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60 BRAVA MAGAZINE | MARCH 2014 March 8 | 6 p.m. A LITTLE TASTE OF WISCONSIN Benefi ts Gio's Garden Enjoy beer, wine, cheese and chocolate tastings from many of Wisconsin's own breweries and specialty kitchens. $40. Dream Kitchens, 5117 Verona Rd., Madison. mjwcmadison. org/annual-fundraiser/little- taste-wisconsin. GO+DO CATALYST NONPROFIT FUNDRAISERS & EVENTS: ALL FOR THE KIDS March 8 | 12 p.m.-12 a.m. WISCONSIN DANCE MARATHON Benefi ts American Family Children's Hospital Raise at least $100 to enter, then enjoy performances, food and fun—and dance— at this 12-hour event. UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., Madison. blogs.uwhealth.org/ widancemarathon. March 16 | 10 a.m. SHAMROCK SHUFFLE Benefi ts Boys & Girls Club of Dane County This 5K/10K and 2-mile walk starts at State Street's Library Mall. Post-race party at State Street Brats. shamrock- shuff le.squarespace.com. PHOTO BY MAX WENDT COURTESY OF FLASHES OF HOPE BADGER CHILDHOOD CANCER NETWORK SUPPORTING KIDS AND THEIR FAMILIES BY BRITNI MCDONALD, NBC 15 NEWS ANCHOR "YOU CAN'T HAVE A KID WITH CANCER AND NOT HAVE ELECTRICITY OR A WORKING TELEPHONE." –BCCN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANNE SPURGEON ANNE SPURGEON WAS A PH.D. his- tory student at UW-Madison when she learned her 4-year-old son Joseph had cancer. It changed her life. "We had two solid years of keeping this KIDˬLIVEˬNDTRYINGNOTTOǠNˬNCIˬLLYCOL lapse as a family," says Spurgeon of the time Joseph struggled with rhabdomyo- sarcoma (RMS), a cancerous tumor of the muscles that are attached to the bones. Now, 17 years later, Joseph is 22 years old and a recent college graduate, and Anne is the executive director for Bad- ger Childhood Cancer Network (BCCN) in Madison, which serves nearly 100 children with life-threatening blood disorders and cancer along with their families in more than 30 Wisconsin counties. When Spurgeon was struggling to keep her child alive, BCCN was just a grass- roots organization. Now Spurgeon helps other parents going through similar situations, like Kerry Frank, whose daugher Abby was diagnosed with leuke- mia in 2007 at age 2. "She empowered me with information and hope, and that was huge," recalls Frank. Frank started volunteering for BCCN halfway through Abby's treatment, which continued into 2010, and now works alongside Spurgeon as the president of BCCN. Today BCCN offers one-on-one emo- TIONˬLˬNDǠNˬNCIˬLSUPPORT8ITHIN hours of a diagnosis, BCCN reaches out to every family with a "New Diagnosis #ˬGo THˬTmS ǠLLED WITH TOILETRIES GˬS cards and helpful information including monthly support groups. "We're there with open arms to greet families," says Spurgeon. "We're not superheroes. Our kids are. We do the best we can," says Frank. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, treatments can be aggressive and long. 8HˬTMˬKESTHISEVENMOREDIǝCULTSˬYS Spurgeon, is that the average family lives about an hour away from the hospital. Months at a time, many of these parents are out of work and traveling to the hos- pital on a weekly basis, struggling to pay MEDICˬLBILLSŀ ˬTmSWHEN#$$/STEPSIN "We've been able to keep families from being evicted," says Spurgeon. "You can't have a kid with cancer and not have electricity in your home or a working telephone. We cover those basics if we can." "LONGWITHTHISEMOTIONˬLˬNDǠNˬNCIˬL help for parents are events and programs JUSTFORTHEKIDSŀ ESEINCLUDETHEˬN nual "Superhero Run" and the popular Pediatric Heme-Onc Hero Bead program where kids collect beads that represent the procedures and milestones in their cancer experience. "Our mission remains the same: No CHILDǠGHTSCˬNCERˬLONEoSˬYS'RˬNK Kerry Frank, BCCN president, looked to the organization for support during daughter Abby's (front) cancer journey.