How One Picture Book Is Saving Kids From Cancer Isolation with Suzanne Stone & Brett Fox

When a child in your classroom or community is diagnosed with cancer, do you know what to say? Brett Fox (Hopecam) and Suzanne Stone (Livestrong) discovered a shocking gap in resources for teachers and parents dealing with childhood cancer. 

Their collaboration resulted in My Brave Friend: Emma and Noah Face Cancer Together - the first picture book specifically designed to help K-2 students understand cancer in an age-appropriate, non-scary way.

In this powerful S5E2 Schoolutions Teaching Strategies podcast conversation, you'll discover: 

➡️Why 1 in 285 kids will face cancer and how it affects entire school communities 

➡️The exact language to use when talking to young children about cancer 

➡️How isolation impacts not just the child, but entire families

➡️Free resources available to teachers and parents right now 

➡️The simple action that helps kids feel empowered to help their friends

This isn't just about cancer - it's about building empathy, community, and giving children tools to navigate difficult situations with courage and kindness.

Episode Mentions:

• Livestrong
• Livestrong at School
• Hopecam
• My Brave Friend: Emma and Noah Face Cancer Together
• September Initiatives (Childhood Cancer Awareness Month)
• Living with Scanxiety: Cancer Podcast - Hosted by Rosaria Kozar

Chapters: 

• 0:00 - Introduction to Brett Fox and Suzanne Stone 
• 2:00 - Community-Based Research Approach
• 4:30 - Discovering the Resource Gap
• 7:00 - Real Stories from the Classroom 
• 12:00 - The Impact of Isolation on Families 
• 17:00 - Age-Appropriate Cancer Education 
• 22:00 - Taking Action: How Kids Can Help 
• 26:00 - Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Initiatives

Weekly Episode Release Schedule:
🔥 Guest Episodes: Every Monday
⭐ Highlight Reels: Every Wednesday 
💡 Bonus Reflections: Every Friday

Join our community of educators committed to cultivating student success, inspired teaching, and creating inclusive classrooms with a pro-kid mindset focused on the whole child.

📧 Connect: schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

Don't forget to  👍LIKE this video if it helped you, 🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators! 

#ChildhoodCancer #MyBraveFriend #Hopecam #Livestrong #ChildrensBooks #TeacherResources #CancerAwareness #ElementaryEducation #ParentingAdvice #CommunitySupport #SocialEmotionalLearning #BackToSchool #CancerEducation #EmpathyBuilding #SchoolCommunity

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] Hi everyone. Welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Olivia Wahl. You know, I've been thinking a lot about courage lately. The quiet, everyday kind that shows up when life gets really hard. And today I want to talk to you about some of the bravest people I know, children facing cancer and the communities that rally around them.

I need to let you know why this episode means something extra special to me. My beautiful cousin, Rosaria’s world changed forever when her little boy Brody was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. He was just two years old. Rosaria had been teaching special needs children for ten years, and she was used to helping kids navigate challenges but suddenly she found herself paralyzed with fear and heartbreak because how do you prepare for something like this? [00:01:00] 

Brody was this incredibly smart, loving little boy, and he faced his treatment with bravery that honestly no child should ever need to have. He fought so courageously until he was three, and though we lost him in 2015, his legacy lives on through Rosaria's work with Living With Scanxiety. It's her podcast where she makes it her mission to bring hope to other families walking this impossible path. And that's exactly why today's conversation matters so much. 

What if I told you that we could transform childhood cancer from this isolating crisis to an opportunity for entire communities to come together to learn empathy, and to actually heal together. Here's what blew my mind when I was preparing for this episode. My guests today, [00:02:00] Brett Fox, from Hopecam and Suzanne Stone from Livestrong, they discovered something shocking.

There wasn't a single age-appropriate book for kindergarten through second grade students to help them understand what cancer is and how to support their friends going through it. It seems impossible that in this day and age with all of our resources that this gap still existed. Think about it. Most of us panic when faced with childhood cancer in our communities because we want to help so badly, but we don't know what to say.

