LowDigitTags.com, B+ Racing driver Al Carter and the ultra popular Dewey Beach bar, The Starboard Restaurant, have come up with a very cool way to help B+ fight childhood cancers. The line to get into The Starboard at certain times is legendary. Well, not with the VIP Black Tag! Just like last year, there will be 25 numbered VIP metal cards made that will allow the bearer and their guest the opportunity to bypass the line and walk right into the bar/restaurant through a VIP line. It’s the ultimate in Dewey Beach status and it gets you right in!

From now until this coming Saturday, the 25 VIP Black Tags are available for auction on eBay. The auction will close on Saturday, May 18th with a fundraiser at The Starboard. BID on your favorite number & win your VIP Black Tag at http://bit.ly/12ya7vF

Help us fight childhood cancer while having some fun in the process.  Time is running out…spread the word!

B+

Ali & Andrew’s Dad

www.Caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough

If you didn’t get a chance to read Ali’s update from Wed. May 8th ( www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough) , you might find it worth your time.  I’m obviously biased, but she expresses herself so well and I think you’ll find her insights very interesting.

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Featured Family of the Week

Today, I’d like to introduce you to beautiful little Sapphire.  Sapphire is battling leukemia.  One week before Sapphire’s diagnosis, her Mom, Summar, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer!  On the back of this picture, Summar wrote “Our family is so grateful for the recent gift from The B+ Foundation.  We are so appreciative of the kindness of your donors…what a difference such a contribution can make.”  As their card says “Our Journey Has Begun…”…thank you B+ Nation for helping Summar and Sapphire’s journey just a little bit easier.

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“Kids Helping Kids Fight Cancer” Bake Sale – Sat. May 11th

Two local families – the Munch and Gramiak kids - are back at it for their 2nd annual “Kids Helping Kids Fight Cancer Bake Sale” to benefit The B+ Foundation.  For those of you in Delaware, you know that the Wilmington Flower Market is going on this weekend and these kids are no dummies.  They are setting up their stand on the corner of their street (19th & Brinckle) which just happens to be across from Rockford Park, the site of the Flower Market. So, if you’re going to the Flower Market, please swing by the “Kids Helping Kids Fight Cancer Bake Sale”.  Pick up some treats for Mom!

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B+ Running Team – Delaware Marathon

This Sunday, we will have 26 runners of the B+ Running Team participating in the Delaware Marathon/Half Marathon.  Twenty-four will be running the half and Shelli Lynch and Adam Levine are crazy enough to run the full marathon!  The team has done an amazing job raising awareness and money to help us fight childhood cancer.  We had a great time last fall at the Hamptons Marathon and I’m confident that this weekend will be even better.  Come out and cheer on our runners…you’ll recognize them with their cool-looking, gold B+ Running Team shirts.  Think about joining our team for future half or full marathons…we have seasoned veterans and first-timers.

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North Star Elementary School

I enjoy going around the region – and country- talking to groups about the battle against childhood cancer and what it means to “Live Like Andrew” and “Be Positive”.  It’s a message that we can all appreciate.  I especially enjoy speaking with kids and I had the privilege of returning for the 4th year in a row for a visit with the 5th graders at North Star Elementary School in Hockessin, DE.  I applaud the teachers and administration at North Star for incorporating an annual service project into the 5th grade curriculum.  For the past few years, the 5th graders have raised between $3,000-$4,000 for The B+ Foundation by doing extra chores at home and seeking support from local businesses.  The kids really embrace the notion of “Kids Helping Kids Fight Cancer”.  If you’re reading this from Montana or Texas or England, please give this some thought.  This idea works anywhere.  Thank you, North Star Elementary School!

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Introduction to a New B+ Hero – Taylor Helland

Please take a few minutes today and visit Taylor Helland’s Caringbridge site and show her some love and support from the B+ Nation.  Taylor is a beautiful young Texan who battled through 12 rounds of chemo for colon cancer.  Unfortunately, her cancer has returned as two large tumors were found in her abdomen last September.  She was originally treated at Cook Children’s Hospital in Ft. Worth and is now at MD Anderson in Houston, both hospitals where we’ve helped a lot of families.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/taylorhelland

Taylor’s doctor is involved in some very exciting research into Taylor’s cancer and was in need of funding to move forward with her work.  The local high school raised $15,000 but that left a $20,000 shortfall.  Thanks to your generous support, The B+ Foundation reviewed this research and we decided to give a $20,000 grant to this doctor/investigator at MD Anderson so that the study can move forward.  Please keep Taylor, her family, and all of the researchers in your prayers.

