Buy Ronan, by Taylor Swift, on iTunes. All proceeds go to cancer-related charities.

Uhm. Taylor Swift wrote a song about our friend’s kid – Ronan. Then she played it on every single television station in the USA at the same time. Ronan was murdered by neuroblastoma, as his fiery momma Maya puts it, shortly after Ezra was. We wish they were still here.

Here’s this week’s links…

Kids – Why We Fight

Wes Pak is Starting 1st Grade

6 year old Wes Pak has been fighting stage 4 neuroblastoma since June of 2011. This week, he is finally strong enough to get back to school – and he started 1st grade. Wes is now NED (neuroblastoma doesn’t get a title of “remission” because relapse is so common – doctors simply give nb kids who seem clean the title of “NED” which stands for No Evidence of Disease) – congrats to him and his family! wavy.com.

Non-Profits / Events / News

Taylor Swift Writes “Ronan” to Remember a Beautiful Boy

So we officially love Taylor Swift now. At this week’s annual Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon (uh – which was on every channel – no, literally), Taylor debuted her latest single – Ronan. If you know us, you probably know our friends the Thompsons as well – Maya writes the Rockstar Ronan blog. Ronan died soon after Ezra did, also of stage 4 neuroblastoma. She’s a passionate writer, and Taylor came across her blog a while ago and had been reading it – and wrote a song for Ronan using Maya’s blog posts. Maya is credited as co-writer of the powerful, quiet song, which has had a loud impact already – taking the number one spot in iTunes. Taylor has pledged to donate all proceeds of the song to cancer-related charities. eonline.com.

Benefit to Raise Funds for Sam Duckworth

Sam Duckworth, 3 years old, has stage 2B neuroblastoma. Which is crazy for a million reasons, of course, but even more so because he was born 9 months after his dad finished chemo for cancer himself. His community has put together a benefit to raise funds for the family’s expenses, which will be held September 14, in Cooper, TX. ketr.org.

Swimming the English Channel in Memory of Zak Hobbs

Three men did a relay swim of 24 miles to cross English Channel in memory of their friend’s son, Zak Hobbs, who died of neuroblastoma last in September 2011 at 7 years old. They raised money to support the Neuroblastoma Society, an English charity which raises funds for nb research. Read through their progress on their fundraising page – nice job, guys. thisiscornwall.co.uk.

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