We don't know how to explain it to our kids. We don't know how to maintain any sense of normalcy when everything feels completely upside down. Teachers feel unprepared. Caregivers feel helpless, and kids feel scared and confused. But here's what Brett and Suzanne figured out. We need to prepare proactively, [00:03:00] not reactively.

We need tools in place before crisis hits, and we need to listen to the real experts - the families who are walking through it. In today's conversation, you're going to discover some really practical things. 

First, how to have age-appropriate conversations about cancer that don't traumatize kids. Second, why simple actions like making cards can heal both the giver and receiver. And third, how technology can keep isolated children connected to their classrooms and maintain that crucial sense of normalcy. 

Because let's face it, when cancer touches our community, especially when it involves children, we all feel that helpless panic of not knowing how to help or what to say. But what if I told you that having the right resources ready could be like having a lifeline [00:04:00] thrown to you when you're drowning, not just for families going through it, but for everyone in the community who wants to help but doesn't know how. 

That's exactly what Brett and Suzanne have created with their beautiful picture book, My Brave Friend Emma and Noah Face Cancer Together, and through all the incredible work they're doing with Hopecam and Livestrong. So grab a cup of coffee, maybe keep some tissues handy, and let's talk about how we can all be better prepared to support children in our communities, because statistically this will touch your school, your neighborhood, your world at some point. Let's dive in.

This is Schoolutions Teaching Strategies, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it-tomorrow [00:05:00] approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive.

I am Olivia Wahl, and I am so honored to hold space for a conversation today with Brett Fox and Suzanne Stone. Let me tell you a little bit about Brett and Suzanne. Brett Fox is a book lover, former children's librarian, and with Hopecam, a proud advocate for children fighting cancer. Suzanne Stone is president and CEO of Livestrong. Suzanne's dedicated to ensuring everyone affected by cancer has the resources they need to have a high quality of life. 

Our conversation today will focus on Brett and Suzanne's beautiful collaboration, culminating in this wonderful picture book. I have it right here. My Brave Friend: Emma and Noah Face Cancer [00:06:00] Together. Suzanne and Brett, it is such an honor and I just want to welcome you to the podcast. Thank you for being here. 

Brett: Thank you for having us.

Suzanne: Yeah, thanks so much. It's a privilege for us as well. 

Olivia: Well, and I'd love to have us start off, um, with some research and so what is a nugget of research or a researcher that you lean on as you're collaborating together? Brett, do you wanna start us off? 

Brett: Yeah, so Suzanne and I were talking about this, so. What we really came up with is we, we go to our community for the best research there is. So the, the families and the teachers that are dealing with a child that has a diagnosis of cancer and is going through treatment, those are the experts in the field. So there, there's a lot of stats out there. Um, but the most important feedback and the most important real-life experience we have is through our families. 

Olivia: Well [00:07:00] said. Well said. And so Suzanne, it sounds like that's a collaborative thought and it's a, a perfect segue then to then ask you what led you, Suzanne, to hone in on childhood cancer advocacy in your role, and then also this collaboration in turn.

Suzanne: Absolutely. It's, you know, Brett is right. It's the people and the families that we listen to all the time. So, at Livestrong we're focused on quality of life, like you said, like how can we, how can we improve somebody's quality of life when their life has been affected by cancer, no matter what that means for them, right?

Whether they're the patient or the caregiver, or the parent, or the brother, the sister, no matter who they are and, and what role they play within, um, that cancer diagnosis, it's important that their quality of life is high. And Hopecam does some amazing work. And a few years ago, Brett and I got to know one another because she applied for a grant and we [00:08:00] were excited to fund their project at Hopecam. 

And that's how we got to know one another and I got to learn about the intersection of technology, the classroom and childhood cancer. This is preCOVID, that that was happening at Hopecam, so it was very different than it is today. There was no Zoom in the classroom. There was nothing like that. 

Olivia: Oh, that's so interesting. Yeah. 

