I can hardly believe our 2nd Annual Comedians for a Cure event is only 4 days away!  We are so excited!  I cannot tell  you how thrilled we are with all the support we have received from AZ news and radio!  We are so thankful that so many want to do all they can to help promote our event and make it so successful!

Tomorrow, Boomer Nichols (our MC of the event) will be on 101.5 FM with Luis Gonzalez at 4:00 PM!  Be sure to tune in and listen!!

Yesterday we taped a segment that will air on EVB Live (channel 12) on Friday between the 4-5:00 PM hour.  They will air the segment on Jack and our family followed by one of our amazing comedians, Jill Bryan going on live!

Saturday Luis, Jack, Boomer, and myself will be going on News channel 15 at 8:30 AM and then heading over to Good Morning AZ (channel 3) at 9:40 AM!  We have a jam packed schedule and we couldn’t be happier about it.

This whole week 104.7FM and XTRA 910 AM sports radio have been promoting the event and hosting contests to give away a few sets of tickets.

Don’t forget to click on the link about to purchase your tickets…I promise you don’t want to pass up on this night!  We are through the roof excited about it!

If you can’t make it and still want to help, be sure to text “HAND” to 50555 and a $5 donation will be added to your phone bill in support of our night.

ALL proceeds will be going directly to PCH for Neuroblastoma research!  Please help us make this year beyond amazing!!

We just want to send out a HUGE thank you to all of you who came to the event or made donations to the event because you couldn’t make it.  The night was a success and we know that next year it will be much bigger.  No matter how many people came this year, we are always humbled by how many of you are out there supporting what we want to accomplish.  We couldn’t make a donation like this to PCH without you and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We were flattered that Dr Eshun and “A” came out to the event in support of us.  When Dr Eshun showed up it was as if a movie star had walked in to the room!  So many people are so thankful for him and his team…I hope they know that!  We truly trust him with our sons life and with the lives of these other children that are fighting this disease and that’s why we wanted to help donate to his trials.  We believe in him and we believe that he would do all that he could to try and find a cure for Neuroblastoma.

There are two bit of info I want to fill you in on…during the comedy show, Boomer let you all know that if you make a donation in the envelope or on our website of $25 or more, we would be sending you 2 tickets to a show at Stand Up Live.  This still applies to all of you and even those who weren’t there!!  If you want to make a donation on our site, note your donations “Comedy” and you will get 2 free tickets to Stand Up Live!

Those of you that were at the event saw the amazing pendent that Scott Berger from Addison Taylor Jewlers makes for our Foundation.  Many of you told me how great it was and we want to let you know that the sterling silver one is available at any time from Addison Taylor.  You can call Scott and have one made for your for $250 and 20% of the proceeds comes back to the Foundation.  Please email me at lmorton@thejackmortonfoundation.org if you want me to get you in touch in Scott!

Of course I cannot finish this post without sending out some thank you’s of my own…thank you to Boomer for helping up pull things together and for making this happen for us.  Thank you for wanting to help and for wanting to make it a success.  We look forward to doing it again next year!!  Thank you to Jill Bryan, Travis Thurman, Mark Cordes, and Rich Vos for taking the time to come out and perform for us!  Thank you to PCH for letting us team up with you…especiall Meghan Pearce and Geneivieve Villegas for helping us with it all!  Thank you to Sue Dunn for all your help and running around that you did for me!!!  Life saver!  Big Thank you to my sister Nikki for always helping me with pretty much everything.  I can say that there is no way I would have pulled this off without you!  Thank you to my husband Zac who lets me get totally crazy and I am sure a bit moody when I am fully stressed with putting this all together.  Thank you for supporting me with everything!  Love you!

I am sure there are so many more people to think but I am going to cut it short for now.  Thanks to you all!!

3 more days until March 8, 2012.  3 more days until the anniversary of Jack’s diagnoses.  3 more days until Comedians for a Cure.

It will be 2 years since the awful night when Jack was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma and for some reason it feels as if so much more time has has passed than just 2 years.  Jack went through so much in the first year and a half that it really slowed time down.  Now, 10 months post treatment, and that day of diagnoses seems like a century ago.  We are so thankful that this year we get to celebrate Jack’s survival and not morn over the fact that he has cancer.  This year we get to go to bed that night knowing that we made a difference in the world of childhood cancer.  This year we get to be with people who support our mission and who want to help.  We get to be with people who believe in Jack and all of the other children who have and will be diagnosed with this awful disease.  This year, Jack’s anniversary of diagnoses will be a day that we want to remember instead of a day that we wish we could forget.

