January 1, 2016 will mark the First Anniversary for the Michael’s Way Charlotte Chapter. We could not be more thrilled and impressed with our new relationship. The Oncology Social Workers at The Levine Children’s Hospital make our job very easy and are always so grateful as well. One social worker writes, “It has been such a blessing to be able to offer assistance through Michael’s Way to the families in need”. We feel the same way! There are many exciting events coming up including the First Annual Golf Outing benefitting the Charlotte Chapter. Thank you for all of your kind and generous support getting our next Chapter started! We look forward to working with The Levine Children’s Hospital again.

Happy New Year!
 

On Tuesday, December 15th, over 500 people gathered to support Michael’s Way and the exciting group of honorees including Jim Mora, Kevin Reilly, Kevin Dougherty & Leah Still. The night started off with a beautiful performance of “Silent Night” from Tim Kelly and a group of cancer patients, both presently fighting and survivors. This was the 54th year celebrating Bert Bell and all of the individuals who have contributed to the success of the NFL. Not only do these individuals succeed on the field, they fight hard off the field raising awareness and giving back to their community. Devon Still gave a speech on behalf of his daughter, Leah Still, who was the 2015 Michael’s Way Hero Award recipient. Devon asked all of the patients to come up to the stage recognizing their ability to smile and laugh during their toughest battle. It was a truly inspiring night. Thank you to all of our sponsors, volunteers, honorees and the amazing staff at Vie! We hope the inspiration carries on to the New Year!

If you ask a Mom of a two year old boy what her son plays with, cars and trains are always a good guess. On top of playing cars, Emmitt really loves music. He is a natural entertainer and quite the flirt. All of the nurses at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children had the opportunity to fall in love with Emmitt’s beautiful eyes. He also built a great bond with his Doctor, Dr. Halligan.

At the very young age of 14 months old, Emmitt was taken to the pediatrician due to a swollen testicle. Their Doctor thought Emmitt developed a hernia and sent them to meet a surgeon at St. Christopher’s Hospital. That next day, the surgeon scheduled surgery to repair the hernia on October 1, 2014. It was not until Emmitt was in the OR that the surgeon noticed the tumor. Emmitt was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma. He has had many cycles of chemotherapy, a bone marrow extraction and transplant, radiation and a clinical trial immunotherapy all on top of taking many medications. Thankfully, Emmitt fought hard and his mother hopes the cancer never comes back. She wishes a long, happy life for her little boy!

Find more information on Emmitt here:

https://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/help-emmitt-fight-neuroblastoma-cancer/254790

Information provided by his mother, Carissa Young.

We don’t need to tell you that Dominic’s smile is contagious because you can see it for yourself. He has carried that smile through his clinic visits, radiation and physical therapy appointments. Dominic loves people and loves attention from anyone who will give it to him. He can befriend everyone and that is why the volunteers at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House have given him the nickname, “The Mayor”.

Dominic is one in a million. His battle started at a very young age when he was paralyzed before his 3^rd birthday due to a very rare disease called Transverse Myelitis. Dominic relearned how to do everything from moving his fingers to finally walking! Only 1/3 of people with this disease regain the ability to walk again. After doing routine MRIs, they found Dominic’s brain cancer. On August 26, 2014, he was diagnosed with an Inoperable Brain Stem Fibrillary Astrocytoma. His brain tumor is inoperable because of its location in his brain stem and they were told chemotherapy would have little to no effect. He was treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with 30 days of Proton Therapy Radiation which successfully shrank his tumor. Dominic recently had his 9 month post radiation MRI and thankfully, results showed no tumor growth!

Big brother Dominic now has more time to play “I Spy” and “Hide and Seek” with his younger sister and brother. His mother, Ashley, dreams of a long and healthy life for Dominic filled with nothing but smiles and laughter. He continues to smile through tough times and that will inspire many!

Information provided by his parents, Ashley & James Mazzio.

On the evening of October 6th, Scott Crutchfield, Director of Michael’s Way – Charlotte, his wife and two of his children attended an event hosted by the Joey Logano Foundation at Joey’s office in Huntersville, NC. The cause was to support World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. The attendees, which included Joey’s family, friends and members of his pit crew and their families, created over 400 toiletry kits for abused woman who are homeless. The kits will be distributed to four shelters in the coming weeks. The evening was festive with music, food and drinks creating an enjoyable atmosphere while work was being done for such a create cause. We were honored to be apart of the night!

On behalf of the Board and everyone at Michael’s Way, I would like to thank the volunteers, Stonewall staff, participants but especially the sponsors for participating in our Golf Tournament! Thanks to your generosity we can continue to help the families that have children with cancer. We had a great day for golf and even better day for fundraising! This was our 18th Annual Golf Tournament and we are grateful for the long term friendships that we have built over the years. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you next year!

This little Emily may be a young, care free toddler but she is much wiser than her years. Emily is a very outgoing and energetic girl who dreams to be a Rock Star or Actress on TV! When she was 3 years old, her energy started to decline and it showed. She became lethargic and ran fever after fever through the month of April 2014. Emily would complain that walking was too hard or her legs hurt. Her cancer first presented as a virus. After blood tests, she went from the pediatrician to the ER to the infectious disease floor of St. Christopher’s Hospital and all within one day.

Emily has been diagnosed with an extremely rare childhood cancer called Pleuropulmonary Blastoma, located in the lungs. Her treatment consists of surgery to remove her tumor followed by chemotherapy. Surgery was successful and she is now half way through her chemotherapy.

Her Mom says she dreams about the things she has taken for granted like Emily starting Kindergarten next year, holidays with friends and family, high school prom, a wedding. The greatest hope right now is total remission with no reoccurrence. Remember little Emily when she becomes a famous actress in Hollywood!

Information provided by her Mother, Elizabeth Baldwin.

What an inspiring weekend in Philadelphia! We were excited to kick off the weekend by unveiling a new 85′ billboard welcoming Pope Francis. Thanks to our buddy, Zander, for smiling so big that he lights up 76! We hope everyone will enjoy seeing the new image and that it brings a smile to your face. Thank you to the many people who continue to support our efforts to help families and children with cancer.

Carter Beckhard-Suozzi, 5^th Grade at Connolly School in Glen Cove, NY

We first met Carter during our Fun Fest at CHOP back in June. He made quite the impression on one of our volunteers, Dana. Carter is a charmer with a fun personality. He loves sports, art, music, video games and super heroes.

Carter had been getting tummy aches for a month and after many doctor visits, his symptoms suddenly worsened. His parents rushed him to the pediatrician on a Monday afternoon and by Wednesday morning he was getting his first round of chemotherapy. Carter was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma on May 19^th.

His recent diagnosis has given him super hero strength and power that he often likes to share with other patients. Carter feels he receives a lot of strength, power and love from his family and friends so he has plenty to share.

He shares, “I know that my life has made a big change and God threw me a curveball. But I am going to get through it with the people I love and care about. My life has changed forever and I respect and accept that because I know all the people who love me and care for me are always going to be at my side and help me get through anything”.

Information provided by his parents, Jane & Ralph Suozzi.

We received a sweet note from Darlene Hammel, a social worker at the Specialty Care Center of CHOP: “I just had to send a card to you to thank you and Michael’s Way for all you do for our families. While you probably rarely hear from my families they really do appreciate all the support they receive from Michael’s Way. You might not be aware of it but most of our families, by the end of treatment, have medical bills which are quite large. By your foundation assisting them financially they are able to make payments on the balanced owed. Thank you so much”.