Suzanne: Yeah. And so. Um, I am, um, I am a risk taker for sure, and it Livestrong we believe that we have to be just as brave as those who are facing cancer. And so we, we invested in Hopecam and we're really excited to see what they were able to bring to the classroom and to the families. And then fast forward after that project was over, it was a couple of years actually, but Brett and I continued to stay in touch and she called me or emailed me and said, okay, I have this idea.

I was like, all right, I'm in. What's the idea? So she said she had this dream. She said she had this [00:09:00] dream that, you know, they, they had found this gap in resources for teachers. And I said, well, what do you wanna do about that? And are you sure? There's no way, there's no way that there's not a book for K-2 that teaches, you know, kids and parents what, what cancer is and what it isn't.

And she's like, no, I'm telling you there's not. So sure enough, of course she was right. And I said, um, so what do you wanna do about it? And she said, well, I wanna write a book. And I said, well, I guess we're writing a book. And, um, and that's how it started. It's all Brett's fault. 

Olivia: Well, Brett, and so I'll segue to you because I've read the picture book numerous times. I left it out on the dining room table and it was beautiful to come downstairs and see my 13-year-old reading it and point out all of the things that he loved with the book. One of them in particular, you do such a beautiful job explaining the [00:10:00] difference between normal cells and cancerous cells.

And it's, I, I actually post-ited at the page because if I were using this in the classroom or if I were a caregiver, I would have such a clear way, a safe way, not scary way of explaining the difference and what cancer is. So the book is so beautifully crafted. I do want to say that. 

Um, and then Brett, maybe you can shift and offer a story of a child that you know that has struggled with childhood cancer and some of the obstacles you, you know, Suzanne just alluded to the gap that you identified, but maybe you could also elaborate what is the gap between the medical world and then the peer-support world?

Brett: Right. And that's the gap that we're, that's the gap that we were shocked that there was not more tools out there for teachers in the classroom to already have in place. And so we came together and we wrote this book. [00:11:00] And, and as you, it's funny that you mentioned the, um, that specific page about what cancer is because that's the page that was the trickiest, um, for us to write.

Um, we wanted to do it like you said, in a very age appropriate way that was very, um, easy to work with for the teacher if there was follow up questions. And so, um, so yeah, we developed this story with our own history of - myself for Hopecam kids and Suzanne with Livestrong families in mind. And my favorite story to tell is I was recently, um, asked to read the story in one of our Hopecam kids classrooms.

So it's a, um, a child that had missed last year of school. Her name is Eliza and she's in our local area in Northern Virginia. She missed last year of school and during last year, I would go into her classroom and teach them a little bit about cancer. And then sometimes we would talk about why Eliza didn't have hair.

Just little things, but we didn't have the book yet. So, um, I, when the book was ready, I went to Eliza's school and although she's doing very [00:12:00] well, she was unable to be at school that day. She was in the hospital getting her treatment. So it was like what we do, playing out in real life, like the story of My Brave Friend in real life.

And so it was such a wonderful tool to use because where in the book, the character is visiting the character. Noah is visiting Emma, who was diagnosed with cancer in the hospital. We had Eliza in real life in the hospital, and she's showing us her medical bracelet and she's showing us her hospital room.

And it just made sense to the kids, like they saw it in the book, but then they also saw it in real life. And so that was the goal of this book, to make it something that the kids could understand. Enjoy. We tried to add a little bit of fun flair to it. We have, um, a class pet named Izzy, which is in every picture except for the what is cancer picture, because that one we felt like needed a little bit, um, not as, that was a little bit more serious.

And, um, we wanted the kids to [00:13:00] really focus on that page. But the kids just loved looking for Izzy on each page. So we tried to do some, uh, some homage to some of our favorite children's books ourselves. Yeah. 

Olivia: Yeah, I, you know, I think there's a lot to be said in the mission that Hopecam holds alongside Livestrong in that it's bringing a level of comfort and normalcy to a world that feels like it's upside down. And that was something I also appreciated.

