09/21/2026
🎗️ CureFest 2026 🎗️
CureFest displayed an 800-foot Tribute Wall filled with more than 6,000 pictures of childhood cancer fighters, survivors, and angels. These are just the ones who submitted photos, there should be so many more up there which is even more heartbreaking 💔
One of those faces is our Colton. I still can’t believe this is my reality. I can’t believe MY son is gone and a face on the Angel memorial 🥺
More than 6,000 pictures.
More than 6,000 precious faces.
More than 6,000 children with names, families, dreams, and stories.
CureFest is more than an event. It is where childhood cancer families from across the country gather in Washington, D.C., united as one voice—to honor the children still fighting, celebrate the survivors, remember the children who should still be here, and demand better research, safer treatments, and real change.
This year, 1,800 pairs of empty shoes were displayed on the National Mall, honoring children who died from cancer. Eighteen hundred pairs of shoes that will never again run through the house, step onto a ball field, or walk into another first day of school. (curefestusa.org)
Colton’s shoes were not part of the shoe memorial, but his beautiful picture was proudly displayed on that wall. Seeing his face among thousands of other children is both heartbreaking and powerful. It is a reminder of how many families have been forever changed by childhood cancer—and how urgently our children need us to keep fighting. One day I hope to take his Gold shoes, once filled with his life, running and dancing, there on that field.
In 2026 alone, approximately 9,680 children under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Behind every number is a child. A name. A family. A future forever changed. (cancer.org)
Colton was more than a number or a picture on a wall. He was my son. My baby boy. A brother. A grandson. A nephew. A friend. A beautiful, brave little boy who fought High-Risk Neuroblastoma with everything he had. His life mattered, his story matters, and I will continue speaking his name and fighting in his memory.
CureFest represents hope—but it also represents urgency. Children are still being diagnosed. Families are still hearing the words no parent should ever hear. Parents are still leaving hospitals without their children.
We will keep showing up.
We will keep saying their names.
We will keep demanding better.
And we will not stop until no child dies from cancer.
For Colton. For every fighter, survivor, sibling, and angel. They are not just numbers or pictures on a wall. They are our children. One day is could be your child 💛
Huge thank you to Lilian McGrath who was kind enough to take and send me a picture of Colton on the Angel wall. Another heartbroken grieving mother who lost her baby, Bryson, to this awful disease too! There are just too many of us who are now connected by this devastating fate of our babies 🙏
