Payden Memorial Foundation: The families in our lives

LINKS about some of the common childhood cancers:

Cancerbackup.org : Information on many types of cancer, including medulloblastoma.

Please contact us if you have recommednations of Web sites that might benefit children with cancer in any way.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Eagle Mount – Bozeman: Therapeutic recreation for people with disabilities and children with cancer.

Cancer Family Network of Montana: Dedicated to providing a healthy, supportive and educational experience for Montana families dealing with cancer.

Zachary Cole: A child in Washington State battling cancer.

RATPOD: A terrific bike ride to benefit CAMP MAK-A-DREAM. RATPOD (Ride Around The Pioneers in One Day) is a 157-mile bicycle ride that starts and ends in Dillion, Montana, and goes through the scenic Big Hole Valley of southwestern Montana. Sparsely populated and lightly traveled by automobile, the valley is bicycle nirvana and the stomping grounds of Tour de France cyclist and Butte native Levi Leipheimer.

Camp Mak-A-Dream in Gold Creek, Montana is for kids and adolescents with cancer. For more information:
Camp Mak-A-Dream
RATPOD ride
P.O. Box 1450
Missoula, MT 59806-1450
Phone: (406)549-5987
Fax: (406)549-5933

When cancer touches the lives of many Montana families, the costs associated with coping with and treating the disease go well beyond what medical insurance covers, if a family has insurance at all. Many Montana families have to travel out of state to treatment centers like Seattle and Salt Lake, and hotel, food, phone and other bills quickly mount up.

This is where the Payden Memorial Foundation can and does help. With the health and well-being of a child the most important thing on anyone's mind, helping a family that needs support in meeting expenses can take at least one aspect of the challenge out of the equation.

Families are usually referred to us by social workers and other healthcare practitioners acquainted with the work of the Foundation.

For more about the ways we help families, or to make a donation to the Foundation or to a specific child, please see our Donation page.

Thanks to 143 riders and their donors, our generous sponsors, individual and business donations, and the work of our tireless volunteers, Blazing Saddles VII on July 19, 2008, raised $43,500 for families like these. The Foundation's work continues throughout the year, long after we've finished the annual Blazing Saddles ride, and we welcome your interest and support.
Meet RashawannaShi, a 10 year old from Lodge Grass, Montana. She is the youngest of 4 and has two sisters and a brother. RashawannaShi loves horses, dogs, and parrots, and enjoys coloring. She is undergoing chemotherapy and travels a lot for treatments.

Joseph is a 17-year old high school senior who has been accepted at MSU in Bozeman where he plans to study mechanical engineering.	As you can see, Joseph plays guitar when he is not busy with school at Billings West (where he is a National Honor Society student), or working part time at a senior citizens retired living center. In 2007, Joseph was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He has completed treatment and is doing well. (Thank you to Joseph's family for sharing his story and pictures.)

	Kiersa is a lovely little girl with a whole lot of style! Kiersa is three and is currently undergoing treatment for Ewings Sarcoma. She and her family are from Bozeman. We thank her Grandmother for staying in touch with us and for sending us these pictures of Kiersa.

Meet Ty. Ty is four-years old and has had 3 years of chemotherapy. Our little slideshow of Ty shows how much he loves the outdoors. Ty is very active and loves camping, fishing, football, baseball, soccer, riding bikes, coloring, books, and just being a normal kid.

	Anne is a 16- year-old from Belgrade, Montana who's active in 4-H and raises beef and sheep. She plays guitar and is in a band formed with some of her classmates. During hospital stays she kept up with school and music lessons and still had time for art projects, including one for a show exhibiting the works of cancer patients and their families at the Paris Gibson Museum in Great Falls. From the picture of this lovely teen, you can see that her varied interests also include volleyball.

	Number 85 on the Riverside Cougars is Josh, who plans to play football in High School. His family wrote to us, "Josh loved 8th Grade football and is proud to be a champion." He also "loves to fish. . .enjoys most video games. . .and loves to learn about space."
Helping Josh through the bumpy times of treatment are his sisters Heidi and Jessica, and his dogs Rocky and Sancho. (Photo at right: Pictured L to R, Sancho, Heidi, and Jessica with Josh).

"We want to thank you for reaching out to us at such an overwhelming time. As time goes by and the costs sometimes seem insurmountable, there you were again! . . . . Even more touching is that you care about my family." - a mother of one of the children in the Payden Memorial Foundation community

"Your support is so blessed to us – it's really a bright spot in our sometimes challenging life now." – parents of one of the children helped by the Foundation.

Thanks to the families and children for sharing their photos and stories.

These are the faces and voices of families served by the Foundation. With your generosity, The Payden Memorial Foundation can continue to help families and individuals with kids who have cancer. If you know a specific child for whom you'd like to make a donation, please see our Donation page.

For more information, please give us a call 406.222.6700 or email: info@payden.org. To make a general donation to the Payden Memorial Foundation, please click the button below.


		© 2007, 2008 Payden Memorial Foundation