5,000 Miles in 5 Years – Arden’s Story
When Minnesota physician Arden Virnig hopped on his bike nearly every day in the summer of 2015, his thoughts went to the empty saddle behind h...
Patrick’s Story – Fighting Hard and Finding Home
When 5-year-old Patrick was diagnosed with cancer, he was over 14,000 miles from home. His family had just moved to Indonesia for Patrick’s d...
A Blood Test for Bone Cancer
When a child is diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a body of work from the University of Minnesota scientists over the past decade suggests the child...
Michelle’s Story – Finding Peace
Today, Michelle is enjoying her life, sending her two young boys off to school and running her own company. But when she thinks back to when sh...
How Cancer Makes Us Mighty
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the child and the family face challenges they never knew existed — but they also find strength they di...
Allison’s Story – Fearless
When you meet 18-year-old Allison, you might notice her short and sassy haircut or her wide, generous smile. You might notice the tattoo on her...
Survivor’s Guilt
“Whoa. This is a real thing,” I thought to myself when I finally realized where my brain was going. We had been home from the hospital for ...
Elizabeth’s Story – A Fight With Ewing Sarcoma
When 15-year-old Elizabeth was preparing for her gymnastics competition last December, she was barely thinking about the surgery she had the we...
When Kindness Keeps Us Going
When your family is facing cancer, you might feel like you are continually running on fumes. You haven’t showered, gone grocery shopping, or ...
Remembering Taylor
This week, we lost a spirited advocate, fearless supporter and dear friend. Taylor Lieber, who has fought three different types of cancer since...
Fighting Isolation as a Cancer Parent
Isolation – it’s one of the many painful challenges cancer families experience during and after treatment. Many parents feel they can’t l...
A Cure in the Making
In talking about a new project to develop new treatments for osteosarcoma, University of Minnesota researcher Beau Webber, PhD, uses a word he ...
A First Lost Tooth
This piece was originally posted on July 17, 2019 by Kristy Westrom on the CaringBridge page for her son, Liam, who was diagnosed with T-cell a...
Nate’s Story – Not Afraid
Sixteen-year-old Nate is most himself when he is playing his guitar. He’s been playing since he was around 10 years old, and his favorite son...
6 Ways Cancer Changes Your Perspective
When your child is diagnosed with cancer, it changes the lens through which you view the world. Things look and feel different, and certain thi...
Breaking the News – A Doctor’s Perspective
Imagine for a moment that you’re a pediatric oncologist. You’ve had over 20 years of education and you’ve passed dozens of tests and comp...
Cancer Parents’ Advice to Themselves
If you could go back to the day your child was diagnosed, what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now? This is the question ...
Gaming for Emotional Health
As Sheri Sobrato Brisson led one of her many support groups for kids and teens with chronic health issues, she thought back to how she felt whe...