As many of you can only imagine being in the hospital over the holidays is no fun…now imagine yourself as a child fighting cancer, a new way of life for you and your family that you have just embarked on in the last month. Nathan started his chemo treatments on Thanksgiving day of 2010, what better day we thought to be thankful for a “beginning to and end”. The chemo treatments were three weeks out of four in the hospital as inpatient, he was pulled out of school and taught by the teacher in the hospital and a home teacher the schools sent to our home, when he was there. Nathan and our family spent every holiday in the hospital as in patient either for chemo treatments or fevers/isolation with the exception of Halloween. The staff did everything they could to help make this as joyful and painless as they could but when it all came down to it we were still in the hospital for the holiday’s, childhood cancer seemed determined to take from us those special moments that we as a family cherish.

We at Nathan’s Story C.C.O. wanted to help make it even more special, beings we could look at it from a different perspective then most since we actually were in the situation. We personally came up with the idea of bringing in “A Piece of Home” for the holidays. Our first year and within months of becoming an official 501(c)(3) we raised funds to get the children that would be in the hospital for the holidays their own holiday tree. The trees we chose were specifically chosen with the children in mind and with the help of Nathan himself. The trees are no more then 32-36″ with fiber optic lights, lights that change colors automatically and cascade through the room with soft soothing colors to be able to relax and and enjoy. This year would be our second year, and we hoped to make it even more magical then the last…We wanted to provide the children and families not only the trees but a holiday evening, that would include dinner, trees, gifts, crafts, and maybe a few games…an evening that will let them forget where they are and let them feel like they have “A Piece of Home” with them.

We are started a fundraiser to help us do just that, and it soared with the help of our volunteers and friends it was a GREAT success, there was plentiful for everyone. We had so many friends and others whom we did not know jump right in and sponsor a Tree for the children and the volunteers to help us that evening was amazing. A special group called the Island Creek Garden Tractor Pullers got involved with the help of the donation of the toys for the children and their siblings, they took up donations and we met one evening and went shopping, we had children from ages 2wks to 18yrs of age.

We’d like to thank everyone who became part of such a wonderful moment for the children and families over the holiday season, you all truly are a blessing.

Thank you!!!

Nathan’s Story Childhood Cancer Organization

** ALL PHOTOS, VIDEOS, AND ETC. ARE PROPERTY OF NATHAN’S STORY INC. MAY NOT BE DUPLICATED OR USED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF NATHAN’S STORY INC. PERMISSION WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SHARING THE STORY AS WHOLE  AS SHARED ABOVE …IN DOING SO CAN BRING LEGAL ACTION