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Thank You Brooklyn College and SUNY- New Paltz

This past weekend, we had inaugural B+ events at both Brooklyn College and the State University of New York- New Paltz.  We thank all of the students for embracing our cause and increasing awareness and money for our battle for the kids!  Can’t wait for next year’s events!

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Mom and I know she’s watching over us from Heaven.  Ali and Andrew are also so blessed to have Chris as a Mom.  She inspires me every day!

MAKE it a great weekend!

B+

Ali & Andrew’s Dad

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough

Chris & Ali got dressed up in ’50′s attire to join the Real Charitable Housewives of Delaware’s “Fabulous Fifties Mom Prom” to benefit The B+ Foundation.  We only stayed for a short while but the ladies did an AMAZING job (as always) decorating the place and everyone seemed to be having a blast.  Thank you, Real Charitable Housewives of Delaware for, once again, caring about our kids with cancer and honoring B+ Hero, Dane Johnson, this year.

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Andrew IS My Son

Tomorrow, I will be doing a 30 minute interview on Sirius Radio on a show called “Dr. Radio”.  It is a show hosted by two NYU doctors.  The reason that I bring this up is to share a comment from the pre-show prep call that I received the other day.  The woman was very nice and she asked me a question that I get pretty frequently –  ”WAS Andrew your son?”  To which, I replied “Yes, and he still IS.”  I don’t mean to be difficult and I don’t mean to make her – or anyone- uncomfortable, but the death of my son does not break the relationship between parent and child or sibling and sibling.  I proudly say that Andrew WAS, IS, and FOREVER will be my son.

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Fun Facts

Did you know that the B+ Journal Updates on www.BePositive.org,  www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough, and Facebook are read by people in over 20 countries?  The Top 5 countries are the US, UK, Canada, Spain, and Mexico, followed closely by Australia, India, Italy, Germany, and Norway.

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Featured Family

Tyler B. is a 16 year old boy battling Ewing’s Sarcoma.  I thought you might like to see the nice note that Tyler’s family sent to us:

“Dear B+ Foundation,

I don’t think there are words that could express how thankful we are for the check.  Like all families dealing with cancer, in one moment, our lives changed forever.  I used to think the hardest job as a parent was to raise a good, caring, loving, respectful child.  I was wrong.  Watching your child sick and fighting cancer is by far the hardest thing to do.  With all that cancer takes from a family, there is something that if not for our son having gotten it, we might never have known; amazing love and support.  We have been so blessed by not just family and friends but by the kindness of strangers.  I would like to think that we were good people before this happened, but I can tell you we will be better people after this.

When our journey is over and life returns to normal or maybe I should say our next ‘new normal’, I can promise you that we will remember your support and will be one of your donors for another family who will someday have their journey.  Much thanks.”

Thank you, Tyler’s family, and stay strong.

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Live Like Andrew!

B+

Ali & Andrew’s Dad

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough

It’s always hard to follow Ali’s beautifully-written updates.

First, on a personal level, thank you all very much for the kind sentiments expressed in response to Chris’ recent diagnosis.  Chris had her first round of chemo last Wed. and she’s doing well.  As many of you have said, it seems like we’ve had more than our share of cancer.  And, yes, the three of us were very shocked to be thrown back into a cancer battle again.  But, as I’ve said before, ‘it is what it is’.  And, we will fight.  What choice do we have?  And, we will win!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

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Alliance for Childhood Cancer Action Days

Now back to the world of childhood cancer (which, by the way, is where Chris wants the focus to be), I was in Northern VA this past Tuesday for the semi-annual meeting of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer.  The Alliance is a group of 24 organizations, half “professional” (i.e. American Academy of Pediatrics) and half “charity” organizations (i.e. B+ Fdn, American Cancer Society, St. Baldrick’s).  The organization’s focus is largely on policy issues and influencing legislation in Washington.  Registration is now open for Action Days on June 17-18.  June 17th is a training day and we will hit Capitol Hill on June 18th to let our voices be heard.  If you’re interested in joining us, please register here.  Also, please email me at Joe@LiveLikeAndrew.org to let me know that you’ll be joining us.  Thanks.

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B+ Sibling Hero & Friends 3rd Annual Kids Fighting Cancer Bake Sale

Thank you to B+ Sibling Hero, Casey Callahan, and her friends for organizing their 3rd Annual Kids Fighting Cancer B+ Bake Sale fundraiser in Aston, PA.  The girls, with a little help from the parents , raised $460!!!

