July 11, 2025
July 2025 Update
Happy summer everyone. There is a bit of a lull between Dalton’s Dash in May and skydiving in early August. I’ll talk skydiving at the end of the post, but I thought I’d share a Dalton story first.
Summer was always a favorite time of Dalton’s. He loved to swim and with a community pool about 300 yards down the street from our house, Dalton loved the water and especially going off the 3-meter “high dive.” D was first diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma in March of 2018. Two months later, after he had gone through a few rounds of chemotherapy, Dalton’s head closely resembled my own. In fact, we often sat together in the hospital and compared “survivor hairs.” Both of us thought it was strange that a few hairs, somehow, survived chemotherapy – or in my case age. D was also very generous and told me that I wasn’t bald since I had hair on the sides of my head. I love that boy and his kindness. Anyway, D had just finished five days of in-patient chemotherapy and was ready to break-out of CHKD for the long three day Memorial Day weekend. The next day would be the unofficial start of summer and the opening day for our neighborhood pool. Just before discharge, Dalton looked at me and asked about swimming. He said he would love to go swimming but didn’t want the other kids to laugh at him for having no hair. I thought for a few seconds and responded that he had two choices. He could wear a hat all summer and avoid the inevitable stares and laughs but not really get to enjoy the pool by going of the high dive and exploring underwater. Or, he could take his hat off at the pool the next day, endure a few stares and snickers, but then get to enjoy all the pool has to offer all summer.
The next morning, Dalton and I were at the pool just before it opened at 11 AM. D loved to be the first kid in the pool each year. As the clock reached 11 AM, Dalton pulled off his baseball hat and jumped it. A few kids smirked and pointed throughout the day and weekend, but the other swimmers quickly got used to seeing a very hydrodynamic scalp cutting through the water. No swim cap needed! Apart from a little extra sunscreen on the top of his head, Dalton had a very enjoyable and normal summer at the pool that year. In fact, after the summer ended, Dalton continued to feel comfortable sans hat. We’ve even had a few cancer parents tell us that after seeing bald and beautiful Dalton walking around the hospital, it convinced their child to be more at ease with their temporary lack of hair. It’s seven years later and every Memorial Day weekend I think of Dalton sitting beside the pool in a baseball hat waiting for it to open. We should all worry a little bit less about what everyone else is going to say and just enjoy life. Dalton certainly did that summer.
In our continuing efforts to have kids like Dalton enjoy more than twelve summers, D-Feet Cancer does have another event fast approaching on August 3rd. Dalton wanted to skydive but never got the chance – so we turned it into a fundraiser. On Sunday August 3rd, we’ll be holding our 3rd annual Skydive to D-Feet Cancer event. You can read more about it at the link below. If you have ever wanted to try skydiving, sign up and jump with us. I’m scared of heights but “did it for Dalton” my first time and actually liked it. If you have zero interest in jumping, feel free to find a jumper you would like to support and donate to their jump. We ask that each jumper raise a minimum of $500 so you can even pick someone and get them closer to being jump eligible. Everyone is also invited to come out to Skydive Suffolk on August 3rd and watch D-Feet supporters fall from the sky. We’ll have a food truck, games, merch, snacks, and even adult beverages. Just shoot an email to info@DFeetCancer.org with any questions and Jen or I will get back in touch with you.
Check out the event here:
Thanks for reading, have a great July, and thank you for your continued support of D-Feet Cancer and pediatric cancer research.
Will
