CureSearch Walk

We left out for Tulsa, OK friday afternoon to attend a Curesearch walk with Briley's friend, Gracie. We met Gracie's family during our time at Cooks and have became friends since then. Gracie started kindergarten this year and is currently in remission from neuroblastoma. She has 2 brothers and one sister. We have never met the siblings before, but they were excited to see us as we were excited to see them. We arrived at the Bloxham's house around 10:30 friday night and stayed up talking and letting the kids play after midnight. We finally got them down to bed and got up early the next morning and headed out to the walk.
To tell you a little bit about Curesearch. It raises funds for the Children's Oncology Group (COG). Briley & Gracie are under COG treatment protocols. Thanks to the COG, overall pediatric cancer survival rates have increased from 30% in the 1960's to 80% today! ALL (Briley's leukemia) has a 95% survival rate thanks to the COG! What is cool about Curesearch, 94% of the money raised goes directly to research!
Anyway, the walk started off with the opening ceremony. Families of kids lost to cancer received balloons and then released in remembrance of those kids. It was a very emotional scene for all of us. Then they had all of the kids that are currently in treatment or previously had cancer walk up on stage, say their name, and receive a medal. Briley acted like she owned that stage! She was front and center and I was proud of her!
The walk kicked off. It was a 3 mile walk around a golf course and through the park. We stopped at the finish line for pictures and then the coolest thing happened that I think I ever seen. A 10 year old boy, who lost his left leg below the knee from cancer and had a prosthetic leg, crossed the finish line. This boy had walked the entire 3 miles and you would have thought that he won the lottery when he came across the finish line! I guarantee that he was the happiest kid on earth at the moment. We all cheered him on! It was an awesome experience!
After the walk, we went back to the Bloxham's for a BBQ. The food was great as was the fellowship. The kids played their little hearts out. Bryson made a new friend with Von. They are both the same age and you would have thought that they were long lost brothers!
We left Tulsa around 5:00 that afternoon and got home around 11:00 that night. We are looking forward to having a Team Briley team at the Curesearch Walk in Fort Worth in May. The actual date has not been set yet, but we would love to have anyone that would like to, join us for the walk. We will have fundraisers as time gets closer. Together we will increase the pediatric survival rate to 100%!
Briley's next treatment is this Thursday. She will go in for a spinal tap and chemo at the clinic. We will keep you posted on how things go. Thanks for keeping us in your continued prayers.