While it is “crunch” time before the event, it is more exciting than stressful.  We have been busy putting last minute details in to the event and I am sure it will be like that up until show time.  I have been told that many people are just going to buy tickets at the door and that is just fine but I would like to encourage you to buy your tickets online or by calling Stand Up Live before hand so there will not be a wait at the door and so we have more of an accurate count for dinner!  Just a little reminder that it is very easy to buy tickets…click on the link at the top of the page or call Stand Up Live at 602-719-6100.  If you are buying 2 tickets instead of 1, let them know the code “cure” and  you can have 2 for $115.

For those who have already bought tickets…thank you so much!  We look forward to seeing you in just a few short days!!!

Dr Eshun called today and it looks as if Jack has to go back on his levothyroxine…a medication to help correct his thyroid levels.  We were really hoping that he didn’t have to be on any more meds, but his endocrinologist believes that he will have to be on this for the rest of his life.  We start one dosage now and in a month we have to go in and get a blood draw and meet with Dr Olsen to see how it is holding up.  He will have to get checks every 6 months for awhile and then probably every year after that.

We have been busy planning the event in March and we feel very lucky to have such great support from so many people who have reached out and donated amazing items.  Thank you so much to all of you who are working hard to make this night successful!

We have introduced you to some other Neuroblastoma warriors and we want to talk about another beautiful little boy who was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma a few months after Jack…his name is Ronan Thompson.  I am sure many of you know who his is not only from what we have said on here, but because there are so many across the country that fell in love with him.  We hardly knew Ronan, but he touched our hearts in a huge way.  Jack and Ronan were born at the same hospital, one day apart.  When I first met his mom, Maya, and learned about this common relation between the boys I thought of this couple we saw in the halls at Scottsdale Shea and wondered if it was her and her husband.  I remember walking around the halls before Jack was born and there was another couple there that I have never been able to forget…she too was walking the halls and he was rubbing her back the entire time.  For whatever reason, I feel like it could have been then and maybe it wasn’t, but that memory sticks with me.

Jack always knew of Ronan and still talks about him a lot even though they never were able to have the play date that we wanted. The last time we saw Ronan, we were in for scans and saw them in the waiting room while he was getting all of his test for transplant.  He was shy with us but he had the cutest little smile under his trademark fedora hat.  He would laugh when Zac would tickle Jack and then snuggle in to his moms’ arms.  When we were leaving that day Maya was talking with another parent as she was holding Ronan.  Ronan looked over her sholder at us and gave us that same sweet smile and added a little wave.  Soon after that, the Thompsons left for NY.  This family has been through so much and it isn’t fair.  It isn’t right that they lost their son to Neuroblastoma.  I cannot imagine what they go through on a daily basis and this is just one more reason why we determinded to raise money for NB.  We need to help find a cure.  Please click the link at the top of the page and buy your ticket…we need your help…

Meet Ronan:

Ronan Sean Thompson was born May 12, 2007 in perfect health. He spent the first three years of his life happy, healthy, and making everyone fall in love with his big blue eyes and pure happy smile.

Our perfect family life changed in August of 2010, during our annual trip to my parent’s house in Washington State. It was a trip that I made religiously since the birth of our now 8 year-old twin boys, Liam and Quinn. Taking a great family photo during our stay was part of the fun, it always became the one we used for our Christmas card. That August, while the boys were posing in the hammock, happy as can be, I noticed that Ronan’s eye looked a little “off” or “lazy”. But when I mentioned it to other family members, they all said they hadn’t noticed.

The following day, Liam, Quinn, Ronan and I all returned home to Arizona where Daddy greeted us. He noticed Ronan’s eye almost immediately without me saying a word. That’s when I knew I should schedule an appointment with the Pediatrician.

After the Pediatrician looked at Ronan’s eye, he referred us to an ophthalmologist who won my antipathy by dismissing my concerns and intuition. He did not believe there was anything wrong with my baby. I did. Not long after our meeting started, I found myself walking out of the appointment and frantically calling other doctors who would be available to see Ronan on short notice. Dr. Brendan Cassidy agreed to see Ronan the next day and upon first glance at Ronan’s eye, which now appeared to be bulging out of the socket, he knew immediately there was something seriously wrong.

