September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma Awareness Month. Both awareness initiatives are near and dear to the heart of Friends of Heroes.

An estimated 10,730 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with cancer in the United States in 2008, with leukemia being the most commonly diagnosed childhood cancer at 32.6 percent of all cases. Lymphoma ranked as the third most diagnosed pediatric cancer in 2008.

Our group began with a passion to put an end to childhood cancer and we annually participate in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk to raise money and awareness for a cure. There are simple ways we can each make a difference by supporting research, raising awareness and contacting legislators.

Did you know:

• Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with blood cancer?
• Every nine minutes, someone loses the fight?
• Leukemia is the leading cause of disease-related death among children under age 15?
• Approximately 3,000 children die from a blood cancer every year?

Help us make a difference for these families!!!

Donate by visiting one of our team member pages at:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/2009/friendsofheroes

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) funds lifesaving research that has contributed to major advances in the treatment of blood cancers and treatments for other types of cancer, such as chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. These treatments have helped patients live better, longer lives. New targeted therapies that kill cancer cells without harming normal tissue are providing drugs and procedures that are improving quality of life.

• A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
• A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
• A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
• A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.

Make a difference that will make a big impact!

Participate in a Light The Night Walk near you:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/2009/friendsofheroes

Join our Light The Night Team – Friends of Heroes and raise awareness among your family, friends and co-workers. Light The Night Walk is the nation’s night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and to commemorate loved ones lost.

Funds raised by walkers provide:

• Lifesaving blood cancer research
• Financial assistance to cover patient expenses for transportation, medication and testing
• Free educational materials and events for patients and their families
• Local programs such as Family Support Groups and First Connection, a peer-to-peer counseling program
• Comprehensive, personalized assistance through our Information Resource Center

Light The Night Walk events are evenings filled with inspiration. Carrying illuminated balloons – white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer – thousands of walkers – men, women and children – form a community of caring, bringing light to the dark world of cancer.

If you already have a Light The Night Team, join us as an affiliate team. Contact Carole at affiliates@friendsofheroes.org for more information.

Make a difference on Capital Hill

Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Legislation

Improvements in long-term survival rates for pediatric cancer patients present some new challenges for patients, family members, providers and policy makers. Patients may face greater risk of secondary cancers; they may have limited access to follow-up care; the follow-up care they do receive may be inadequate; and some may face cognitive or psychosocial problems. Expensive long-term treatments, hurdles to purchasing health, life, or disability insurance, and employment barriers also pose difficulties for cancer survivors.

Reps. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) recently introduced the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act (H.R. 2109). This legislation would provide much needed resources to fund research and survivorship programs that would dramatically improve the quality of life for all cancer survivors.

Please take a moment to send a letter to your representative urging them to co-sponsor this important legislation. Please make sure that pediatric cancer survivors receive the care they need as they move on with their lives.

Click here to take action!

Download a Coupon for 30% Off with 5% going to LLS

Leukemia survivor, Lance Bigelow, is someone who knows first-hand the importance of Gap’s Give & Get program benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). He participated in the spring campaign. Lance and his family knew that taking advantage of the Give & Get program’s 30% discount, they would also be contributing to LLS’ blood cancer research efforts, research that helps kids like Lance — research that fights the number one cancer among children.

Thanks to the efforts of families like the Bigelows, the spring campaign raised $600,000 for research to find a cure.

By participating in our summer campaign you can help blood cancer patients live longer, better lives — and look good doing it!

Then visit any Gap, Inc. store from July 30th to August 2nd to take advantage of the 30% discount offer. Please note that this offer is good from July 30th through August 2nd only! The Gap Give & Get coupon is good for purchases at any Gap, Inc. store, including Gap, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic, Banana Republic Factory Stores and Old Navy. The coupon is for in-store purchases only and is good in both the United States and Canada.

