We are very fortunate to be surrounded by a very large, loving and supportive family as well as many loving and supportive friends.  The question 'is there anything we can do?' was a frequently asked question when Andy was diagnosed.  I can answer that question much better now than I could then.

Free and Relatively Easy

1. Pray for Andy and all the sick kids and their families. Pray for the families that lost their children.

2. Donate blood and platelets -  This helps many, many people.  Chemotherapy clobbers blood cells when it clobbers cancer cells.  Andy needed 3 red blood transfusions and 1 platelet transfusion.  Most kids with cancer require even more.

3. Register with the National Bone Marrow Registry -  Andy did not need and probably will never need a bone marrow transplant but many children with cancer do. There are kids with leukemia and other bone marrow problems that are waiting for marrow from an unrelated donor.  You can register when you donate blood.  To fnd a center go to

http://www.marrow.org/index.html

4. If you are a pregnant woman consider donating the cord blood.  For more information about cord blood donation go to

http://www.bmtinfo.org/bmt/topics/htm/wag_bas1.html

To find a center go to

http://www.marrow.org/NMDP/cord_blood_bank_list.html/topics/htm/wag_bas1.html

Consider these organizations when you are making charitable donations

National Childhood Cancer Foundation

The NCCF is the exclusive fund raising

foundation and grantee organization for Children's Oncology Group.  The COG does the research for and creates the protocols for treating almost all children with cancer in North America. COG was recently created by a merger of Children's Cancer Group, Pediatric Oncology group,  the Intergroup Rhabdomyoscarcoma Study Group and the National Wilm's Tumor Study Group. NWTS is the group that designed the protocol for Andy's cancer.

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

You can donate to their free care fund which helps

pay for the care of uninsured or under insured kids.  You can also donate directly to the hematology/oncology department.  This is the department that was and is directly responsible for Andy's care.  They are a member of COG also do research on Childhood Cancers.

Make-a-Wish of Western Pa

They grant wishes to children with life threatening

illnesses regardless of family income.  They granted Andy's wish to go to Orlando and Animal Kingdom.  They arranged things we would not have been able to arrange had we gone on our own.  It was a bright spot in this whole experience that I think Andy will alway remember.

Give Kids the World

This is a resort in Orlando, Florida for kids with life threatening

illnesses.  You really have to check out their website.  They do a terrific job.

Candlelighters of Western Pa

and

National Candlelighters

Candlelighters is a group of

parents of kids with cancer that provides support for the families and other parents of kids with cancer.

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