3rd Annual JTSF Crab Feed

The 3rd Annual JTSF Crab Feed

Saturday, June 15, 2013

1:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Kerry's Green 

150 Country Club Rd., Red Lion, PA 17356 

Tickets are $35 per adult, $10 for kids under 12 and free for kids under 3! 

Purchase your tickets right here on the blog! 

No tickets will be sold the day of the event, you must have a ticket to enter!

Hi friends!

We would like to give you some more information about our 3rd Annual Crab Feed which will be held at a new location this year! Of course, nothing has changed about the importance of this event! All proceeds benefit children and families in our area who are battling childhood cancer. Please join us on Father's Day weekend to celebrate these families, remember those who cannot be with us and raise awareness and a lot of money!

We are extending a big thank you to Kerry's Green for becoming our new home to this beloved event.

The event will begin at 1 p.m. and run until 5 p.m. featuring all-you-can-eat fresh steamed, Maryland blue crab from the fine folks at She's Got Crabs! Additionally  we feature hot dogs, picnic side dishes and more desserts than you can handle!

Beverages will be provided, non-alcoholic and alcoholic (sodas, tea, water and beer). Unlike in the past, this event is not BYOB. Please pass this along to friends who may have attended our event in prior years. If you have any questions about this please contact us at jtsfoundation@gmail.com.

JTSF merchandise will be available for purchase. There will be a cash raffle as well as a few other special raffle prizes.

If you cannot join us and would like to make a donation (monetary or in-kind), please visit our Facebook page or reach out to Savannah Smith at jtsfoundation@gmail.com!

We appreciate your gracious support and look forward to seeing you at Kerry's Green on June 15th! These tickets make a fantastic Father's Day gift and help support the fight against childhood cancer. Get yours today!

Nick Pantalone

There is never an easy way to write a post like this. Days like these are horrible and there are no words that can describe what this family is suffering through.

This morning at 4:30 a.m. our friend and inspiration Nick Pantalone lost his battle with cancer. His parents say he passed peacefully in his sleep with his family by his side.

Nick was an indescribably amazing person. While battling desmoplastic round cell tumors, Nick was a sophomore at Lebanon Valley College and rarely missed classes. He maintained his own CaringBridge where his posts were uplifting, enlightening and educational. I always felt like I was learning important life lessons reading Nick's blog. 

Even while battling cancer Nick never slowed down or let his diagnosis stand in his way. He was his
high school's valedictorian, student council president, spanish club and drama club vice president, and a ride operator at Hershey Park. I was so overly thrilled to see him running The Comet one day that I visited with the Weinsheimer family that I hopped out of the seat just to run up and give him a hug (and held up the ride). Nick had a passion for roller coasters and dreamed of becoming a theme park manager. 

I have had the pleasure of working with Anna Ungar this year both as a dear friend and as my committee member. She knew Nick very well and had this to say:

I’ve been trying to find the right words to say, but there are no right words when another young person is taken by cancer. Nick was the single most amazing person I’ve ever had the privilege to be friends with. His positivity and warm smile were contagious, and he inspired countless people, some of whom he never even met. Nick completely changed my life in the best way possible. He didn’t let cancer define him, and even though I met him through THON, he was never my friend with cancer – he was just my friend. Cancer took Nick from us far too early, but it will never take away his memory, the inspiration he has given to so many people, or the love his family and friends will always hold in their hearts for him. Throughout his battle with cancer, he always made time for his friends and family, and never lost his positive attitude. Nick’s favorite movie was Meet the Robinsons, and he always told me, “Keep moving forward.” So we will keep moving forward for him, in hopes that one day we will find a cure and no other family will have to go through what Nick’s family is going through right now. Everyone please keep Nick’s family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Nick fought hard until the very end, and now we will continue the fight for him. - Anna Ungar via Onward State

Anna has organized a way to support and lift up the Pantalone family during this painful time. She wants to help flood their mailbox with cards and letters of support and love. 

I remember our mailbox was so filled for weeks after losing Jed that reading the mail every day was an event in and of itself. Reading memories and stories was something to treasure.

Please, if you have a moment we would love you to share your stories and memories of Nick for the Pantalone's. If you did not know Nick, we encourage you to send along your words of comfort and love to this incredible family.

Cards and letters can be sent to Savannah Smith at 229 S. Sparks St. APT 24, State College, PA 16801 (please make sure these are double enveloped) and will be forwarded on to the Pantalone family. Please send these as soon as possible!

JTSF Rockstar | Gabrielle Chapman (March)

Gabrielle is a very empathetic child. She is always willing to help anyone at any time and is such a spirited, delightful girl.  She is a brain cancer survivor and is quite the "scrapper”. She wears her heart on her sleeve!  She loves to color and play with her older sister, Elizabeth. She goes on Facebook to talk to all of her Penn State Dance Marathon friends that adopted her family from Penn State Abington. “We love Penn State and THON is everything to our family because they helped save our daughters life. That is a very important part of our life.”  