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7th Annual B+ Fighting Childhood Cancer 5k Run/Walk

Who’s ready to run?  or walk?

Create a team or sign up as an individual participant today!  Help us reach the $100,000 mark again this year.

It’s so easy to do.  Just forward the donation email that we provide to all your friends, co-workers, family, etc.  Even if they don’t donate, you’ve helped us spread awareness for childhood cancer.  Take a page from Casey’s book above.  Organize a bake sale, a Jeans Day at work, get creative!!!  There will be prizes for the Largest Team and the Top Fundraising Team…and, of course, a TON of free food!  And, as always, we will honor our B+ Heroes and their families!!!

Start collecting your spare change at work, school, and the office because we will have TD Bank’s Mobile Penny Arcade this year to collect donations to add to our totals.

Thurs. June 20th 6:45pm

Salesianum School in Wilmington

Sign up today by clicking here.

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Featured Family of the Week

Allow me to introduce you to 4 year old, Trenton.  This little guy lives in Alabama and was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) last year, just 3 days after Christmas.  At diagnosis, Trenton was living with Mom and Dad and, while not rich, they were keeping their heads above water and paying all their bills.  A month into treatment, “his mother said she was not able to care for Trenton and left town”.  Your first thought is probably ‘how can this mother abandon her son at a time when he needs her?’.  How can any parent – mother or father- walk away from their child at a time like this?  I have no idea.  This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this on an application, though.  Let me share with you the practical implications of the Mom’s actions.  Their income was initially cut virtually in half.  Next, Trenton’s Dad, now the sole caregiver, was taking Trenton to all of his appointments and, you guessed it, was “laid off” from his job.  So now, Trenton and his Dad are receiving temporary government assistance and Dad is trying his best to prevent eviction from their apartment while caring for Trenton and looking for new work.

Thanks to your support, your B+ Foundation was able to step in and help Trenton’s Dad with some financial assistance.

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Thank for your continued support of The B+ Foundation and our family!

Live Like Andrew….and CHRIS! 

B+

Proud to be,

Ali & Andrew’s Dad and Chris’ husband

www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough

Ali here…

Thank you for all of the congratulatory messages.  I’m really blessed to have been offered 4 doctoral acceptances and the opportunity to choose which school would be the best fit for me.

This news couldn’t have come at a better time for our family.  In weeks of sadness and fear, this was the glimmer of exciting news and the pick me up we needed.

The night before I was to head down to Washington DC for a graduate school interview at George Washington University, we found out my mom has cancer.  Can you believe it? We certainly can’t…

Fast forward a week from finding out and my dad and I are once again sitting in a hospital waiting room, desperately waiting for the surgeon to come out and update us on my mom’s surgery.  The thoughts flying through my head, faster than I could even process them, were terrifying.  Did they remove the tumors?  Did she make it through ok?  That call over the loud speaker for the Rapid Response team to report to room 4B…is that where she is?  Is she ok?  Do they realize how important this patient is to our family?

In case the doctors weren’t aware of just how important she is, I wrote them a note to be read pre-surgery.  Maybe that makes me bossy, telling the surgeons to read a note before they perform surgery, but my mom’s life is in their hands.  I told them that I know they are great doctors and surgeons – we did a lot of research – but I wanted them to realize how much my family needs my mom.  I didn’t want them to just treat the surgery as just another day at work, as if they were playing the game Operation that I played a million times as a kid where you try to take the pieces out with tweezers and if you hit the sides it buzzes.  This surgery was a big deal.  I told the doctors that I honestly cannot afford to lose my mom.  We lost my brother to cancer and truthfully, I don’t think my dad and I could handle life without both of them.  My dad is phenomenal and I am so lucky to have him, but my mom is our glue.

We’ve said it before – my mom is the rock of our family.  The picture above is one she shared on Facebook of the two of us 20 years later. She is a private person and will be surprised when she reads this, but I want you all to be as in awe of her as I am.  She deserves it.  She’s a quiet person and doesn’t speak nearly as much as my dad , but I’ve come to realize it’s because she has so many profound, deep thoughts in her mind that she takes the time (as we all should) to really think before speaking.  She is SO smart.  I know she’s my mom, so of course I’ll think that right? But no, she reallyis.  After graduating from the University of Delaware and Fashion Institute of Technology in a total of 3 ½ years, my mom went to graduate school at Columbia University.  Only a few years after graduation, she was named one of the top marketers in the nation and was featured on Good Morning America and in USA Today.

