Day 1: Go Gray in May

120  - The number of types of brain tumors.

700,000 - The number of people living with brain tumors in the United States.

4,600 - The number of children diagnosed with brain tumors each year.

9 - The number of children diagnosed daily with a brain tumor.

1 - The number of MY children who have a brain tumor.

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. It's a time to raise awareness, tell our story, and hope that with awareness will come a cure.

Brain tumors are the leading cause of childhood cancer death. The survival rate of children with brain tumors is 66%. To put that another way, 1/3 of kids with brain tumors die.

Tillery   *   Bennett   *   Zach   *   Wyatt   *   Peyton   *   Caralyn   *   Iyana   *   Peyton   *   Destiny   *   Ollie   *   Tony   *   Phillip   *   AJ

13 kids we know diagnosed with a brain tumor. 3 have passed away. 5 others have terminal brain tumors. Those are our numbers. That's the reality that we are living.

Our neuro-oncologist told us that most research funding comes from private individuals who have been impacted by a pediatric brain tumor. That means that the kids I listed above have to fund their own cure because the government isn't doing it (4% of cancer research funds goes to kids), pharmaceutical companies aren't doing it, and big nonprofit organizations don't exist. I tell you this to say, to beg, to plead with you...HELP US!

Share the numbers with your friends. Share Tillery's story. Share the stories of Tillery's friends. And help us with the funding. We are still getting through all the paperwork to officially get the TIL Foundation off the ground. You can support by purchasing a TIL Foundation t-shirt by clicking here. You can also donate to our favorite non-profit that funds pediatric brain tumor research, The Cure Starts Now, by clicking here to donate in Tillery's honor.

The color for brain tumor awareness is gray and the people who come up with catchy slogans say "Go Gray in May". So put on some gray this month and tell someone why. Tell them about these kids.


Sorry this isn't a clever, funny, or entertaining entry. I still thank you for reading and I hope you will pass it along. These kids need a cure. Our friends need to keep their children. We don't want to radiate our daughter's head. We don't want her to be on chemotherapy for her whole life. We want better drugs. We want better options. We want a cure. It all starts with YOU!