My View Looking Forward
![gus-new-small](https://rallyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/gus-new-small.jpg)
Before cancer, I was never a morning person, but now I love waking up in my home with the entire family under one roof.
Most nights, I wake up around 3 am in a panic. Did I dream up this terrible nightmare that my 4-year-old son had cancer and had four inches of his leg cut off?
I rush to Gus’s room to check on him and sometimes lay next to him. I tell him I love him to the moon and back and that I am so proud of him. I know these moments are what matter most in life.
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Rally Kid Gus with his family
Right now, it is easy to get sidetracked by arguments over vaccine hesitancy or mask mandates that are still in place. I wish everyone would slow down and view this as an opportunity to help their neighbor. Believe me, it could be so much worse.
I have watched a handful of families lose their children to childhood cancer and have been humbled and blessed by their friendship. We share the common bond of childhood cancer.
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Rally Kid Gus and dad Tim
One of the most difficult aspects of this journey was watching Ian, a beloved young man, go through hell as he and his family battled Ewing’s, relapse after relapse. Just last month, I served as a pallbearer at his funeral.
I am seeking answers for my son, for Ian, and all the pediatric cancer kids like them. Over the past 30-month odyssey, I believe Heidi and I have made the best, albeit difficult, decisions for our son.
Yet I have not been successful in making the difference I so desperately want to achieve. I dream of a 50 percent long-term survival or better for metastatic or relapsed Ewing’s sarcoma patients.
After Rally nominated me, I was accepted as a Consumer Reviewer to the Department of Defense Peer-Review Cancer Research Program. I have the opportunity to be a voice for kids and parents fighting this horrid disease.
I am full of so much anger, heartache and fear, but I also have profound gratitude and hope. Of all these emotions, the most important are GRATITUDE and HOPE.
I am GRATEFUL that I have a bond with so many incredible pediatric cancer families.
I am GRATEFUL that I learned so much from so many brilliant scientists and doctors over the past 30 months. With this base of knowledge, I was able to help my father, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 skin cancer, receive the best treatment available.
I am forever GRATEFUL to Dean and her team at Rally. They are truly doing God’s work. Over the next decade, I hope our village of pediatric cancer parents and supporters will continue to grow and that our voices will be heard.
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Rally Kid Gus and dad Tim sledding
I HOPE that people in our community will get more involved. We greatly appreciate all the prayers, but we need you to truly get involved with Rally or a foundation like Rally to make a difference.
I HOPE people will spend less time being angry about things in life that do not matter and I HOPE they become angry about things that do matter—like pediatric cancer, the number one disease killer of our kids in America! And I HOPE they will act on that anger to make a difference.
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Rally Kid Gus and dad Tim cheersing
I am going to continue this odyssey and HOPE that some of you reading will join me; I would be incredibly GRATEFUL if you did. I know I will continue to navigate this pediatric cancer world and strive to make at least a small difference for a child. Together we can change the future for children fighting cancer.
Rally On!!