Suzanne, it's, it's crazy fascinating as well that the idea of bringing a child into the classroom for something that we're well accustomed to now post-COVID, that this, the idea that this is happening, um, with Hopecam way before COVID, that is a critical piece of like ingenuity and offering access of normalcy for a child whose world and their caregivers is upside down. So, I'd love for you, Suzanne, to [00:14:00] highlight some stats for us around, um, the impact of childhood cancer on not just school communities, but peer groups as well. 

Suzanne: Absolutely. So, you know, about one and 285 kids are gonna be diagnosed with, with cancer, and it's not just the child. Um, that is, you know, that is affected. You have entire ecosystems that fall apart. Because of that diagnosis. What we also see, not only is the child themselves physically struggling, there's isolation that occurs not only with the child, but with the parents as well. And that's happening because although all of us wanna wrap our arms around people who are struggling, it's a scary thing to do and not everybody understands how to do that.

And, it's not that, you know, suddenly that best friend to the child and the [00:15:00] parents, right? Both, like it's the whole family unit that experiences this isolation. Um, it's, it's not just the, the child, but the parents also need some tools to say to other parents, Hey, I need you. Hey, please don't abandon our family. We just need, you know, could you send me a text and say, hi?

Olivia: Yeah. How you doing? 

Suzanne: Just, yeah, we don't have to talk about my kid’s cancer and we don't have like, what if we just went for a walk? That, that sense of normalcy that you talked about. So critical. It's part of what we talk about at Livestrong is like these soft resources, soft meaning, it's very hard to put a number on the number of people who feel isolated because of the disease.

Olivia: Yeah, that's true. Right? 

Suzanne: You can't really put a data point on that. So what I can tell you is based on our 28 years of work in the field of survivorship, is that we see themes. We see themes, uh, [00:16:00] recur again and again. Specifically when you're faced with pediatric cancer. We see a lot of divorce occur. Because the families are truly torn apart. You often have one caregiver staying at home with the other children and the other caregivers staying in the hospital with the child. These two incredible stressors. Incredible stressors. Not to mention the emotional, right, turmoil that's happening within the fear that's occurring.

So our hope is to take a leap, right, and pro and, and do things that are definitely not there, right? We need to create resources that help so that when this happens, because it will, that nobody has to go looking for it. Hopecam's already there. The book is already there. The resource is already there.

Don't have to ask for it. And that's why when Brett and Hopecam came to us a couple years ago, we funded them because at the time. [00:17:00] They were doing something that nobody else was doing. 

Olivia: Nobody else, nobody. 

Suzanne: They're still doing something that really no one else is doing. Yeah. Uh, providing wifi, like just making sure that those families are fully connected. What is that? That's beautiful. And so I can't think of other resources. We at Livestrong have a curriculum for, for the entire school age, school age, from K to 12. About what cancer is and what cancer isn't. It's a free tool. So if you've got teachers listening, parents listening, and you need to figure out how do I talk to my kid about this?

How do I talk to my classroom about this? We have an entire curriculum that we're, we're grateful that Hopecam uses across the age ranges, across the school, 

Olivia: that's magnificent…

Suzanne: across the school to, to help, um, understand how to talk to, to kids. 

Olivia: That's amazing. I will make sure to tuck a link in the show notes to that resource as well. Um, and so then I guess I'm wondering, Brett, can you offer us some explicit language [00:18:00] that we could use? Because I think part of the fear I will speak to is - as someone that has been touched by cancer in my family, I don't know many families that have not experienced a loved one or hopefully not a child, but our family has experienced that as well, um, that has struggled with, um, a loss. And so what are the questions adults may be curious about, but kids as well? And then how can we look for signs if a child is struggling with a friend's diagnosis, can you help us with that? 

Brett: Yeah. So, so these are very serious topics for a child to deal with. I mean, as you know it, this is, this isn't just, oh, I'm not gonna be able to play with my friend at recess. This is learning about maybe their friend's mortality, and then also for the kid that has been diagnosed, like they're dealing with their mortality at such a young age. 

