River's Rainbows, Inc
About River's Rainbows
Mission Statement
River’s Rainbows is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to supporting pediatric cancer families and advocating for research and education for all pediatric cancers.
During our son's treatment, we spent time at several hospitals in San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas and New York City, NY. Only one of our treating hospitals had resources for parents, and many of the resources were driven by past parents/caregivers. Just like our lives before cancer, when we could live in the dark, I can't forget what I've learned, I can't forget how much these support groups and programs meant to us, and how much I could have used them at other hospitals. As a parent/caregiver we put so much of ourselves into everyone else, but you have to fill you own cup before you can fill another.
I want to help the fill the cups of caregivers, because I've walked those halls...
About River
River entered the world on February 13, 2012 with no real complications. Due to sacral dimple he did have some extra imaging in his first couple hours, and while insignificant at the time, it would hold a little more weight in the years to follow.
Fast forward to the fall of 2014, I had just given birth to my daughter, and River was attending a local day school. They called one afternoon with concerns of limping, although when he was picked up from school, there was no sign of anything being wrong, and River even bolted across the parking lot to the pumpkin patch and refused to leave. After a couple weeks, and more concern from his teachers, we decided to have him evaluated. By this time, he was having trouble getting up off the floor after naptime and stepping up onto the stool in the restroom to wash his hands. We took him to a Chiropractor on a Tuesday, who adjusted his hips, and by Thursday he almost seemed worse, so we decided to go back. Unfortunately, our Chiro had been hit by the flu, so we reached out to another local chiropractor who treats kiddos and she was able to see us on Saturday. I was working my side hustle, so I was just getting brief updates from my husband. Then I get the call that she was sending him over to a free-standing ER, for a possible bowel obstruction. That possible bowel obstruction quickly become a “mass” they couldn’t entirely see or measure with the ultrasound, and they didn’t want to do the bigger scans just to have them repeated. Within hours he was transferred via ambulance to a local hospital for a direct admit, who thank goodness had a doctor on that had some experience with kids and tumors. The next day, after preliminary test we were told that our sweet 2.5-year-old son…had cancer. We spend the next two years following the proven protocols, chasing our own second opinions, doing everything in our power to cure him, give him the best chance of a good life, and the best life we could give him.
On June 15, 2017, River’s body had to let go, it had endured too much trauma, too much treatment and modern medicine isn’t equipped to correct a 5-year-old body that had challenges of an adult. In some ways, River beat his cancer, he’s no longer in pain, or suffering. Cancer didn’t end his life, the effects of treatment did. And that is where River’s life on earth ended, but his legacy begins….