Green Acres Lawn Care is a “Heavy Hitter”!

Green Acres Lawn Care & Landscaping in Belvidere, IL is coming up big for state line families who are battling childhood cancer. In the photo below, President Josh Robertson is handing a sponsorship check to Sean Hesano, a member of the K Cancer Baseball 14U travel team.

Partners like Green Acres Lawn Care are the ones who make everything possible at K Cancer Baseball. If you are a business owner and would like to contribute to the great work that is being done for our state line families affected by childhood cancer, we would love to hear from you! We will set up a time to have one of our young social entrepreneurs stop out at your business to share a little about our cause and to explain the different levels of partnership.

Thanks again to Green Acres Lawn Care & Landscaping. I know who I will be calling when I need landscaping work done this coming year!

Sean receiving check from Green Acres Lawn Care & Landscaping

K Cancer Baseball’s “Be The Match Registry Drive” date announced!

Don’t think you can do something heroic? Think Cancer is too big to do something about? WRONG!

On March 22nd we will be partnering with thesignBe The Match Registry” organization and will host a Registry Drive. Our goal will be to add 45 names to their registry. That is one potential life saver for every baseball game we will play this summer!

It is incredibly easy to add your name to the national register:

  • Reasonably healthy people between the ages of 18 and 44 fill out a document that asks some medical questions
  • 4 cotton swabs are rubbed along your gums
  • The cotton swabs are mailed in to the Be The Match Registry
  • They type the tissue sample and add the information to the data base
  • If a patient is in need of a marrow transfusion and you are found to be a match, you will be contacted to see if you are still able to donate the marrow that can save a life!
  • If you do not fit the criteria to donate marrow you can still help by donating funds! It takes $100 for us to add a name to the register so any amount donated will help

We will be set up at 8213 N. Alpine Rd, Loves Park, IL from noon till 1:00 pm  If you would like to get involved, reach out to us by e-mail at [email protected] or on our facebook page. In the meantime, you owe it to yourself to watch this video! #transformrockford #Top25by25

[youtube=http://youtu.be/QOO2_vaRD3s]

#MCM Tyler is going to K his Cancer!

Playing lego's at the tableFor our Man Crush Monday, we’d like to introduce you to Tyler (http://www.gofundme.com/jpcpbs). Tyler is an awesome 6 year old young man who was diagnosed with a Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor on New Years Eve. This past Saturday the guys from the team stopped by to hang out with Tyler and to bring him a care package that was supplied by businesses that partner with K Cancer Baseball in our mission to support state line families battling childhood cancer.

We found out that Tyler was a big Lego fan. When the boys sat down at the table and pulled out the Lego’s they got right to work. After letting Britton, Collin, and Luca start building, we had to go to the bullpen and bring Tyler in. He finished the job and got the W!

Tyler showing off his lego creation

Tyler and his family are staring down 30 weeks of treatment, with a majority of his treatment taking place at the incredible Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Over the next few months there will be a ton of time spent in the car on Interstate 90 and in hospital rooms. As Wisconsin/Illinois state line residents, we are blessed to live in a tight knit community whose members know how to take care of each other. If you are able to help support Tyler as he fights cancer, go to his fundme page and contribute. I know that this awesome young guy and his family will appreciate it!

http://www.gofundme.com/jpcpbs

Two voices to listen to (if you are going to grow)

This past Wednesday the Youth Advisory Board of K Cancer Baseball was given two “Once In A Lifetime” opportunities in the same day!
At 9:00 (preceded by cinnamon rolls at Colectivo Coffee) Lucas & Adrian pitched their business to the 1 Million Cups group at 100State in Madison, Wisconsin. The 1 Million Cups crowd was made up of everyone from first time Early Stage Entrepreneurs to experienced business leaders. The guys did an excellent job with their presentation! When the presentation was over the entire Youth Advisory Board was brought to the front and a question and answer session ensued. This is where the first voice in my title comes from.Group with crowd at 1 Million cups
The first voice is the fresh voice of THE UNINFORMED OUTSIDER. As far as I know there were no medical professionals with pediatric cancer experience in the room. It was a group of incredibly bright “achievers” who brought creative insight to the challenges facing K Cancer Baseball as it goes about accomplishing its mission. They brought ideas to the table that someone with inside knowledge of the field would not have considered. They saw the forest because they have never skinned their knees climbing these particular trees!
You do yourself a disservice if you do not listen to those around you just because they aren’t in the “club”.
From there we went to the University of Wisconsin Hospital for a meeting with the staff of their Pediatric Oncology department. We were privileged enough to spend some time with some incredible people! We spent over an hour with a group that included the UW Health Marketing Consultant, the Director of their foundation, the head of community development, the senior nurse who is responsible for the Pediatric Oncology nurses. and (the part that just blew us away) Dr. Paul Sondel.
This is the second voice I referenced in the title of this post. The voice of THE EXPERT.
Dr. Sondel speaking to groupDr. Paul Sondel, M.D., Ph.D., is the Reed and Carolee Walker Professor in Pediatric Oncology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He received his M.D. magna cum laude in 1977 from Harvard Medical School. He was promoted to professor in 1987, and became leader of the UW Carbone Cancer Center’s Program in Immunology and Immunotherapy in 1990, when he also became Head of the Division of Pediatric Oncology.
Dr. Sondel has been a leader in scientific policy through multiple national committee roles, including The National Institutes of Health, The American Cancer Society, The Children’s Oncology Group (COG), The National Cancer Institute, where he was a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors, and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, where he was the Chair of their Scientific Advisory Committee and is now chair of their cancer center’s external advisory board.
Clinically, he has worked with COG in contributing to the progress of the past 30 years in the development of curative treatments for childhood cancers. He is devoted to his own patients, and committed to leading a multidisciplinary team that is providing comprehensive and compassionate, state of the art treatment for all childhood cancer and hematology patients at the University of Wisconsin.
I said all that to say this, he is THE AUTHORITY on childhood cancer!
The Youth Advisory Board presented K Cancer Baseball to Dr. Sondel’s team. Dr. Sondel was incredibly attentive and took notes throughout their presentation. When they concluded, he congratulated them on their efforts and their knowledge of the situation facing State-line families who are battling childhood cancer. He then spoke at length about some of the issues that we were not aware of. He highlighted some additional services we may want to provide to truly be a help. He then offered to partner with us as we look to make State-line families aware of the help we may be able to provide. I can tell you that he cut the learning curve down tremendously!
Ego can keep you from listening to the second voice, the voice of THE EXPERT. You may be tempted to say, “I don’t need their help. I can do this!” If you do, you are destined to fight battles that you could have avoided with some guidance.
From there his team was kind enough to take us on a tour Tour at American Family Hospitalof the American Family Children’s Hospital where young patients are treated with world-class technology and methods. This is where the magic happens. The facilities were amazing. They took everything into consideration. After seeing the attention to detail that was taken in regards to everything from the front door to the play areas, there is a comfort level that you are in a place that truly cares for children.
It was just an incredible day. We left with the understanding that what we are trying to do (help State-line area families as they battle childhood cancer) is worth doing, and it’s worth doing right!

1 Million Cups Madison!

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The Youth Advisory Board of K Cancer Baseball will be presenting their not for profit company at 1 Million Cups in Madison, Wisconsin on January 14th. This will be a great opportunity for the guys to share their vision for assisting State-line families who are battling childhood cancer.
The crowd typically contains C Level Executives of Early Stage Companies, Experienced Entrepreneurs, and Angel/Venture Fund Managers. It will be like a friendly and helpful version of “Shark Tank”. Can’t wait to see the guys in action!