So, these are really serious [00:19:00] issues and we break it down into very small pieces to make it not so scary. So when we talk about cancer, we talk about how your friend might look different, they might lose their hair, their face might, the shape of their face might change, do the medication, but they're still your friend.

And that's the whole purpose of the book is to show Emma is still Emma, no matter what. Actually this, this was something else that played out in real life. It was amazing. One of, um, somebody I was talking about with the book recently said her child, this was before the book came out, but her child had a friend, um, they were, he, the child's in middle school, um, who had cancer.

And then the, the child with cancer was able to come back and the little boy said to his mom, mom, you're not gonna believe it. He's the same as he always was. And the mom's like, yes, exactly, that's exactly it. It's just so much for these little kids to understand, especially K-2, which was our target population here.

Olivia: Right.

Brett: So really we have in the [00:20:00] book, we have the parents sitting down and talking, and that's the most important thing. Just give your child space to ask you questions. They, the most important question always asked is, is it contagious? 

Olivia: Right? 

Brett: Am I gonna get cancer too? How do you know I'm not gonna get cancer? And so we make it very clear in the book, we, we stated a couple times different pages. It's not something you can catch, so you can still continue to visit and be a good friend. 

Olivia: Yes. Yeah. You know, it was, there is a section I also wanna point out in the book, in the back of the book. There is a section, Learn More About Cancer, and again, if I were a caregiver or educator, you have four bigger umbrellas: What is cancer? What causes cancer? How to talk to kids about cancer, and then questions and answers about cancer. There's also a QR for Livestrong and Livestrong at School. So I just, I wanna point that out to listeners that this book is not only beautiful, accessible, the illustrations are [00:21:00] gorgeous, but it is a resource that I think every educator across the globe needs to have. 

This is not an isolated states issue. This is a global issue. Children are children. Um, and my favorite thing about the thread that you just beautifully wove throughout this story, is cancer is not contagious and that it's okay to be a little fearful and ask questions because that's what we're here for. The adults throughout this story are a sounding board, and they're so patient with the children and I, I just can't say enough about it. 

Brett: It's so funny. You're, you're a book person, so you'll get this, but our publisher suggested that maybe we take the word “scared” out in the cover, like what in the description of the book on the cover. We were like, no, we need to keep scared because that…

Olivia: It's a reality. 

Brett: That's what it is. There's no, yeah, there's no reason to sugarcoat it. Scared is the most common feeling that's associated with it. [00:22:00] 

Suzanne: I just also wanted to normalize that one of the reasons why we put the resources in the back is because the assumption that the adult in their life has any idea what to say or has, has, has ever gone through this before would be would be silly. 

Olivia: It is.

Suzanne: The, like the, the likelihood is that you've got these really young kids and even if you, even if this is your youngest right, and you, you, you know, you had this child at 40, that doesn't mean that you had any sort of deep experience with how to talk to a child that's experiencing this. And so that was why that the back part of the book is so important to us because we wanted to make this not just a beautiful story for kid, kiddos to say, hey, my friend is still my friends no matter what. 

But the parents to make and the teacher, before they even read the book to the child, to be able to educate themselves just a little bit so that they, that child is now ready to have the conversation and ask deeper [00:23:00] questions because they will, because kids are naturally curious and they're gonna ask really hard questions 'cause they tend not to have filters.

So. I tend to yeah, so, so we wanted to make sure that the parents were prepared and the teachers are prepared. The clinical, so the pediatric social workers, we've gotten great feedback from them in the hospitals too, on the book. Um, but that the pediatric social workers had tools also, um, and knew that they, they're not alone in this, that they're not by themselves.

Olivia: Yeah. You just said something that's so critical too, is that I think we have to be so patient with our children because they don't have filters and so how they react or questions they may ask, we will probably need to circle back and have many, many, many conversations and not…I, I feel like something I decided early on when I had my first baby who's now 17, which seems bananas.

