Many of us have experienced or will experience the “bad thing” at some point in life. The needle scratches across the record with the news; forward movement stops with the phone call, the diagnosis. It is particularly painful when the bad thing happens to a child. And yet, while Gretchen and her family were battling back stage 4 cancer with their beloved son, she chose to do an extraordinary thing. Watching Liam’s journey and that of the other families on the cancer ward, Gretchen decided to do what she could to ensure that others would not have to walk that same devastating path. She organized an army of devoted friends and admirers to mix, bake, package, and distribute thousands of cookies that offered a sweet promise for finding a cure.
I met Gretchen more than twenty years ago in Richmond, Virginia. In those early years I don’t think either of us could have imagined what life had in store for us, good and bad. We each had one another’s back as I nursed my husband through his critical wounds during the Iraq war and then just a year later she got the devastating news about Liam. I can still remember exactly where I was standing and how the sunlight knifed across my kitchen floor when she called to tell me.
Liam was a beloved little boy. And he loved life right back. He was an old soul, wise and patient and thoughtful. But he was also like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up all there was to learn, know, enjoy, and share in the world. And when he became ill, Gretchen’s job was to shelter him from the reality of his disease so that he could live his life to the fullest. It is a testament to them both that Liam never knew he had cancer. Despite the pain and discomfort he suffered at times, Liam looked forward to the things that made him happy: scootering on the New York sidewalks, playing with his adoring sister Ella, watching every cooking show he could find, and visiting the local fire station. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was an extension of the weekend hobby he loved: baking. For Liam, baking, being together, and Cookies were all one big way to help other kids and to share his love.
This book is not only a wonderful collection of yummy recipes, but a road map that outlines how you can do something to help, right in your own kitchen. Holding a bake sale in your neighborhood, school, or community brings us all one step closer to funding a cure. Anyone can get involved in Cookies, at any age, to help make a difference in the lives of children, to protect those we love most, and to give a voice to those who don’t have one. In the end, that’s really what Cookies is all about—an act of love and kindness.
—LEE WOODRUFF, author of Those We Love Most