When Gab was diagnosed she had fallen and hit her head. Two days after the fall her doctor thought Gabrielle had a virus because she was walking like she was drunk. Following that viral diagnosis, Gabrielle received a CT scan and then her family was told to take her back to the doctor. The Chapman family went from the doctor’s office where they received the CT scan results. Immediately following, they were sent to see a neurosurgeon the Penn State Hershey Medical Center neurosurgeon where they stayed overnight to receive an MRI.

The MRI results showed that Gab had a 4 cm tumor at the base of her cerebellum. She received brain surgery to remove the tumor and this gave the Chapman’s the official diagnosis of Medullablastoma. She started chemotherapy two weeks later.

Gabrielle received one month of in-patient chemo and one month of chemotherapy at home. The Chapman’s learned everything about chemo, even how to give it to her in her n/g tube. They gave their daughter Neupogen shots too. Neupogen (filgrastim) is an injection of a drug that helps your body make white blood cells.

Additionally she received a stem cell transplant. This is where the patient’s cells are taken out of their body, separated from the blood stream and frozen. The patient receives a mega-dose of chemotherapy and then the stem cells are injected back into the patient. This is called an autologous transplant because it uses the patient’s own cells but the cancer cells are removed or destroyed and only the good cells are used.

After this procedure Gab had a restriction of 100 days where she was not permitted to be in physical contact with anyone except immediate family. This also meant she had to repeat all her immunizations.

However, since then she has been only visiting the hospital for outpatient clinic visits. Gabrielle has been cancer free for 6 years!

Gabrielle is just plain awesome and so very determined. Her parents say that she is always closing the gap that was put in front of her because of the delays her cancer caused. She is a spunky and very fun little girl who has a big life ahead of her.

Her parent’s biggest hope for her is that her cancer never comes back.  They want Gab to get caught up in all aspects of her life but also be a kid as long as possible! She always says she wants to grow up to be a teacher. One time her mom asked her why and Gabrielle responded, “I just want to help people!” 

Crab Feed Tickets

Hello all!

Crab Feed tickets are now on sale! You're at the right place too!
Check out the right hand side of the blog above the "Donate Now" button and you should see the PayPal drop down button for Crab Feed tickets!

Note: This is not viewable on mobile devices! If you can read this post but do not see the right-hand column, try visiting us on a computer! We apologize for the inconvenience. 

Some important notes on purchasing tickets:

• If your purchasing option is not available (say you'd like to buy 8 adult tickets, but we only offer 4 at a time), please select "1 Adult Ticket" and then visit your cart and you are able to change the quantity!
  
• If no matter what you do, your purchasing option is not available, you may have to do two transactions. It sucks, and we're SO SORRY. However, we will reimburse you the shipping in cash when we send you your tickets.
  
• Your tickets will be mailed to your PAYPAL ADDRESS. Please make sure that your PayPal address is correct!
  
• Email us if you have any questions! jtsfoundation@gmail.com or leave us a comment on our Facebook page!
  

We can't wait to see you on June 15th! 

iPad Donation!

Yesterday we unveiled a secret we've been keeping for a while now and delivered 8 new iPad Mini's to the pediatric outpatient clinic at the brand new Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital!

This has been an amazing experience for us and it would not be possible without Michael and Catherine Avon and their family and also Vance Martin. These three people have made such an amazing gift possible and we can never thank them enough! You are very special to us and now to lots of kids who will play with these iPads during infusions, as a distraction before procedures and when they're just in clinic hanging around getting their treatments.

We delivered them yesterday with a big posse of friends and family. Our friends Trish, Jordan and Nonna came along for support and showed off their JTSF gear! Jordan also delivered the first iPad to Becky, clinic's Child Life Specialist, and our awesome friend.

When Jordan was a baby his parents would bring him into the hospital to visit Jed almost three times a week. His older brother, Jackson, was in treatment with Jed and is now hanging out in heaven with him. Coincidentally, we also share a last name with them so there were often two J. Smith's on the floor! It seemed fitting for us that Jed's favorite baby (now growing up so fast) hand off this awesome donation that Jed would be so excited about!

Big thanks to our friend Alek for also coming along and helping to hand off the first iPad to a patient to use! Seth was over the moon for a chance to play Hillclimb Racer and couldn't stop smiling! This was definitely one of the highlights of the day! Thanks Seth for making this super special and we hope everyone enjoys these for years to come.

One of the new infusion bays in clinic - just one of the spaces where the kids can use these iPads

Each iPad is protected in an OtterBox case with an easy to wipe down screen cover. The back has a small plaque to remember Jed and thank our donors. We decked out the background in our logo and pre-loaded them with over 20 apps (games, puzzles, social media apps and more).

We also took a short tour of the upstairs inpatient hem/onc unit because the last time we saw it, it was incomplete! It was wonderful to see our favorite nurses and give so many hugs!

