Walking for Caden – 50 miles in 30 days

Pam Shrauger has been a longtime supporter of CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, and is an advocate for childhood cancer research. Pam and her family walked 50 miles for the CureSearch Mile for Child Challenge where friends, family, and members of the community are challenged to walk 10, 30 or 100 miles in 30 days to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer.

For the Shrauger family, the miles were personal. Nearly ten years ago, Pam’s son Caden was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, a solid tumor that affects 3.8 percent of all children with cancer.

The family needed to be within an hour of the hospital where Caden was being treated – 700 miles away. They spent 17 months far away from home while Caden underwent chemotherapy and surgery. “Caden’s battle with cancer touched every facet of our lives; nothing was undisturbed,” Pam said.

Caden didn’t respond well to treatment so the family tried MIBG therapy, which minimized his disease enough for a stem cell transplant, radiation and immunotherapy. Follow up appointments over the next four years occasionally showed minimal disease, but Caden is now cancer free.

“He is doing well now with annual survivorship check-ups and is considered cancer free!” said Pam. “Despite some late effects of treatment, Caden is doing extraordinary today, thanks to the efforts of so many. Cures are so desperately needed and research is the only way we’ll get there. We’ll always pour our passion into the effort to cure more children.”

Today, Caden is a happy, healthy 13-year-old who enjoys hiking, backpacking, playing the drums and wake surfing.

CureSearch is on a mission to end childhood cancer and funds research that will quickly translate to new treatments for kids like Caden. Often times, treatment options like chemotherapy have lasting side effects that impact a child’s future health and well-being. CureSearch works to address this urgent, unmet need for less-toxic, more effective pediatric cancer treatments.