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shine a light. grow a community. pay it forward. Home Our Story Macky’s Story Our Research Partners Supporters What is DIPG? Infographic Events 2020 | Brews and Butterflies | Virtual Event 2020 | Wine & Shine #3 Holiday Wines | Virtual Event Past Events Shine Shop Donate Donate Oak Middle School Foster City Elementary School Get Involved Upcoming Events 2020 | Brews and Butterflies | Virtual Event 2020 | Wine & Shine #3 Holiday Wines | Virtual Event 2021 | Play it Forward Golf RECENT POSTS Sharing the new venture from MaxLove - Introducing The Family Thrive - a magazine, app and programs to help ALL (not just cancer) families live their best lives. Check out the message from Audra and Justin below, and sign up for your free quarterly Magazine to help your family Thrive. “The Family Thrive launches online in early 2021—YEAH! Cue the fireworks. Get ready for quick, expert wisdom you grab with your coffee that can change your day and maybe even your life. Plus, expert-designed wellness courses, live online events like chef-led cooking classes, and tailored, meaningful social connection. Our quarterly The Family Thrive Magazine is our gift to your family from ours. We crafted it with love plus the massive brain power of the best experts we know on nutrition, navigating crises, mindfulness, and meaningful connection. Every single person who works on it believes in your family’s ability to thrive NO MATTER WHAT. And because we’re parents too, we understand how precious your time is, so know that everything we create will add direct, applicable value to your family’s life. “ https://www.thefamilythrive.com/magazine ... The announcement that the President was being given the steroid Dexamethasone may not have meant much to many people, but to those of us who have had a child diagnosed with brain cancer it was a punch to the gut and cause for concern. Many of our children were put on Dexamethasone to fight the swelling in their brain. It’s a drug that can work miracles, the reduction of swelling giving them abilities like walking and swallowing back. But, putting a child on Dex is not a decision that is made lightly. It can cause severe mood swings (”roid rage”), weight gain, insomnia, anxiety, and the signature “puffy” look you see in McKenna’s picture here, and so many of the children we have featured. It is very difficult to wean the body off of the steroid if used for any length of time, and must be done slowly. We were relatively lucky. Dex changed McKenna’s physical appearance quite a bit (which she hated), caused some insomnia and anxiety, but she didn’t have the severe personality changes that other children have experienced. I have heard parents say that they lost the child they had known entirely as they became anger prone and aggressive. While we hope that the President and all the others diagnosed recover quickly with no long term effects, please give a thought to the children being treated with this steroid for other reasons. Ones who may have to be on Dex until their final days in order to give them the basic biological functioning for as long as possible. ... Photo This is going to be a fun one...sign up now. ... Photo NEWS & UPDATES McKenna’s sister writes a book about being a cancer sibling, LA Times Moving toward multi-pronged treatment for the worst childhood brain tumor, Stanford Scope Blog Scientists Tackle Lethal Childhood Brain Cancer, Scientific American MCKENNA CLAIRE FOUNDATION P.O. Box 8094 Huntington Beach, CA 92615 714.612.0198 info@mckennaclairefoundation.org Shop Donate Blog Social Facebook Twiiter Youtube Vimeo Events Past Events Galleries News Posts Research Copyright © 2011-2014 McKenna Claire Foundation, A Fiscally Sponsored Project of OneOC, a 501(c)(3). All rights reserved....