The new children's hospital really thought of almost everything. Even the chairs in the lobby are kid-sized and have little duck feet on the bottom. I tested them out, they're perfect!

Again, thanks to the Avons and Vance because without loving and caring people like you we would not have been able to make this day possible! THANK YOU!

JTSF Rockstar | Ashley Otstott (February)

Ashley is a happy, friendly and out-going girl who does whatever she can to help others.  She is very kind and compassionate. Ashley enjoys hanging out with her friends, watching Penn State Football and tailgating, going to THON, hanging out with her Penn State friends, and going to the beach. Ashley also plays softball, sings and swims. She lives with her sister, Dani, and her parents.  

When Ashley was three she started getting bruises for no apparent reason, complained of bellyaches and leg pains and was tired all the time. She then started getting petechiae on her neck and under her eyes. Her parents took her to the pediatrician, who sent her for lab work. Upon getting the results, the Otstott’s were sent directly to Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. The following morning, she had a bone marrow biopsy, spinal tap and chemotherapy injected into her spine. This was to determine what type of leukemia she had. Ashley was diagnosed 2 days before her 4th birthday in 2001 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). 

Ashley underwent 26 months of treatment, which included spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies and chemo by mouth at home on a daily basis. An additional part of her treatment included frequent clinic appointments, chest X-Rays, echocardiograms, platelet and blood transfusions, and numerous hospital stays for neutropenia.

Ashley showed great courage and strength during her fight against pediatric cancer. She is now a 9-year cancer survivor and is now focusing her attention on raising money and awareness for pediatric cancer. She raises money for the Penn State Dance Marathon as well as her High School, Susquehanna Township's Mini-THON. Ashley serves on a committee to help plan her high school’s mini dance marathon (which is a smaller version of Penn State’s 46-hour dance marathon that hundreds of schools across the state participate in). Her hope is to do all that she can to raise money to help find a cure so that other kids never have to go through all that she, and so many others like her, have had to.

Ashley’s family hopes that she continues to live a happy, healthy and normal life. Her family has wishes for her to achieve all that she sets out to do in life. Her parents, Sharon and Bob, hope that she will go to college and have a successful future. Her mom says, “She deserves the very best life has to offer.”

JTSF Rockstar | Collin Kratzer (January)

Collin Kratzer is the JTSF January Rockstar and has the honor of being our inaugural Rockstar! Collin lives with his sweet sister, Neya, and his parents, Jenn and Bill. 

Collin is very sweet, loving, and easy going. He loves playing with his sister, and playing on his iPad. He likes Mr. Potato Head, Elmo, The Wiggles, and Caillou. He likes to look at cookbooks, and pretend to cook in his kitchen. He has a sense of humor, and makes us laugh every day!

Collin started walking before he turned one, but he fell a lot. At his 15-month check-up, his pediatrician noticed that he turned his head and looked out the side of his eyes to see things. He sent us to a pediatric ophthalmologist, but at that first consult the eye doctor didn't see anything alarming. He decided to watch Collin closely, and would see him three weeks later. During those three weeks, Collin started throwing up and not eating. He was very fussy and it was hard to console him. He spent Easter weekend in the hospital with dehydration due to what we thought was a stomach bug. When the eye doctor checked him three weeks after that initial consult, he saw pressure on Collin's optic nerve and ordered an MRI. The next afternoon, an MRI showed a large tumor in Collin's cerebellum, which was why his balance was bad, he vomited frequently, and he couldn't talk or swallow. He was admitted directly to the PICU following the MRI, and had brain surgery the day after that to remove the tumor. Collin was officially diagnosed with Medulloblastoma.  

Collin had a total resection of the tumor. He underwent five rounds of chemotherapy, and then a sixth round of high dose chemo followed by an autologous stem cell rescue. He survived the life threatening complication of veno occlusive disease. He has had months of maintenance chemo at home, a few different times.

Collin is an absolute fighter. He has relapsed twice. He has had Gamma Knife surgery, and has participated in a Phase II trial. He has had 28 sessions of cranio-spinal radiation, and is currently on more maintenance chemo. He has also had a few years of occupational, physical, and speech therapy, which still continues.

Despite not wanting to go to clinic appointments or take medicine, Collin doesn't fight against doing these things; instead he is very brave and does what he's asked to do, usually with a smile on his face. He doesn't sit around feeling sorry for himself. He gets up everyday, and just wants to be a kid, doing "kid" things. He is very proud when he is told how brave he is. Again, a real fighter.

Collin’s parents have simple wishes for him. They want to see Collin have a chance to grow up and live his dreams. They want childhood cancer to get the awareness and funding it needs and deserves, so better treatments and cures can be found. For Collin, we fight for this!

You can follow Collin’s story on his blog (http://littleprinceyfellow.blogspot.com) or on Facebook at Our Little PrinceyFellow - Collin Cureageous !