Um, I talked to my mom and dad and my [00:24:00] husband's mom and dad and said, don't offer information that, that he's not eliciting. And what I mean by that is I think sometimes we want to put an adult brain or head on children's shoulders prematurely, and so what I would ask if a child has a friend or if, if a family is going through this, let the child initiate the questions and be open. 

Give areas and space for pause, and then you respond based on where that child is coming from. Because I think we want kids to be informed and sometimes we over flood them with information that they're not ready for and that they can't understand. I don't know if that's totally off. And Brett, you may say, Livi, that's wrong. Like give them more. I I. What are your thoughts about that?

Brett:  Well, I absolutely, I think. As a mother myself, I have an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old. So along the way my, my [00:25:00] opinion on things have changed, but definitely give them space. The questions that I think my kids are gonna ask me sometimes are polar opposite of the things they do actually ask. And so, um, so yeah, just the space to ask the questions is clearly the most important tidbit of parenting that I wish I had gotten back then 18 years ago. 

Olivia: I know. I think something else. This is such a beautiful resource. What advice would you give, Suzanne - you already started, but what advice would you give to caregivers, uh, if they're going to read this book with their children at home? How would you navigate the book? 

Suzanne: I think if I'm gonna navigate the book, I would definitely start at the back. Um, start at the back first. Just educate yourself. Think about, okay, because the assumption is you're gonna know everything about cancer, and of course, you're not going to know, and, and you don't need, and also you don't need to be the expert.

I might, I might, you know, give yourself a little bit of grace there. You're the parent, you're not, their on, you know, you're not an oncologist and you're not a social worker. You're just [00:26:00] mom and dad. So, or, or caregiver who, whoever you are. So first I would say start in the back before you read it to them, just to make sure that you understand what you're getting ready, the questions that might come, 

Olivia: May come up. Yeah. 

Suzanne: Yeah. That may come up. And I think one of the things that we did in the book is we wanted to make sure that that kiddos, teachers, and parents had an opportunity to do something. That there was a call to action. That there was some action they could take. Because kids do so well when they have an outlet, they, they have a purpose. 

And so that's why the whole school makes cards because what you can also do as you prepare this book, and what we encourage teachers to do in this space is to say, if, if you're reading this because you have a kiddo who is absent from the class or in some other classroom in the, in the school, that, that in the building, or even if it's a parent of a child that's going through this, that that activity of making [00:27:00] cards is so basic to, to that elementary school level. 

But it feels like you're doing something to make it better somehow. Like I, I'm, I can take an action, which helps me heal, right? And, and as a result, also helps the child heal from an adult perspective, it will also reach the adult. So when that child in that hospital room or in that home that's very isolated, receives one little cardboard card, you know, little construction paper card with the, with the hearts and the things that we save all the, you know, I have way too many of them at home from my son's 25. 

Um, you know, you save all these things, but that's, that, that sign of love is gonna go so far. That's why we put that in the book because we want those kids to have action items to take away, and the parents also to have a ready-made tool.

Oh, I know what we can do. Let's do what, let's do what Noah and the class did. So as you're preparing to read this book. [00:28:00] to your child or to somebody in this age range or even a little older that you wanna read this book to? I would say read the back. Just get a little bit prepared and then think about maybe having that action item already ready to go so that you can say, hey, what do you think? If we made some cards for Joey or Sally, you know, maybe let's go do that.  

Olivia: And, and we've spoken to how isolating this experience can be for a number of layers of the family system. What I would also say is I, there's such a beautiful, um, nod to community and that idea of lifting community up and that we heal as individuals when we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

So I think, you know, Brett. I, this story ends and Emma survives, you know, spoiler alert, sorry. But it's, but she comes back and she does look differently. And that's important. [00:29:00] that still the same inside may appear different outside, but what about for families that continue and most families need that ongoing support and community. So what do you recommend for that? 

Brett: So that's why Hopecam exists. So, um, so Hopecam was founded by a dad whose son this was 23 years ago now. Um, his son was diagnosed with cancer and this was way before Skype and FaceTime and Zoom, of course. Um, so he had this idea that he needed his son to still be in part of the classroom when he couldn't physically be there because he was immunocompromised.

