Give Forward

Curing Childhood Cancer: GiveForward’s Cause of the Quarter

The ORIGINAL Lemonade Stand with founder and leading saleswoman, Alex Scott

We are proud to announce our new ‘Cause of the Quarter’ is dedicated to fighting childhood cancer.  As the leading cause of death by disease in those under the age of 15, Pediatric Cancer is an area of medical research that needs to work harder than most to find cures.

The recipient for our Cause of the Quarter is Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Not only was this amazing organization started by someone diagnosed with cancer, it was started by a 4 year old diagnosed with neuroblastoma who went on to raise $2,000 at one lemonade stand in her own front yard.  Kind of makes you wonder what you were doing at 4 years old, because I know I wasn’t inspiring a life changing and insanely influential organization that is dedicated to curing childhood cancer. I was making mud pies.  Hopefully Alex Scott’s story motivates us all to put this cause on our radar and to give back to a cause that is truly deserving.

We are so proud to support them for all the other resources they provide to cancer patients, their families, and everyone in the community who has been touched by childhood cancer.  From assisting with travel and lodging expenses while receiving treatments, to providing the support and information that families need in order to cope within a community who cares.  And mark your calendars for Lemonade Days, in honor of  the first weekend Alex Scott created her very first lemonade stand.  To read more about ALSF, head on our to our Cause of the Quarter page.  So here’s to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation: Fighting Childhood Cancer, One Cup at a Time.  We raise our plastic cups to you!

Kairol Rosenthal Suggests GiveForward As a Resource for Young Cancer Patients

Receiving a cancer diagnosis is a scary time, but we’ve come to accept it more at a certain point in our lives.  But what about being a twenty or thirty something who receives the unnerving diagnosis of cancer?  Being so young with such a serious condition can be an isolating time.  With her book  Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s, Kairol Rosenthal has made strides in unmasking the young people that are living with cancer.

Kairol was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 27.  Two years after her diagnosis, she realized that things such as “death, parenting, pain management, and career goals” were among the topics her twenty and thirty-something peers were unwilling to discuss.  Not willing to let the emotions and fears of young cancer patients like herself go unsaid, she set out to write her book and interview those going through similar situations as her.  Discussing topics unique to twenty and thirty year olds, Kairol has explored a side of cancer that oftentimes is ignored. 

Aside from her book, Kairol writes a blog, providing another great resource for young cancer patients.  Her honest, straightforward writing is relatable to the age group in which she writes for, making her one of the leading voices for those who get cancer in their twenties or thirties.    

On her blog, Kairol also talks about the delicate issue of money with regards to a cancer diagnosis.  We were thrilled to find out that she recently wrote about GiveForward as a financial resource for young people battling cancer.  (Read the full entry here).  As a young person, the diagnosis can be doubly scary because of the cost of treatment.  Savings are minimal or nonexistent, and then there can be the issue of student loans or a variety of other factors that inhibit saving or obtaining money.  This is where GiveForward, with the help of Kairol initiating the conversation money, can help these young patients.  Together, we can hopefully end the taboo that surrounds the discussion of medical costs.

You can read more from Kairol on her blog, Everything Changes.

Desiree Vargas Interviewed by GoodNewsBroadcast

President and co-founder Desiree Vargas was recently interviewed on GoodNewsBroadcast discussing GiveForward.  GoodNewsBroadcast strives to highlight people who have a “positive, constructive, impact on society” and we’re proud to fall into that category!  Further, they pride themselves on offering unedited, unbiased reporting. 

Click on the video below to hear all about why and how Desiree started GiveForward.  (I will warn you– the video itself is not that compelling, but the discussion certainly is!)