We are a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing services for the family and patient of pediatric cancer in Washington while going through the treatment process. Footprints of Fight is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated to providing services for the family and patient of pediatric cancer in Washington while going through the treatment process. These services will
reduce the family's stress of everyday life through which increased levels of courage, optimism, strength, and resiliency will form to help the family conquer cancer in present and future. Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly, and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region. Many children with cancer are treated with radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and/or bone marrow transplantation. These procedures and the numerous side effects of treatment impact the quality of life not only for the child with cancer, but also for the entire family. Our organization believes it is critical to consider the child with cancer within the context of the family as family members’ reactions to pediatric cancer often move along a continuum of post-traumatic stress symptoms that range from normative, acute stress reactions to longer-term, impairing reactions. In some cases, family members’ psychological distress can be as severe as that of the patient. Every day throughout the world, 720 new kids are affected by cancer and 250 kids die of cancer. In Washington, 300 families are diagnosed with pediatric cancer annually in which the treatment ranges from 3 months to 3 years. Currently, only two non-profit organizations provide services to the family of pediatric cancer while going through the treatment process. As these two non-profit organizations provide these services while the family is away from their home, Footprints of Fight will solely focus on providing services to the families while they are at home trying to figure out how they will endure this journey by themselves. We were one of these families after our 4 year old son, Mason Jon Nettleton was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer on August 16, 2014. After receiving world-class care from Seattle Children's Hospital, we realized that the real journey began once we left the hospital as we had to figure out how we would navigate as a family throughout the treatment process. As the journey has been very challenging we have been blessed with a strong support system along the way. In turn, we want to provide this same support to other families in Washington by providing some of the same services we received during the treatment process that helped us rally together as a family and continue through the journey with courage, optimism, strength, and resiliency.
