From the Mouth of Babes

Why Soap For Hope?

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Childhood Cancer Awareness
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I know this is a long read, but please take the time to read or skim this message.

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As most of you know, my oldest son is in his third year of treatment for leukemia(blood cancer). Well, we just got the news that he is now facing some new challenges and has been diagnosed with a debilitating bone disease called avascular necrosis. This has been caused by the large amount of steroids that are used in his treatment protocol. His hips and knees are affected and his knees have fractures and collapse. At the time we don't know exactly what he is facing, but are hopeful they can fix it over time with the least invasive measures.

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My youngest, who is six years old, and has been eavesdropping on conversations asked the other day if Jonathan was going to be ok. He has listened and of course sensed the tension in the home. I told him that the medicine is helping Jonathan get well from the cancer, but that sometimes the medicines that make people better can cause other other parts of the body to get sick. He responded by stating, "Well, I guess the scientists just need to work harder then." Out of the mouths of babes.

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So, I guess the child has explained why we do Soap For Hope. In recent years, the amount of funding for childhood cancer research has been declining. In response to the most recent cutbacks, the National Cancer Institute has decreased funding which severely impacts childhood cancer research. As a result, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), the world’s pre-eminent childhood cancer research organization, has been forced to put 20 new studies on hold and decrease enrollment in new clinical trials by more than 400 children next year. This is outrageous. What can we do? We can write to our congress people, we can tell others to write to their congress people, and we have to raise money ourselves. How can we not? How can we sit idle and not do something to save our children? First and foremost we want cures, and then we want the scientists to figure out how to cure without damaging the children's quality of life.

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Ok, off my soap box..LOL...Soap For Hope is curing and as you can see from above, we have a quartet! We are in the process of naming these beauties, but to make it simple we have: Chocolate Coffee, Chocolate Cinnamon, Chocolate Orange, and Chocolate Cherry Almond! In honor of children of all ages they are all mixed with Chocolate!! We will make these available at the beginning of September because September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. We will continue these through Christmas.

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We will also be bringing back holiday favorites and some new ones as well. If you are not signed up to receive the newsletter, please do so you can get the newest information and releases.

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Upcoming Shows:

October 20 is the Healthy Living Body, Mind and Spirit Show at Lifeways. I will update with further details as it gets closer.