Remember, when you download a coupon for discounted clothes from this site you’re helping The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fight the number one cancer among children. Send this page to your friends and family and help our cause even more!

more info: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org//all_page.adp?item_id=552506

Lance’s Story: http://community.lls.org/blogs/atlls/2009/07/27/licking-leukemia-with-lls-and-gap

Coupon (English): http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/lls/

Coupon (French): http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/fr/lls/

Source: LLS.org

Friends of Heroes is a national Light the Night Friends and Family team for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society .

Register here: http://pages.lightthenight.org/2009/friendsofheroes

We are looking for individual walkers and other Light The Night teams to affiliate with us. Join us and become part of an amazing team!

If you live in or near one of the following cities, we’d love to have you become a team captain! To become a team captain or to walk for our team, click here or you can contact Team Captain Relations, at tcrelations@friendsofheroes.org

• Find your local team
• Register for the walk
• Start an affiliate team

2009 Walksites & Dates

(Open for full list of cities)

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is excited to announce that actress Tina Fey is lending her face and fame to help in the fight against blood cancers as the 2009 National Spokesperson for the LLS Light The Night Walk.

Tina Fey is an American writer, comedian, actress, and producer. She has won five Emmys, three Golden Globes, and three SAG Awards. Fey is best known for her work on Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live, her impersonation of Alaskan Governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and her work on 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live. Fey was also selected by Barbara Walters as one of America’s “10 most fascinating people of 2008.”

As National Spokesperson for the 2009 Light The Night Walk, Fey urges communities to “Walk the Talk” and join the fight against blood cancer through Light The Night Walks happening this fall across the country. “When you or someone you love has cancer, it can turn your world upside down and leave you in a dark and lonely place,” says Fey. “But there’s something you can do to bring light and hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and their families. You can participate in Light The Night Walk and raise funds for lifesaving cancer research.”

Walks take place in communities across the U.S. and Canada, as walkers and teams of families, friends and co-workers come together for an evening overflowing with emotion and caring. The Light The Night Walk is open to the public. Teams and individuals are encouraged to pre-register and raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society throughout the summer months preceding the Walk. The funds will support vital life-saving research and patient services to support the nearly 900,000 Americans living with blood cancers.

More than a Walk, Light The Night includes music, entertainment, food and children’s activities for everyone to enjoy. Walkers carry illuminated balloons to spread awareness about the need to fund research to find a cure for blood cancer. Supporters carry red balloons, survivors carry white, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer carry a gold balloon in their memory. The event is supported by many local businesses who form Walk teams or offer corporate sponsorship. Corporate sponsorship and in-kind food donation packages that include a variety of marketing benefits are available. You can join Friends of Heroes and start making a difference today! For more information about the Light The Night Walk and how to participate, visit www.LightTheNight.org.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Eastern N.C. Chapter serves patients battling leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. The organization raises money to fund research leading to a cure for blood cancers and to enhance the quality of life for local patients through services such as family support groups, educational programs and financial assistance. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. For more information about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lls.org.

Each year, Friends of Heroes walkers generously give their time and efforts to raise money for an amazing cause – ultimately, to find a CURE for blood cancers. From the bottom of our hearts, we salute our walkers listed below who raised over $100 for Light The Night this year.

We especially recognize our top 14 walkers: Renee Rubio, Angie Adams, Devan Griffin, Sean Haines, Kevin Wichers, Eric O’Neil, Howard Brunetti, Michelle Brunetti, Kathie Eberle, Candy Bartsch, Beck Marko, Robin Brunet and Brandon Kelley!!! Each of these walkers raised over $1,000.

THANK YOU to our walkers for making a difference with each dollar!

T

he following walkers have raised $100 or more and are eligible for the Sweet Incentive from David’s Cookies that ends on November 15. One lucky walker will receive a 6-month subscription to their Cookie of the Month Club. YUM!

Register today at http://teams.lightthenight.org/friendsofheroes and raise a minimum of $100 to qualify for the drawing!!!!

Take advantage of your chapter’s bank days to turn in your money before the night of the walk. You’ll have more time to visit and enjoy the festivities at your walk!!! You can also turn in money after your walk; the final deadline is November for incentives! Check your local Light The Night page (by entering your zip code) or call your local LLS chapter for more details.

