Smiles Are Forever

01/14/2026

This is the story of James and Matthias, the grandchildren of a good friend, two incredibly brave boys who faced more in one year than most of us could imagine. 💙 In 2025, James was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. His days became filled with hospital rooms, endless needles, 12 rounds of chemotherapy, and major surgery to remove part of his lung. Just as the family was preparing for that surgery, Matthias suddenly became very ill. Emergency tests revealed a large intestinal mass that needed immediate surgery. While the mass was thankfully benign, scans also showed lesions in his lungs—lesions that matched James’ cancer. Matthias underwent two surgeries to remove them and, by God’s grace 🙏, did not need chemotherapy.

As 2026 began, relief and hope replaced fear. James finished treatment and rang the bell on January 6th 🔔, a moment of pure joy and triumph. Today, both boys are healing and moving forward, with lifelong monitoring ahead but hearts full of hope. We are forever grateful to the doctors, nurses, and staff at Dayton Children’s and Nationwide Children’s, and we praise the Lord for carrying this family through such a difficult chapter.

If you feel moved to help, donations can be made directly to the family through their GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/c38c2e17 Every contribution, big or small, will go straight to supporting James, Matthias, and their family during this journey. 💛

01/14/2026

We wanted to take a moment to reconnect and share an update from Smiles Are Forever.

This past year has been a quieter one for our nonprofit, and that was intentional. We chose to take a step back to spend meaningful time with our family and friends. Sometimes, when passion drives our work, it’s easy to get carried away and forget what matters most—being present with the people we love.

Our kids are growing quickly and are deeply involved in sports, many of which we either coach or proudly cheer from the sidelines. In just a few short years, they’ll be in middle school, and life will be ramping up even more. This past year gave us the gift of slowing down and being fully present during this season of life.

That said, our hearts for pediatric cancer families remain as strong as ever. In our next post, we will be sharing a GoFundMe for a family who fought an incredibly hard battle. We hope you’ll take a moment to read their story and support them if you’re able.

Thank you for your continued love, understanding, and support of Smiles Are Forever. We’re grateful to have such an amazing community walking alongside us.

Thank you,
Chad Holbert and the Smiles Are Forever Team!

10/08/2025

Happy heavenly birthday, sweet angel. Love you Melissa and Phil. ❤️‍🩹

Philip Igo Jr. 🪽

09/03/2025

💛🎗️

Every 2 Minutes.

That’s how often a child is diagnosed with cancer around the world.

Think about that for a second.

Just 2 minutes.

Now think about your workday.

8 hours. 480 minutes.

240 children.

That’s how many kids will hear the words "You have cancer"—just during your shift at work.

While you're answering emails, sitting in meetings, grabbing a coffee, or scrolling your phone.

Every two minutes, another family’s life is turned upside down.

A new diagnosis. A new fight. A new child who just wants to go back to being a kid.

It’s not just a number.

It’s a 6-year-old who was playing soccer yesterday.
It’s a teenager preparing for prom.
It’s a toddler learning to walk.

Cancer doesn’t care about age.

But we should care enough to act.
💛 Raise awareness.
💛 Support pediatric cancer research.
💛 Stand with these kids and their families.

Because every minute matters.
And every child matters even more.

09/01/2025

🎗️ It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! 🎗️

Please join us in educating ourselves and others, as well as advocating for more funds and research for our children. I’ll never understand how so much in healthcare has evolved and improved, yet we are still sitting with the same treatment options for children from 40+ years ago that are destroying their little bodies in so many other ways. Why are parents having to choose the lesser of two evils for their babies between cancer and cancer treatment?!

07/14/2025

5 years ago. Better days are here, and we absolutely love watching Mela living her best life! ❤️❤️‍🩹🌈 We love you, Mela and family!

05/14/2025

The child life specialists at Akron Children's, namely Renee who we all know and love, are absolutely amazing! Love to see them highlighted in the Beacon Journal!

05/05/2025

Thank you all who followed along when we shared Liam’s story. To think of his surprise and excitement when he saw how many followers he had on his page makes us smile. However, our hearts are aching as we see today’s update. He was such a fighter! Rest in Peace, sweet boy. 💔

Please keep Liam’s family and friends close in your thoughts and prayers. 💔😢

5/5/2025

On May 4th, 2025 at approximately 9:00pm Liam went home to be with Jesus shortly after Joey Logano won the race! Liam had to see his favorite driver win just one more time. Kyle and I sat on the couch with him and watched the race as we cuddled. When Joey took the lead we all burst into tears. Liam said "awesome" and then a few hours later he went to celebrate in Heaven!

Liam fought as hard as he could against King Rhabdo for 998 days. We are so proud of him and we are honored to have been able to love him for his 7 & 1/2 years on this Earth. We are forever grateful that we will get to spend eternity with him in heaven when our time comes. His faith was strong and even in the end he wasn't scared because he knew that he was going to Heaven to see Jesus and be rid of King Rhabdo for good.

We want to thank his medical team at Akron Children's, Cincinnati Children's and Summa Akron City we are forever grateful to you for the care you gave our sweet boy. For being there for him and us as a family. For loving on our sweet Zoey through it all.

We want to thank our family and friends for their support and always being there for us. We couldn't have gotten through these last 3 years without you.

To all of Liam's followers thank you. Thank you for making his dreams come true of having an internet presence and bringing awareness to Childhood Cancer. The joy youve brought him is immeasurable.

04/30/2025

Remembering sweet angel Nora, today and every day. 👼🏼 Keeping her family close in our thoughts and prayers.

12/31/2013 - 4/30/2023, forever 9. 💔❤️

04/23/2025

04/08/2025

We are holding the Igo family in our thoughts and prayers today and always. Remembering their sweet boy who laid down his sword three years ago today. Philip Igo, 10/8/15 - 4/8/22. Forever 6. 💔❤️

03/19/2025

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