Zebra-legged Cheerleader Truly Inspirational

And she's always been pretty awesome to boot, it seems. Read the story here:

When she was six months old, Patience Beard was diagnosed with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD), a disease that affects bone growth. Put simply, her left leg would always be shorter than her right. And over the course of years, that would create all kinds of structural problems. So when she was nine months old, Beard's parents allowed doctors to amputate their daughter's left foot and ankle. She would be able to walk, but not without a prosthetic. 

Beard's mom and dad worried about their girl falling down. Patience, however, didn't seem to have those concerns. When she was 3, her dad made her a bike with training wheels and a special sleeve that could accommodate her prosthetic leg. Patience demanded the training wheels be removed. Mom said no, but Dad relented. And off Patience went, riding along without training wheels.

The Neighbor Kid is Just Great

Wow. I don't even know what to say about this kid. He's great.

8 year-old Wyatt Erber heard that his neighbor, just two years old, has leukemia, and so he entered a scavenger hunt that had $1,000 prize. He won it and gave all the money to his neighbors.

Fantastic!

Paul Newman's Camp for Sick Kids

Do you guys ever watch CBS Sunday Morning? If you're up early on a Sunday morning and not at church yet, I recommend it. It's a great show. Last weekend they had a long segment on the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp that Paul Newman started years and years ago to get kids who are sick a chance to get out into nature and, as he said, "raise a little hell."

It's a pretty amazing thing. I recommend it whole heartedly.

Chicago Cubs Record Message for Kid Battling Cancer

That's it. I've got a new favorite baseball player.

Anthony Rizzo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins' lymphoma at the age of 19. Now he's playing 1st base for the Chicago Cubs and was named rookie of the month for July. That's amazing! Rizzo and teammate Tony Campana, also a cancer survior, recorded this video message for Luke Strotman, who's enduring his third fight with cancer.

Good stuff.

Fighting Cancer with Cookies

About 10 years ago, Laura Stachler's husband and daughter were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease, more or less back to back. It had to be devastating. To put her mind on something else -- and to give her family something they could keep down while undergoing chemo -- Susan put her skills as a caterer and baker to good use.

She developed a really good ginger snap recipe. "I had heard in passing that ginger is a stomach soother," Stachler said.

A decade later, husband and daughter have both recovered, and Susansnaps -- the company started by Stachler and named for both her sister, who died of cancer at age 28, and her daughter, who had been named for her aunt -- is a business that makes up to 10,000 cookies daily and ships nationwide.

It's true. You can order your own right here.

Good for them.

NHL Patient Goes to the Olympics

Abbie Seeliger has gotten to go the Olympics because the Make a Wish Foundation flew her to London, where she's seeing LeBron James and the men's basketball team as well as the women's volleyball matches.

I love to hear stories like that!

Seeliger was a sophomore in high school and a volleyball player herself when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She underwent a year of chemotherapy treatments and it's in remission now, which is great news obviously. She's also back in training to try out for her volleyball team again, and in London for the Olympics.

Good for her!

School kids are playing in toxic waste!

In Alaska, old government programs left toxic waste on site 50 years ago. Now, these areas are saturated with polychloriated biphenyls (PCBs), and some of them are being used as school buildings! Kids are literally playing with abandoned drums of hazardous materials. Check out this video to hear more of this outrageous story:

Pesticides

Environmental toxins, such as pesticides, are increasingly being linked to a variety of diseases, such as asthma, ADHD and cancer. In this cartoon, Joe Mohr highlights this disturbing issue:

PCBs May Impair Children's Vaccine Response

A new study suggests that PCB exposure hinders kids' responses to tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The study sample consisted of "587 children born between 1999 and 2001 on the Faroe Islands, located in the North Atlantic between Norway and Iceland." This area has been noted for high PCB concentrations in the environment. The study revealed,

"higher PCB concentrations, particularly in children at 18 months, were associated with lower concentrations of diphtheria and tetanus antibodies at ages 5 and 7."

This is some pretty scary stuff! Essentially, PCBs could be unraveling the benefits of decades of medicine. Even scarier, these effects are being noticed in children. This means that we will have to observe PCB impacts for years before we fully understand the effects of early-age exposure.