Here We Go!

As Harper battled her cancer diagnosis, those we know and love pulled together to provide "Hope For Harper."  As time went on what we came to realize is that while Harper was drawing hope from us, she gave it back in return, multiplying it many times.  In addition to broken hearts and precious memories, Harper left with us an incredibly special and unexpected gift - a desire to rise above our circumstances (as Harper did) and #choosejoy.

Keeping such inspiration to ourselves would be selfish - something Harper was not. And so, we have begun to look for opportunities to share Harper's gifts with others who didn't have the opportunity or pleasure to know Harper themselves. But how to do it?

The verbiage "Hope From Harper" emerged shortly after Harper gained her wings, and has sustained us and encourages us as we continue to grieve.  We used Hope From Harper to raise more than $65,000 for St. Baldrick's in Harper's memory.  The results of our efforts were amazing, but after much reflection and consideration we recently began taking steps to change Hope From Harper from an initial feeling into a theme, force and movement to do good not only today, but well into the future.

To that end, Melissa and I are pursuing the establishment of a nonprofit charity organization called Hope From Harper that will pursue the following:

1. Fund clinical research focused on childhood cancer treatments aimed at improving survivability of treatment
2. Fund investments that enhance and elevate the level of care, either emotional or physical, that childhood cancer patients and their families receive

This is new territory for us, as neither Melissa nor I have significant experience in the not-for-profit world, but we are determined and committed to continuing to share Harper's hope and joy with others, in ways that can help ensure that other kids diagnosed with cancer are able to tell their kids about how they beat this terrible disease.  

As Cadence so appropriately put it - "No one should have to go through what Harper, her friends and family, went through."

This site will be where we will share information as we progress in establishing this new organization.  

We invite everyone to stay tuned and learn how you can help us spread love, hope and joy as Harper would.