Special thanks to our walkers below who have helped us to provide funding for patient services and for a CURE!!!! You all rock!!!!!!

Totals in active.com as of 9/30/08.

Congratulations to our current top teams for Friends of Heroes!!!!!

Teamwork is vital and can help you reach your fundraising goals!!!! Your local team captains are a resource for ideas and leadership. Team members can support and encourage each other in their fundraising and recruiting.  Remember, to ask everyone you know!

As of September 30, our current top 12 teams in active.com are:

All totals reflect the money received through active.com electronically and money counted from walker envelopes as of 9/30/08. Please allow 1-2 weeks for your local chapter to tally any recent walks or bank days. For questions about your team total, contact your local LLS office.

Friends of Heroes - Tucson

Team Angel’s Wings is a new Friends of Heroes affiliate, but they are not new to Light The Night or blood cancers. National Co-captain Jenn Burgess interviewed Helen Bailey, captain of Angel’s Wings to find out more about why they participate in Light The Night.

Angel Marie

Can you tell us a little bit about how your team Angel’s Wings started?

My son, James Rodriguez, had a friend/classmate whose younger sister, Angel, developed leukemia. Angel’s mother asked for donations, help and support for Light The Night, so I decided to get a team together of James’s classmates to help.

Two years later, my mother Estela Bailey was diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma. And, a grandparent of one of our walkers was also diagnosed with cancer, so I decided to keep the team going in their honor.

How are Angel and your mom doing today post-treatment?

Angel is doing great! She was the honored hero for last year’s Light The Night walk and is now in first grade. Angel only needs to visit the clinic for treatment every six months (instead of every day!) which allows her to live a “normal” life. Due to additional complications, doctors did not share hope that she would make it this far. We’re thrilled that she proved the doctors wrong!

My mom is back to being a mom! I am grateful she is doing well and here to watch my kids and grandkids grow up.

It’s so good to hear they are doing well!! Events like Light The Night fund blood cancer research and helps families through patient services programs. Survival rates have increased dramatically in the past 30 years, yet a cure is still needed.

Let’s talk about Light The Night! What made you decide to become a part of FOH as an affiliate?

A new co-worker (Jenn) invited me to a local baseball game which was a fundraising and awareness event for Light The Night. She told me about her team, Friends of Heroes, so I looked up their website and between what I read about the pediatric cancer research grants and the excitement she showed about their success stories and fundraising, I decided to join her team as an affiliate.

Please share a little bit about your planning leading up to the walk. What are your plans for team fundraising this year? Is there anything that worked well in the past?

I am trying to recruit as many members as possible at work and school, plus friends and family. I want to get everyone together for a meeting to decided other ways to raise money like making pins, buttons, ribbons, etc. to sell. Maybe hold a car wash, bake sale, etc.

I also have the help of my daughter, Nicole Bustinza, as a co-captain. She is able to run errands, deliver walker information and pick up donations when I’m at work. Together, we are able to reach more people.

You’re good at recruiting and motivating people. What do you say to encourage people to walk and raise money for Light The Night?

I tell them that participating in this walk may one day help save the lives of their children, family or friends like it did for Angel and my mom. What cause could be better?

When someone asks you what Light The Night means to you, what do you tell them?

It gives me the opportunity to help save lives!

Helen, thanks so much for sharing more about your team and what you are doing this year. Is there anything else you would like to add?

I think since so many children have been afflicted by this disease, we should target schools to help.

Well said! The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has a priority to help young patients and has initiated the Trish Greene Back to School Program for the Child with Cancer. The program is designed to help parents, teachers and administrators when a child in their school has cancer. Programs like these can help schools and care givers provide the best possible chance for pediatric patients to renter their schools and succeed.

To donate to or join Helen and her team, visit Team Angel’s Wings.