Dr. Cassidy sent us directly to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for an MRI. The MRI showed a small mass above the left orbit of Ronan’s eye. The following day, Ronan had a CT scan done and that is when they found the mass in Ronan’s abdomen. It was on this day, the 12th day of August, 2010, that Ronan, my son, my baby, my love, was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma.

Ronan’s orbital tumor was successfully removed at Phoenix Children’s Hospital on August 13, 2010 where he also received 5 rounds cycles of chemo. The tumor in his abdomen was almost completely removed by surgeons at Sloan-Kettering in New York City. Ronan responded well to the first 5 rounds of chemo and it was only after his MIBG scan after Round 5, that we decided to forgo the standard COG protocol and move him to Sloan Kettering under the care of Dr. Kushner. We did this because although Ronan’s scans came back much improved…. he still had a lot of MIBG activity. We felt Sloan Kettering was where we needed to be. We did radiation and ICE at Sloan and a few weeks later, Ronan’s disease took a turn for the worst as he had no response to the chemo at all and his disease rapidly progressed. We returned back to Phoenix with heavy hearts, refusing to give up. We flew Ronan out to meet with Dr. Mosse at CHOP and it was there that we were told Ronan could not do the MIBG therapy, that we should take him home to enjoy the rest of the time we had with him. Frantically, we searched for something else for our baby. We were told to contact Dr. Giselle Sholler and she agreed to take Ronan on and we were due to start her Nifurtimox trail but Ronan’s little body gave out before we could get him to San Diego for treatment.

Ronan’s battle with Neuroblastoma ended on May 9, 2011 but his fight continues on. He continues to inspire us all in the way he lived his life full of passion, strength, and courage. He will forever live in our hearts and minds as the most beautiful little boy to ever have touched the earth. We, as a family, are determined to carry on his name and help find a cure for this horrible disease.

Ronan’s family started The Ronan Thompson Foundation and will continue to fight to help make a difference in the world of childhood cancer

We have a little more than 2 weeks left until our event with PCH, “Comedians for a Cure” and you need to get your tickets now!  This night means so much to us because all proceeds will go directly to PCH for Neuroblastoma research.  Without research we will not find a cure, and without your donations, we will not be able to fund research.  We know that less than 3% of all government funding goes to ALL childhood cancer research so all trials depend on foundations such as ours to help.  We never thought in a million years that our baby would be diagnosed with cancer but truth of the matter is that so many children are and if it could happen to us, it could happen to anyone.  We don’t want this to happen to our nieces, nephews, grandchildren, friends…we don’t want any child to have to go through what Jack has been through.  We don’t want another family to have to lose their child due to this awful disease.  We need your help and we are depending on you so please, click on the link and buy your tickets.

The night will be great and while we know we will have so many laughs from the amazing comedians who have donated their talent for our event, we also know that it will be a night filled with love and support for all children who have been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma and for all of those who have had to go through such awful treatment.  Your tickets will include entry to the show, dinner, and a drink and of course that feeling of knowing you are giving back and helping us fight against cancer.  There will be silent auction items as well as raffles.  SOME of the donated items include: a membership to CrossFit480, membership to The Joint, Cardinals game tickets, a 30 minute helicopter ride with the one and only Bruce Haffner, and and a wine tour trip to Napa with a stay at Hotel Yountville!!!

One amazing item that will be up for silent auction was donated by Scott Berger from Addison Taylor Fine Jewelry.  We met Scott at the event we did at Nove with Cheri Knoblauch and he is such an amazing person.  He asked if he could design a pendent just for The Jack Morton Foundation that could always be ordered, at any time, and part of the sales will come back to us.  Of course we were thrilled and he has come up with such a wonderful piece for us.  There is a sterling silver pendent that will be $250 and 20% is being giving back to the foundation. He has generously donated one for the auction that is made in white gold with diamonds and sapphires weighing 2.20 carats total valued at $5000.00!  We are beyond thankful and thought we would show you an image of the one that will be put up for auction!

So now, while you are reading this, go up to the top of the page and click the button and buy your tickets!  You don’t want to miss this!!