We are joining St. Baldricks this year to honor our biggest hero! Our son Ryan Wagner. Ryan had anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Initially the prognosis was looking good. Ryan did great on the chemotherapy regimn for about 5 months. Sometime in February it was discovered that Ryan was no longer responding to the chemo. A bone marrow transplant would be needed and we had a perfect match.Ryans oldest brother my oldest son was a perfect sibling match! But we would never make it to the bone marrow transplant, Ryan's cancer was much too aggresive and he did not respond well to the needed bridge chemotherapy. In the end the cancer was too much and after only a ten month battle with cancer, Ryan Dustin Wagner took his last breath on July 29th, 2011 in my arms.
We have established a non profit foundation in Ryan's name "Ryan's Light" . The mission of Ryan's Light is
To fund a music therapy program in Hawaii for pediatric oncology patients.
To give a gift of a ukulele and provide ukulele music lessons along with the music therapy program.
To fund child life with musical instruments for the children on the pediatric ward to utilize.
To fundraise for pediatric cancer research so that we may find a cure. To advocate for increased public awareness of pediatric cancers.
You can visit the foundations website here at http://www.ryanslight.org/index.html
Every year cancer kills more children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and pediatric AIDS COMBINED! Every day 36 children are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. alone, Every day seven children will die from cancer, My Ryan was one of the 7. Over the past 20 years, there has been some increase in the incidence of children diagnosed with all forms of invasive cancer. We need your help! Please join our 2013 team for St. baldricks so that we may fullfill our mission of raising desperatly needed funds for pediatric cancer research, and raise awreness to this number one killer of children in death by disease.