Fashion shows highlights champions at Texas Children's Cancer Center
Houston - Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center is celebrating how far we've come with cancer care for children. The cure rate now stands at 80%, but doctors and researchers at TCH say they won't stop until they find a cure for every child!
It obviously takes the proper funding to pull off research to make that happen. That's why fundraisers like Salute to Champions in Houston. It's a top fundraiser for the cancer center.
"There is such little funding that is provided by the government for cancer research that events like this are critical to continue to not only find cures for childhood cancer but also treatments that are less caustic to our patients and allow them to live long healthy lives," states the Vice President of TCH Cancer and Hematology Center, Jennifer Sanders.
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Witnessing the cancer patients on the runway, coupled with community heroes who help fund the important cause, chokes up a lot of people in the crowd, including doctors!
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"It's powerful! To see what some of the kids who are walking today, who walked when they were little. Some of them had really rough journeys, and I don't know that we would have expected them to be here and do so well, and here they are - stars. That's what it's all about for us. The kids form close relationships with each other, which helps them get through their journey. I think, as we look back at these children, some of whom I took care of when they were three, they're diagnosed with leukemia, they're treated for leukemia, they're cured from leukemia, and they barely got into kindergarten, that's remarkable. One of those is actually walking today," shares Dr. ZoAnn Dreyer, who serves as the Director of the Long-Term Survivor Program at TCH.
As a medical reporter, I was asked to walk the stage with a cancer patient in 2013. I was so excited to help bring awareness to this important cause. However, the week before the event, my own son, six years old at that time, was diagnosed with leukemia.
The TCH organizers urged me to cancel my appearance, but I knew I had to be strong and do it and help find a cure for cancer.
They ended up pairing me with a teenager, Presley, who had just completed the leukemia treatment my son was just beginning. She was so loving, kind, and reassuring and told me what to expect in the coming years of treatment. She even made me laugh before going out on the runway so I wouldn't cry.
This year, we got to meet back up at the fashion show for the first time in ten years, and it was a beautiful reunion and such a blessing to see her doing so well.