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For six weeks I faced the very real
possibility that I could lose my entire family. Thankfully Andrea and the
kids are fighters! By March 2003 Andrea and Nicholas were healthy enough to
fly with Alex and I back to Duke, so Alex could undergo her second Cord
Blood Transplant. Her second transplant took place on April 1, 2003 (yes
April Fools Day!) and while she had several setbacks including Cyclosporine
Toxicity and Grand Mal seizures, we were able to fly back home to Gig Harbor
in July 2003.
While all of this was occurring I still had to pay the bills, so in October
2001 I launched Alex's Coupons. Over the last 3+ years Alex's Coupons has
grown from a small site providing a little bit of extra income to being the
primary source of income for my family. The success of Alex's Coupons has obviously far exceeded my
expectations.
Early on I made the decision to provide information on Childhood Cancer
along with the coupons. I did this for the following reasons:
1) To raise money for Childhood Cancer charities. In 2006 Alex's Coupons
donated over $12,000 to charity and we are hopeful of matching that total in
2007.
2) To educate people, that might not be looking for Cancer Resources, to the
growing number of Childhood Cancer cases over the past ten years
particularly in California where we were living when Alex was diagnosed.
Since 1973, the incidence of childhood cancer in California has increased
nearly 11% while adult cancer has decreased nationwide. Each childhood
cancer death results in an average of 60 years of life lost, compared to 15
per adult cancer death. About 12 percent of all male and 13 percent of all
female deaths in children under age 15 are cancer-related, totaling over
13,000 years of lost life. (Source: California Cancer Registry)
3) To educate people about the insufficient funding for Childhood Cancer
research. The present budget for Childhood Cancer is 1/5 that of the budget
for Pediatric AIDS. Pediatric AIDS killed approximately 100 children in the
United States in 1999. Childhood Cancer killed over 5000 children in 1999.
Sadly, more than 60% of the American public knows little, if anything, about
pediatric cancer. (Source: The Foundation for the Children's Oncology Group)
4) To educate people about the fact that while we have made great strides in
treating some Childhood Cancers (e.g. Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia - 78%
survival rate), we have made less progress in treating others (e.g. AML -
~40% survival rate). More funding is needed to develop treatments for those
with often fatal Cancers like AML and Neuroblastoma.
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Photo Gallery
March 2003 to May 2003
 
 
 
June 2003 to December 2003
 
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