapy offered by her doctors and prayed for the best along with her family and friends.

We happily report that the tumor is gone. Jessica went on to graduate high school and is now a sophomore in college with a major in Pediatric Oncology. She I also a volunteer for Courageous Kidz and loves helping the children. She is truly a miracle and inspiration to many!!

Courageous Kidz provides a calendar packed with fun activities where kidz can meet new friends who understand what they are going through. Their mission is to provide year round unforgettable experiences for kids with cancer and their families in South Carolina. This organization supplies a much needed respite, mutual support and positive activities free of charge. Just hop over to their webpage and take a look at the photos of their Carowinds trip if you want to see a sea of smiling faces.

These Courageous Kidz are an inspiration to us all. Faced with the possibility of a short life span plagued with everything that goes along with cancer, they show us what it means to live courageously every day and motivate us to do the same. On their behalf I challenge YOU to live courageously.

PS - We'll figure out how to post the letters from the families and share those with you soon.