Check out the photos from the baseball game fundraiser and awareness event. Walkers who purchased tickets walked onto the field with the twinkling lights. For each ticket purchased, $5 was donated directly back to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To plan a similar event in your city, contact the Community Relations Manager for your local ball club. (Mouseover the sides of the large photo to navigate.)

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Each year Friends of Heroes is led by a group of amazing team captains who commit to walking, raising money and leading a team for Light The Night. Because of the work that they do, we are taking steps toward a cure. Without our team captains, team Friends of Heroes would not be the same.

It is with our deepest gratitude that we say “Thank You” to all of our Friends of Heroes captains – both local teams and affiliate teams – for their time and efforts.

If you want to join this distinguished group and help us save lives through research, please check for a local Light The Night here.

Data collected from active.com reports. If you are a team captain and we missed you, please let us know! Contact Kathie at tcrelations@friendsofheroes.org

Why I walk…

I walk for Allie. It is as simple as that. Allison Leigh Scott changed my whole world the instant I clicked on her website (www.scotthousehold.com). Before Allie, I never understood, I never considered, I never cared. Not because I was unkind or cruel, but because I was unaware.

I gave birth to and am blessed to be the mother of two beautiful and amazing sons, both of whom are the absolute center of my universe. Now, I know what it means to love someone so intensely that it’s hard to breathe without them. Because of Logan and Grayson, I understand a mother’s love. Because of Allie, I understand a mother’s pain. Leukemia took “our” Allie away, and although I never met her, I loved her so, through her mother’s eyes, through her mother’s words…

Allie changed my life, and I will never be the same, nor do I want to be the same. Now, I want to be different, I want to make a difference, and I know I CAN make a difference. Now, I will ask people for their money, for their time, for their support, even for their blood. It is the least I can do, the very least one mother can do for another mother, for any other mother trying to learn again how to breathe after her breath has been stolen away, her world has been cast into shadow, and her beautiful child has been stolen by this disease.

I walk for those mothers. I walk for those children. I walk for my own children, beautiful and healthy and the very essence of my beating heart. I walk because I can’t imagine life without my boys, my sweet princes.

But most of all, I walk for Allie.

Written by Jenny Feeney, local team captain in Northern New Jersey who first walked for Light The Night in 2004.

To support Jenny’s Light The Night walk, visit her donation page at http://www.active.com/donate/ltnWestfi/2373_JennyC724

Thanks, Jenny, for letting us post your essay here!

All too often we hear too much negative in our lives. We hear about crime, financial troubles, and so on. You can go to your e-mail and read about the new virus going around… those silly e-mails telling you that if you don’t forward it, your computer is going to blow up. It all seems so negative.

However, I still feel great inside knowing that we are taking a part as a large team and spreading some good news for a change. We are less than $4,000 away from $1,000,000 earned! That is a HUGE milestone! Something that we have been working hard on for the last 4 years!

It is truly amazing how a group of strangers can come together as a family and complete such a task. That is what Friends of Heroes is all about. We are a family…though many of us have never met. We are still linked together with a passion for a cure….the cure for cancer. We have grieved together, smiled together, and I know that there have been a few laughs in there as well.

You HAVE made a difference.

The first year that we started I looked at my fundraising and thought “I only made $50”….the dreaded word “only”. It should have been a positive “I made $50 and a HUGE difference”. Looking at it today, that $50 made us closer to a cure and to where our team is now.

As a team, I KNOW that we can make it well over $1,000,000! We just need that final push. We are all here to support each other. My five-year-old daughter gave me a quote to live by several months ago and I just keep repeating it when I feel discouraged “You know, just try your best because that is what we are made to do”. I know that we can do that. I know we can do our best. I can say this with all of my heart.

I hope in the near future, we won’t be here fighting for the cure for cancer, because we already helped find the cure! We will be here CELEBRATING the cure! But until that day, let’s stick together, fight for a cure and have fun in the process!

Written by Beck M.
Pictured above with Kelly, her Light The Night executive director, after receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Friends of Heroes has a sweet new incentive for all Friends of Heroes Light The Night walkers raising $100 or more this Fall!!!!