And so that's when the idea of Hopecam started. And so Hopecam exists strictly for this reason. And you don't have to use the Hopecam device. You don't have to have the newest, latest Chromebook or webcam to be able to stay engaged with your classroom. We offer other tools for the, the classroom to stay involved with the child that's suffering from cancer.

And so, um, and the other thing we, we like to say, [00:30:00] so we've connected 6,000 kids with 105,000 classmates and we've taught empathy to each of those 105,000 kids. 

Olivia: Yes. Yes!

Brett: Teaching about cancer, you're without meaning to, you're teaching them how to be sympathetic and empathetic to a child that's suffering. 

Olivia: Yeah. Yeah, so well said. And you know, let's end the conversation. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. What initiatives, because we have one call to action already now. You know, think of find a family, find someone impacted by cancer in their life, and get some cards cooking because that could make their day, um, and help our community heal. What else should we be aware of what other initiatives are going on in September specifically? Suzanne, do you wanna hit that? 

Suzanne: Sure. There's lots. Um, you know, I think the - when it comes to childhood cancer awareness month, it's also back to school month, right? It's the first month, generally speaking, like, [00:31:00] I'll just generalize across the country, across the U.S. where kids are back in a classroom and everybody has to adapt again to a new schedule, a new classroom, um, all of those things.

So not only can you, would we encourage you to get some cards cooking, um, get ready for that. I would say arm your teachers with information and knowledge. So here's what we would love is for people to get this book and give it away. Give it away to make sure that your elementary school is prepared, that your, your, um, kids, the teachers in that elementary school are prepared.

Maybe it's not this year, maybe it's next year. Maybe it's a fourth-grade student. It's hard to know.

Olivia: It's the, the knowledge. 

Suzanne: Yeah, it's the knowledge. But it will happen statistically. It's going to happen and those teachers are going to have to figure out how to navigate it. So I would say as a parent, how cool would it be to, to walk into school that back-to-school day, armed with a stack of my brave friend books.

And you're gonna give one, give one to [00:32:00] each as a gift. Instead of an apple, instead of baked goods, let's give them a tool that they can really use that will last much longer. Head to the library, make sure the library's got a copy too, and that's what I would say. With Childhood. Um, Cancer Awareness Month, it's certainly, we're all aware, but it's really about taking action to heal and to be ready instead of waiting to react, let's proactively prepare and make sure that everybody has the tools they need, when, when and if it happens. 

Olivia: Yeah. That is a perfect note to wrap our conversation. I hope this is one of our first of many conversations because getting to know both of you has been inspiring and you are doing such important work for not just our children, but the wellness of the community. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to hold this conversation. 

Brett: Thank you so much for allowing us to have it. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Suzanne: Thanks a lot. 

Brett: Take care.

Olivia: [00:33:00] Schoolutions Teaching Strategies is created, produced, and edited by me. Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son, Benjamin, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Thank you to my guests, Brett Fox of Hopecam and Suzanne Stone of Livestrong for creating My Brave Friend. It is a resource for all of us to read and then to be proactively ready to face childhood cancer together.

And here's what I need you to do. If you are a caregiver, get a copy of My Brave Friend and donate it to your child's elementary school library. Better yet, get a stack of them and give one to each K-2 teacher as a back to school gift. Don't wait for crisis to hit. Be proactive. Get your community ready with the tools they need before they need them.[00:34:00] 

And if you know a family walking through childhood cancer right now, grab some construction paper and markers with your kids and make some cards. It sounds so simple, but as Suzanne said in our conversation, those little hearts and messages become treasures for families to hold onto forever.

Because that's what this is really about - showing up for each other, especially our most vulnerable community members, with preparation with love, and the knowledge that even in the scariest times, we can still be brave friends to one another. 

Tune in every Monday for the best research-backed teaching strategies that you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. And stay tuned for my bonus episodes every Friday where I'll reflect and share connections to what I learned from the guests that week. See you then.