NY Mother Holds Bake Sales To Fund Cancer Research

by KAREN BROWN, CBS 2 NEW YORK (CBS)

On a special Sunday for mothers, one New York mom spent her day fighting for her son's life. She turned the traditional bake sale into a nationwide fundraiser to fight cancer – one cookie at a time. "He's going to be five next week," Gretchen Holt said. Gretchen isn't just baking cookies – she's trying to save her son's life. "I have to know that I did everything that I possibly could," Gretchen says. Two years ago, her son Liam was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a deadly cancer that attacks part of the nervous system. "There is nothing worse than hearing your child has cancer, and, by the way, there's no cure," Gretchen says. Liam had a tumor removed, along with chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but they only keep the cancer cells at bay. There just wasn't enough research money available, so Gretchen says the Holts decided to try to raise the $2 million needed "just one cookie at a time." By holding bake sales with their Web site cookiesforkidscancer.org, they have raised nearly $500,000 from more than 100 bake sales across the country. "How grateful we are that there are so many people who want to make sure that not just my guy is here, but every other kid," Gretchen said. There is only a 50 percent survival rate with Liam's type of cancer – but with the money the Holts have raised, the treatment he needs is now in the final stages of development. "There is not a day that goes by, a second, a minute, that I am not trying to be aware of how lucky we are that he is still alive," Gretchen said. Gretchen already has her Mother's Day gift. More children die from pediatric cancer every year than do from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS combined.

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