For all of you with a sweet tooth, David’s Cookies is sponsoring a giveaway to one lucky Friends of Heroes team member.  If you raise $100 or more before November 15, you will be entered into a drawing for a 6-month subscription to their Cookie of the Month Club. Yummy!!!! A new flavor of cookies will ship out to you the first Tuesday of each month for a delicious surprise.

If you haven’t already, make sure to register for your local Light The Night walk today.  You can register for the Friends of Heroes team at: http://teams.lightthenight.org/friendsofheroes

About David’s Cookies
Today, David’s Cookies is the leading provider of fresh baked cookies on the Internet, and has won awards including getting voted one of Good Housekeeping Magazine’s 10 Best Mail-order Goodies for Giving.

 You are invited to join our Light The Night team and be a part of an amazing group of compassionate and dedicated members who want to put an end to blood cancers!

Thank you to everyone who is participating in this years walks.

Team Matthew was officially added to our roster yesterday, which puts us at $996,787!!!! Only $3,213 away. We can do it! We are so close!

As of September 7, 2008, Friends of Heroes has over 200 registered walkers and over $18,600 fundraising dollars reported online.

Our current Light The Night grand total is $976,864!!!!! You are amazing!!!!! (Update: 248 walkers and $22,988 to date!)

This week is week 2 of the 10 week Light The Night walk celebration, and Team FOH has 53 registered walkers walking this weekend including the following team captains and affiliates:

- Team Baby Vaughn – the Brodjeski family
- St. Mary’s Angels – Angela Canner
- Kathie Eberle
- Greenville Mommies FOH – Sherry House
- Beck Marko
- Renee Rubio
- Team Ken – Kevin Wichers

Thank you to these captains and teams for being part of Friends of Heroes!

It is not too late to register!

Please join us for this commemorative year – Light The Night is celebrating a Decade of Difference and Friends of Heroes is walking for a 5th year. We are so close to the million dollar mark!!!

Don’t forget you can still raise money with your online fundraising page until November!!!

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

William George Jordan
1864-1928, writer

When Friends of Heroes first started as a Light The Night team in August 2004, we had nothing but a blank slate before us.

We were inspired by the stories of pediatric blood cancer patients like Allie, Sam, Wesley, Noelle, Matthew, Courtney, Jackson, Ethan, Marco, Logan, and so many more. Their sweet faces reminded us of why Light The Night is so important to patients and families like theirs who deal with cancer on a day-to-day basis.

Our team was united with one focus: to help find a cure for blood cancers. We kept that goal in sight and that became the driving force behind the efforts of each walker in cities across North America.

Now four years later, we are still moving forward and making a difference.

Through the compassion, creativity and even a small dose of friendly competition, Friends of Heroes has raised over $970,000!!

Did this happen overnight? No…

Did we land six-figure sponsorships? Not really…

Because of the joint efforts of each of our walkers and teams, our local totals add up to nearly a million dollars! But we won’t stop there. Lives are still at stake. There is work to be done.

In the past ten years, so many advances have been made with the funding from events like Light The Night. Can you imagine what is in store in the next 10 years?

I hold fast onto the hope that every small difference I make now – whether it is advocating for better health care or funding, raising awareness in my community for much needed research or raising money for my Light The Night walk – these actions will translate into another step closer to a cure.

As we begin our fifth season of Light The Night walks, I invite you to join us and to make a difference – small or large. Every single effort counts!

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

Denis Waitley

Here are three things you can do right now that will help:

1) Join our Light The Night team and commit to raising money for blood cancer research and services.

2) Start your own Light The Night team and affiliate with Friends of Heroes. Be part of our first $1 million dollars!

3) Donate to our cause and help SAVE LIVES.

It’s up to you and the small differences you can make on a day-to-day basis! Together we can make a big impact. I would love your company at the finish line!

Will you stand with us and walk the distance?

Sincerely,

Jenn B.