October 17, 1996 - October 17, 2026 - Crofton, Maryland - Today marks the 30 Year Milestone of Ryan’s Original Diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia! Our entire world changed on this day thirty years ago, different, really, than getting married or losing a family member. It began so ordinarily. Ryan, age two, woke up with another fever. He was supposedly battling an ear infection, so we, his fraught parents, decided another visit to our pediatrician’s Annapolis office was

It’s been a month of crafting stories and posts to share during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I poured my heart and soul into every one. Some were long. Some were short. Some came easily, while others took hours and plenty of tears to write. The post I wrote about my dear friend and Art Therapist, Tracy Councill (Day 18), took me five hours. There were tears and deep thoughts about her life and the thousands of children and families she touched through art—helping chase a

I decided to read a favorite chapter from The Focused Fight - Chats from the Other Side of the Bed (Chapter 15 - Seeds of Advocacy). It’s become a fan favorite (or at least, several people who told me liked this chapter a lot). Chapter 15 has more, of course, and so does our story. But maybe this small glimpse from the other side of Ryan’s hospital bed is enough for today. When I wrote this book, I wanted people to understand that childhood cancer doesn't happen only to the c

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. - Mark Twain In the past few videos and posts, I’ve mentioned how we got through tough moments and what helped us cope (receiving a card, postcard, or some chocolate chip cookies. However, we also had to adjust on our own and advocate for Ryan’s needs quite often. Chats From the Other Side of the Bed Through Ryan’s first protocol, and well into the second one, I felt versed enough with childhood cancer and the treatments (rememb

A Heartfelt Reflection from Yinzer Extraordinaire, Jim W. When I mentioned in The Focused Fight that once readers reach the illuminating reflections from the village in the back of the book, you may need a tissue or two. Some people take it to heart, like Jim Wereszczynski, of Yinzer fame at The Putaway Pickleball Club. I hope you tune in to his 4-minute video on his reflection on “reading” it, or, more aptly, listening to it as an audio recording (found on Apple Music/Podcas

Writing a book is rewarding for most authors. It was the best thing for me, hands down. When a book is first published, a lot of activity goes into getting it into the hands and minds of readers across genres. Marketing can be never-ending. Perhaps “finding” new readers is quite daunting. Turning a book into an audiobook can bring new life to those who would rather drive and listen than read and turn pages. Thankfully, I did that too. It’s all personal preference. Two weeks a

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. —William James For today’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month post, I’m reaching back a couple of years to one of my favorite interviews. And who better to help us GO GOLD than someone who actually knows a thing or two about GOLD? Olympic gold medalist Dave Wottle won the 800-meter race at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich—wearing that famous golf cap! I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dave on the cross-country course

Being a sibling to a cancer patient is quite difficult. They miss out on having their sibling and parents at home more than they ever should have to endure—and probably endure way more things than I will ever fully know. Treatments have changed, and the COVID pandemic put the kibosh on many long hospitalizations, even when a sick child has low blood counts. That was never the case for our family, though I’m happy that kids can stay home way more in today’s childhood cancer wo

As much as I try to do other things, sometimes the pull of my son’s experience being a 5X cancer survivor pulls me back in like an errant rip tide. I’m thankful that the book I wrote, The Focused Fight - A Childhood Cancer Journey: From Mayhem to Miracles, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this week . What I’ve realized is that when I sat at my dining room table for eight months, while the world was in lockdown due to COVID-19, I was giddy with words on the page, paragraphs

It was great sitting in my hot seat to finish Part 2 of Ohio in October and the writing of the HOF dinner last Friday at Bowling Green State University. I still have one or two other posts from that weekend that I will get to soon. But today is a milestone day! It's been 29 years since our son Ryan Tomoff was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) - Pre B cell with Central Nervous System (CNS) involvement. Ryan was two years and two months old. Olivia was 4 years

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Speaker, writer, collector of stories. Always curious. Occasionally hilarious, Heat Dzizcek is the CEO at Cancer Conversation SOS - and...