I’ve never met someone with the inner strength that she has.  That must be where Andrew got it.  She is the glue holding our family together through this new heartbroken life we are pushing through without Andrew.  I can’t tell you how fortunate I am to have my parents still together.  In July, they will be married for 30 years and I know when they were getting married months out of college, at the age of 21, they NEVER imagined the terribly difficult, winding, dark road ahead of them.  But they’ve stuck together and lit the dark, scary path for each other.  I’ve read reports that the death of a child increases a couples’ divorce rate eight times and I’ve seen numbers stating that 70-80% of couples who lose a child get divorced.  Staggering statistics.  For our family, sticking together was the only way we could make it through such an incredibly devastating loss.  I am so grateful to my parents for realizing that they may grieve differently, at different times, and that there isn’t a “right way” to grieve.  I am so grateful they realized that and continue to respect each other’s forms of grief.  It is NOT easy.  Daily, we struggle.  But we’re getting through it together.

With this most recent news of cancer coming back into our lives and trying to take another person I love, my parents and I are sticking together more than ever.

After waiting and waiting, the hours passed and the surgeon finally came into the waiting room to update my dad and me.  The surgery went as well as it could, but my mom was in a lot of pain.  She stayed in the hospital that night and we brought her home the next morning.  Surgery was Thursday (3/14), she came home Friday and Saturday (3/16) she spent several hours at St. George’s Technical High School’s HAWK FEST and Salesianum School’s SALSthon –both dance marathon fundraisers benefitting B+.  So for those of you at the events, remember seeing her arm in a sling? Yeah, that’s because she had surgery 48 hours earlier, had malignant tumors and lymph nodes removed (one being under her arm) BUT there was NO WAY she was going to miss the events.  And for those of you at UDance (3/10) – remember the smiling face behind the B+ table, who stood for all 12 hours for the kids who can’t stand for themselves? Yup – that was my mom, just days after finding out she herself has been thrown into battle with cancer.

I’m telling you, she’s a STRONG woman.  But I can’t imagine her fear.  She’s quiet, so she won’t tell us – she doesn’t want to worry us.  But think about this… She is now fighting cancer.  Cancer stole her son from us.  She has a different form of cancer, sure, but she’s now going to undergo brutal treatments, like her son.   And you know that chemotherapy you need to save your life from the cancer you’re currently facing?  Yeah, about how that can give you secondary cancers, most specifically Leukemia. Even more specifically, AML. Remember, Andrew had AML Leukemia…  Can you imagine the fear that must be in her mind?  I know my mind has gone to worst-case scenarios a lot since finding out about this diagnosis.  How could it not?  I held my little brother, my best friend as he passed away in my arms after fighting CANCER.  A year later, my uncle passed away in eerily similar circumstances to Andrew.  In 2011, my MomMom passed away.

So here we are, a few weeks post-surgery.  She’s had several appointments with oncologists, radiologists and surgeons.  She will have a port placed on Thursday and will begin chemotherapy soon after.  She will have many, many weeks of chemotherapy AND radiation and we will continue to fight on…

My extended family and my mom’s friends now and from when she was my age and younger (I’m looking at you Cathy and Terri) are the best and we can’t thank you enough for the delicious meals, beautiful flowers, touching notes and support you’ve given us.  Cancer’s scary – we all know that.  But please stick with us and most importantly, stick with my mom.

This is absolutely a twist we didn’t expect to encounter on this weird “new normal” path life has thrown us on since Andrew passed away.   Selfishly, haven’t we been through enough?  But we won’t give in that easily.  We’ll fight.  While my mom will be the one undergoing the chemo and radiation, we will be there too.  She will never be alone in this.  Heck, she has an incredible Angel on her side to carry her through. (As comforting as it is that Andrew can help her from Heaven, it absolutely SUCKS when you think about what I just said…. Her SON, a child, is in Heaven and she’s now fighting cancer.  …..REALLLY?!)

We will try to B+, but realistically we won’t always be.  We may lose followers because who really wants to read updates from a family who lost their son to cancer, fights childhood cancer daily and is now fighting cancer again? HELLO – I don’t want to live that either.  But we can’t control that.

If you stick with us through this next battle, thank you.  If you’ve stuck with us until now, thank you.  I’m not sure how many of you are out there in CaringBridge land reading our updates as it seems to be increasingly quiet, but if you’re there – please say a prayer or send good vibes our way.

Please check in occasionally.  One of the saddest things I’ve seen is when someone has to fight cancer alone.  There are no words to explain how much the support of the CaringBridge world meant to my family and helped us through Andrew’s battle and beyond.  We have literally read every single Guestbook entry multiple times.  I hope my mom will receive support too.

Now, we fight again…