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Caring for the CHILDREN of Breast Cancer

Chattanooga Chicken Soup
Fall 2002

When MaryEllen Locher, TV anchor at NewsChannel 9, first discovered a lump, she wasn't too concerned. She had just received a good report on her first mammogram, and she was only 40. But a few weeks later-after a big celebration for her son Alex's 11th birthday-she realized the lump was still there and knew instinctively it was cancer. She had journeyed down that road once before and won a fight against Hodgkin's Disease in 1988. But it was different this time.

"I had my dear son looking at me now to se how I handled this challenge. I had to show him a lust for life and a lust for eternal life," MaryEllen says. MaryEllen and her husband David Burd know that Alex was a miracle, a gift of love to them from God. "I have infinite trust that God can take care of Alex, but I love being his mother."

MaryEllen was surprised to learn that many women under 40 are getting breast cancer. "It is the fastest growing segment of the breast cancer population," MaryEllen says. "And the children of these women are being hit by the fallout. Breast cancer steals from these from these kids. It steals their childhood. They are burdened by the realistic possibility of losing their mothers."

The financial stress, too, can be overwhelming for the family. It's difficult for a mother in treatment to continue working, and a financial crisis can quickly develop for a family that has depended on two salaries. For single mothers, the loss of income can be devastating. The children's future and their hope of a college education become even more uncertain.

MaryEllen's experience and her concern for the future of the children in families facing breast cancer have led her on a new path to establish and help support sources of help.

Children of Breast Cancer Scholarship Fund®

This national fund provides scholarships to children of mothers who have either lost a parent to breast cancer or are children of breast cancer survivors. Other components of the program, being implemented through the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, include cancer prevention and early detection education for college students and a volunteer mentor program of support for recipients. A sterling silver pin symbolizing a mother embracing her child being united with her family in fighting breast cancer is given as a gift (while supplies last) with each $30 donation to the Children of Breast Cancer Scholarship Fund, PO Box 4032, Chattanooga, TN 37405. For more information, call 875-0097 or visit www.childrenofbreastcancer.org

Our 1st
Recipient

Ginny Straub

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