Miles of Smiles and Miracles

By Bill Crane

My firstborn child was plagued, starting at an early age, by severe cluster headaches, which were often preceded by dark circles underneath her eyes. The pain was debilitating, and as a young child this frequently resulted in her curled up in a fetal position and weeping.

In daughter Barclay’s case, a multitude of tests would follow, ranging from allergies to a CAT scan and MRI looking for potential brain tumors. Those days, which turned into weeks, awaiting a report and those test results felt like some of the longest days in our lives. Though eventually what turned out to be a diagnosis of cluster migraines, which are still part of her life today, I also cannot quite express the relief I felt when told that her scans were clean and clear, and there were no tumors on or near her brain causing the severe pain.

Many families are not as lucky. My own first cousin, Shaye Sauers Kilby, would almost begin her life with swelling on her brain, and later a series of difficult to remove tumors and growths on her brain, near the top of her spine, and multiple difficult surgeries and years of radiation and chemotherapy would follow. Shaye’s life and health were permanently impacted, but she has been cancer free for several decades and is now happily married and volunteering at the Front Desk of the Egleston Campus of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).

Aflac, the insurance giant based in Columbus, Georgia, would later make a five million dollar naming gift for the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Centers at Egleston and Scottish Rite as well as Hugh Spalding Hospitals in Atlanta. These millions and more that followed have evolved these pediatric cancer treatment centers into the 7th largest in the nation, as well as the most successful at treating blood disorders, such as sickle cell anemia and multiple forms of leukemia.

Cure rates, once in the low teens to twenty percent range, for the vast majority of pediatric cancers, are closing on the 80 percentiles, though medical personnel and researchers prefer terms like “cancer-free” and “no tissue at the margins” versus “cured,” as cancers often return or recur, morphing into attacks on other vital organs and sometimes decades after successful treatment.

Though I led or participated in small fundraisers for CHOA as well as for Shaye through the years, I am proudest of my role as a seed planter, suggesting and arranging for a tour of the Egleston ward of the Aflac Cancer Center, for legendary radio newsman and anchor, Scott Slade of WSB Radio. Slade would become the advocate and founder of the WSB Radio Care-a-thon, now CHOA’s by far largest annual fund-

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