“…can you help this family?” That was the last line in an e-mail we received recently from a friend of our organization. A family member of theirs let them know about an acquaintance with a young child who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. The family lives over 2 hours away from the Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin where the majority of their child’s care will take place.

As you can imagine, the family is having a hard time making the long and frequent trips to the out of town hospital. Thus the e-mail to K Cancer Baseball. It was a very simple question, “Can you help this family?” The answer was equally as simple, “Yes we can!”

• We can because a small group of people saw the needs that local families who are battling childhood cancer have because of out-of-town travel and chose to do something about it.
• We can because people in our community give to support our efforts
• We can because local people in influential positions have helped us spread awareness to the issues and the support we can provide
• We can because someone remembered that we are here and passed our information along to a family in need

PLEASE, if you know of someone who is battling childhood cancer, pass along our information to them and have them reach out to us. We are here to help in the way that they need help. There are several ways to reach us. They can go to the resource page of our website and fill out the form, e-mail us at kcancerb[email protected], or message us on facebook (@kcancerbaseball).

Can we help this family? Yes, we can 🙂

Meet our new teammate, Abdalridha!  Recently, my family and I had the pleasure of meeting 11 year old ‘Ridha” at his home in Rockford, IL.  Ridha was diagnosed with secondary malignancy leukemia not long after completing treatment for a solid tumor in his ankle last year. After spending 45 days in the hospital for treatment he was allowed to come home for 2 days, and we were fortunate to have met him on his second day home. He was traveling back to Lurie Children’s Hospital the next day to continue his chemotherapy…

From the moment Ridha’s family opened the door we were welcomed with open arms, huge smiles and kindness. My sister, Kayla, and I talked with Ridha and his younger brother, Hassan, while my parents, Ridha’s parents, and his two older brothers had an in depth conversation about the struggles they have faced due to Ridha’s illness.  I learned after the visit that Ridha’s older brothers work to help their Dad support the family as medical bills and travel expenses, to and from Chicago, mount up.

The family moved to the United States in 2013 and face the additional challenge of adjusting to learning English and adapting to their new life here.  The entire family was so grateful for the care packages and gift cards that K Cancer Baseball was able to provide thanks to all of you who donate to the cause.  Please keep Ridha and his family in your thoughts as they are battling round 2 of cancer. We know Ridha is going to come out a winner!

Sean Hesano

Rockford Cosmopolitan Club, you hit it out of the park! We can’t thank you enough for two things:

1. The $1,500.00 donation to hep K Cancer Baseball in its mission to support local families battling Childhood Cancer

2. The example  you set for the young men and women of K Cancer Baseball and K Cancer Softball

For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Rockford Cosmopolitan Club, it is a service club comprised of local businessmen who are not satisfied with simply making a living and reaping the rewards of their success. They get together and raise money that they distribute each year to non-profits who are meeting serious needs in the community. Without the financial assistance that service clubs like The Rockford Cosmopolitan Club provide, the challenge that non-profits face in funding their services would be even greater.

Thank you again Rockford Cosmopolitan Club. The community appreciates what you do to make the state-line area a better place to live!

Some lives are born into this world not to satisfy themselves, but to serve as a clarion call to the rest of us.  Such was the life of Camden Green.  Born in November of 2014 to Fantasy Harries and Ryan Green, Camden clearly brought love into the world.  Being diagnosed at birth with Trisomy 21 Down Syndrome made him even more special to his mommy, Fantasy.  As she described him: “His extra chromosome made him more handsome, his smile brighter, his laugh louder, his hugs tighter and his blows of kisses oh so sweet.” Based on his picture, I would have to agree!

Unfortunately, we never got a chance to meet Camden and welcome him into the K Cancer Family as one of our “Teammates”.  He was diagnosed on April 4th with AML.  Three weeks later, he was gone.  It’s clear to his family that Camden’s purpose was to bring them a message of love and gratitude.  He helped them be more selfless and more appreciative for their time on this earth.

Sometimes, all we can do at K-Cancer is to be there–to be an ear to listen, arms to hug, and a voice of experience that says, “You will get through this!” We are grateful that we get to do this little bit to try to help someone like Fantasy.  And we’re grateful to all of you who enable us to do it.  Because of your support, we were able to step along side of her and help her get through this time of grief. When we gave her a gift certificate to a Frame Shop so she could have some keepsakes of Camden custom-framed, it brought Fantasy to tears.

Thank you all for your on-going support for our mission–to help stateline families battling childhood cancer (and it’s aftermath).  Your contributions and on-going prayers for mommies like Fantasy are truly making a difference.

Dan Domberg

The team has a big tournament in Milwaukee tomorrow. What did the guys do to get ready? They did landscaping!You see, the guys heard that baby Greer is on the DL. When a teammate goes down you don’t just go on without them. You make sure they know that they are still a part of the team and that they are more important to you than the game. With everything going on, they figured that not having to worry about getting the yard ready for Summer would let baby Greer’s family know they are important parts of the team!

Besides, the guys got a great workout in. After swinging an axe, a 34 inch 31 ounce bat will be nothing. We will send you updates on the games tomorrow Greer. Get better so you can get back out on the field!

[wpvideo zpHqikGH]

We have a fun week coming up at K Cancer Baseball! Our travel baseball team will represent us in their first tournament of the year (check out our Facebook events page) and then on Tuesday we are going to drop the baseball bats and pick up our rakes and shovels and head to the home of one of our Teammates that we support to start a “Lawn Makeover”!

They say you can always tell a travel baseball family’s yard in the summer time. It’s the one that never gets mowed during baseball season! There is a little truth to that. It’s hard to find the time to take care of your lawn when you are working a full time job, and raising kids all while being out of town each weekend for tournaments (thank God our tournaments are local!). Where do you find time to do the little things like mow the lawn? Multiply that times ten when you are spending each weekend at an out of town hospital to receive the specialized care that your child needs!

Sometimes we think we need to do something major to help somebody out when they are attending to their child. You can be a big help by taking one of the “Little Things” off of the list for them. Every once in a while it’s a good thing to drop your bat and pick up a rake!

We had a new Teammate, Albert Alamilla, join the K Cancer Baseball family this past week. Tyler is a student at Belvidere High School who is battling Osteo Sarcoma.  Let’s keep Albert in prayer as he knocks out his chemotherapy and radiation. We are looking forward to seeing Albert and his family out on the ball field this summer!