My wife and I are extremely blessed to have a 17 and 15-year-old who up to this point has been fairly healthy. Sure, like all kids, and people in general, we've been through our bouts with the common cold, the flu, strep throat, ear infections, etc., but they were all illnesses they got over with either simple rest and letting nature take it course, or with a little help from prescribed antibiotics from their doctor. Also like all kids, they have their moments when we want to pull our hair out and question why we decided it would be a good idea to have children in the first place making it easy to forget how fortunate we are.

Hearing the stories we share from parents of St. Jude patients over the course of our annual two-day Radiothon always serves as a great reminder of how lucky we've been. Just the thought of hearing the words, "Your child has cancer," and the fight that begins immediately after to beat it makes me nauseous. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to live it.

Two people who know exactly what it's like are Lonny and Nikki Chapman of Evansville. Their son, Cooper, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, cancer of soft tissue, in 2018 after Lonny noticed a hard lump on his arm.

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Lonny was gracious enough to join us on Day 2 of our radiothon on Friday morning to talk about processing the news that Cooper had cancer and the impact St. Jude had on their family during and after Cooper's treatment. It's a powerful story. Take a listen and then call 1-800-372-4999 or text JUDE to 626262 to join the fight against childhood cancer by becoming a St. Jude Partner in Hope.

 

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