About Roc.Star Kids

Roc.Star Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization started by Ken and Anita to help in the fight against childhood cancer and to support families battling this disease right now. For every dollar donated, 50% goes toward research and 50% goes toward supporting families directly. This cause is very close to our hearts — please take a few minutes to read our story below.

How It Started

In the summer of 2014, our world was rocked. We were going about our business as most families do in the summertime—trips to the pool, play dates with friends, popsicles and lemonade. Our son, Rocco, had been struggling with very strange skin rashes that popped up out of nowhere. We didn’t understand what was going on, and we went to a wide variety of doctors to try to understand the cause. Nothing was ever conclusive, and it grew very frustrating for us. One evening, we noticed that his belly looked distended—not the dinner-was-really-yummy kind of distended, but strange and certainly different from the day before. It was too late in the day to take him to his pediatrician, so we waited until the next morning. After some bloodwork, our pediatrician immediately sent us to the Children’s hospital in Atlanta. After a very long and stressful ER visit, we learned that our precious 3-year-old son had a cancerous tumor—the size of a softball—in his abdomen.

Shocked. That is how we felt. With numb bodies, we learned over the next few days the gravity of his condition. He had a rapidly growing tumor attached to his kidney, which in turn was causing his kidneys to shut down—suffice to say, our little boy was very sick. We wanted to believe this wasn’t happening to us—not to our precious little boy. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Our son had cancer, and we had to face it head-on whether we wanted to or not. It was a beast that wasn’t going away on its own, and we needed to be strong for our family to get through it. We have never been so thankful for a strong faith, and incredibly supportive family and friends.

The short version of his story is this: he was initially diagnosed with a Wilms tumor, a common cancer found on the kidneys of young children. From his early scans, the doctors indicated it had to be a Wilms tumor, which made sense given its size and location. Within one day of diagnosis, they began a chemotherapy regimen designed for Wilms. But the very next day, his potassium rose to dangerous levels, and with kidneys that were barely functioning, he was moved into the ICU. As you can imagine, this was quite possibly the scariest and most uncertain few days a parent can experience.

Strength

After a few grueling days in the ICU, he turned the corner and was discharged back to the oncology ward to continue treatment. Cancer patients are typically sick from the side effects of treatment, but he was unusually sick, landing him in and out of the hospital—often for long stays.

Over a six-week period, treatment shrunk the tumor enough for doctors to perform a partial nephrectomy—a surgery to remove part of his kidney. After the surgery, we received a call from our oncologist that we will never forget. She was very perplexed, and shared with us that he had been misdiagnosed. He didn’t have a Wilms tumor—instead, he had Burkitt’s lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin lymphoma that typically presents in the lymphatic system. In fact, she told us his was the first recorded case ever where Burkitt’s presented only on the kidney. We were shocked and dismayed, to say the least. The good news was that the prognosis was actually better; the bad news was that Burkitt’s lymphoma is generally considered the most aggressive form of cancer—and therefore requires a more aggressive treatment plan.

Burkitt’s treatment is kind of a “throw the kitchen sink at it” approach. It’s one of the fastest-growing cancers in the body, which is why one day his stomach wasn’t distended, and the next day it was—it can literally double in size every 18 hours. This is also why chemotherapy is so effective against Burkitt’s: quickly dividing cells typically respond to chemotherapy very successfully.

The Fight Continues

After dozens of spinal taps, multiple IV chemotherapies, mouth sores, hair loss, weight loss, and lots of lengthy hospital stays, he overcame this beast. He fought like a warrior and never gave up. His perseverance to push through the unbearable was inspiring. We are extremely proud of him, and thankful for his health and strength today.

Unfortunately, some parents cannot say the same. Just since we completed treatment, many children we came to know in the oncology ward have earned their angel wings and passed on. Others are suffering life-long side effects from the treatment they were given. There are 43 children diagnosed with cancer every day. It isn’t as uncommon as you think—and it’s awful, it’s unbearable, and we wish we could make it all go away. Unfortunately, we don’t have that power. But we do have the ability to help in the fight against childhood cancer: to help fund research for new treatments with fewer side effects, to help doctors create tailored treatments for children (because none of them are the same), and to love and support families who are in the thick of extremely difficult and trying times. This is why we started Roc.Star Kids—a non-profit that gives all of its proceeds to organizations that do exactly that. We know first-hand how difficult this journey can be.

Thank you for joining us in this fight.