Imagine one day waking up and realizing that your child’s life and your life will change forever. I don’t know that I have still come to terms with that reality, but sadly enough that is the reality when your child has been diagnosed with cancer.

August 25th 2006 was that horrible day for me, it was the day that my baby boy, Brendon Scott Coates age 3, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor named Ependymoma, which only account for 5-10 percent of pediatric brain tumors. Later we would find out that the ependymoma was metastatic throughout his spine which in 2008 reoccurred with furry. Survival rates with treatment for ependymoma patients are 50%, those who have metastatic ependymoma drop to 26%, and then if it reoccurs it drops to 10% or less.  My baby boy fought this horrible disease each day with grace and a smile which still amazes me and makes me so proud to have had the chance to be the mother of such an amazing child. With great sadness, Brendon’s life was ended on the 10th September 2008 due to this disease and honestly a part of my life died that day as well. Brendon was, and still is, the best thing that ever happened to me and with him gone, it’s not the same. But life is not over for me and my family and that is why The Foundation was born.

This website was designed to help other families who are going through what my family went through. Both through financial, emotional and educational help. We, myself, Brendon’s mother (Alison Clement) and my husband, Brendon’s stepfather (Anthony Clement) decided to start the Brendon Scott Coates Foundation while sitting beside Brendon at the funeral home the day before the services. It just hit us that it was what we needed to do and what we wanted to do. Just because Brendon was not here physically anymore, he was here with us in spirit and still in everything we did. This fight for childhood cancer wasn’t done; it will never be done until a cure is found.

Brendon Scott Coates (my angel son) is the CEO and founder of the foundation, and myself and Tony are the President and Vice President respectively. My sister, Erin Whitehead is the web page designer/administrator of the website.

It is a collective fight desire and support, that we hope to make a difference in the lives of other cancer kiddos’ who are going through what my son went through. It is our goal that we can give a wonderful quality of life to those who are going through the same struggles with pediatric cancer. In the end, it is not the quantity of life that matters most but the quality of life which will make lifelong memories and make a wonderful life for a child diagnosed with pediatric cancer. The best advice as a mother of a child with cancer is to tell them you love them every chance you get, do all the things that they want and you want to do as a family. While some childhood cancer’s have great survival rates, there are still plenty which are still such a mystery to the medical community. When you look back at your experience going through cancer with your child, it is much better to not have any regrets, to know that along with doing everything you could to fight the disease, that you also did everything you could to be the very best parent and friend to your child during their treatment and times of remission. Life is short and for children with cancer it can be very short. Just remember to love, laugh and live it to the fullest, it is what will matter the most in the end.

Alison Coates Clement , mother of Brendon Scott Coates (Dec 10, 2002-Sep 10, 2008)