Montana's Hope

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 

Please visit the "September is..." Page for additional information, stats, links and don't forget to sign the petition!

September 13th is Childhood Cancer Awareness Day!  Please remember to wear your golden ribbons and show your support for Childhood Cancer Awareness.  Below are a few stats and facts that we would like to share with you.  If this is your first visit to Montana's Hope then we would like to welcome you with open arms and let you know that we have created this site to inform as many families as possible about Childhood Cancer with our main focus being on Neuroblastoma.  This site was created for Montana "Biscuit" who is a wonderful 3 year old little boy that is now in remission.  Praise God!  Montana's story is located at the bottom section of our home page. We have added a ribbon section so that you may identify which color of ribbon supports a certain form of cancer or meaning.  We hope that you will wear your GOLD RIBBON to show your support and awareness of Childhood Cancer.  Many types of ribbons are worn today so in order to assist you with ribbon awareness we have added a link to this page that will explain each ribbon color and the significance of that particular ribbon. For example, gold ribbons are the childhood cancer awareness ribbons, yellow ribbons support our troops and purple ribbons support cancer in general. We would like for you to take an opportunity and leave us your name and information in our guest book section as well.  Montana loves to hear from everyone who stop's by and drops him a note.  Last weekend we celebrated Montana's 3rd Birthday, holding back tears of joy our family realizes the long hard journey that lead us to this point and we are so very thankful and feel so very blessed that Montana is in remission!  We have added a new links page to our site this year.  Please feel free to visit any of our friends or foundations and let them know you heard about them from Montana's hope.  Thank you for taking the time to visit our site!  We hope you enjoy the information, photos and stories that we have to share with you today.  Check back often for updates on Montana's progress, upcoming scans, new links, etc.  Most important of all we would like to thank each and every one of you who have prayed for Montana.  We could not have reached this point without all the prayers and support that we have received.  A special thank you to all the staff (family) at Riley Hospital located in Indianapolis, IN. 

p.s. Nancy and Mike are Montana's parents.  I have never in my life met two people who are so involved in fighting for their child, staying strong when they had so many chances to fall apart and never complaining about anything.  Both of these individuals are close to me and I hold them dear in my heart.  Thank you both for being the parents that you are to Montana and staying strong during this difficult time.  I was so happy to have celebrated his birthday last week with you both.  I am proud to know and love you both!  Crystal

 Childhood Cancer Stats and Facts

September 13th is the day to remember all children who are fighting or who have fought the fight against cancer! 

We have listed here a section on facts and stats.  Cancer in children is more common that most people realize.  Childhood cancers behave very differently than adult cancers and the survival statistics are not as promising.

Did you know? Cancer is the number one killer of children by disease. It is the second leading cause of all childhood deaths exceeded only by
accidents!   You can find additional faq's and stat's on the "September is..." page located on Montana's site!  You can also access the Care2 page and sign the petition for Childhood Cancer Awareness Postage Stamps to be made. 

We would like to take a moment and thank each and everyone of you for your visit's, comments, stories and most of all PRAYER'S!  Since the first post on our guestbook we have tried to keep up with all who have visited our page.  We will be sending out emails in the upcoming weeks to those who have visited Montana just to keep you up to date on changes to the site, Montana's Progress and upcoming BIRTHDAY!  To each and everyone of you who have added us to prayer list's, continued to pray, etc. THANK YOU!  Please keep the prayers coming for the upcoming scans July 2008.  Check out some of the new links that we have added, new photo's and check back daily since we have so much more to come!  Montana is a hope and inspiration to many families.  With the awesome love and support from his two wonderful parents Mike & Nancy, Montana thrives each and everyday.  As you view some of the changes you will notice that we have added a few new touches to the site to express what Montana is most interested in at this time of his life.  Montana is a very loving and educated little man who has fought NB.  Each and everyday our family lives with NB in our minds even though Montana is in remission.  We would like to express to anyone who is visiting for the first time or checking back in with us that YOU CAN BEAT NB!  The battle is not easy, the battle is everyday cancer free or not for life.  Don't ever give up hope, don't ever stop loving the child that is fighting the biggest battle of his or her life and don't ever stop praying for a cure!  As always we would like to thank you for taking the time to visit with us!  We hope that you like our recent changes and if you would have any educational or supportive links to add to this page please feel free to email them to our web address at montanashope@hotmail.com .  

Montana's Hope 

Several years ago when we started this page for Montana we were dealing with the diagnosis of neuroblastoma and we were in the learning phase as well.  Montana will continue to go through scans so please check the calendar each time you visit.  We will also keep posted on the main page when the scans are coming  up and the outcome of the scans.  We are posting new photos, information, etc. each and everyday. 

This site was built for Montana!   Our goal is to inform anyone who has a child about the danger's Neuroblastoma.  Neuroblastoma is a form of childhood cancer.  We have several educational links throughout the website if you are searching for information you may want to take a moment and review those pages.  You may also contact us at montanashope@hotmail.com This site will be here to assist anyone needing the following.

• Education on Neuroblastoma
• Resources
• Links & Photo's
• Child research
• Montana's progress

Montana Ray Fisher

"Biscuit" was born on August 28, 2005.  Up until a March 2006 everything was going according to schedule.  Normal pregnancy, growth, development.  No one could have asked for a better child.  This was a miracle when Montana was born.  Mike and Nancy had waited so long for this gift from God.  And the day that he finally arrived they both shared the happiest moments and a complete life.

After a slight eye cold in January, Montana seemed to be doing fine.  Around Mid March 2006 Montana was ill.  Vomiting, Crying, just not himself.  Now, most Mother's that make a trip to the doctor are told that this is common with teething, shots, and being a baby.  Nancy knew that this was just not right.  Montana's doctor diagnosed him with having a viral infection.  No med's were given and this went on for around two weeks.  Finally, concern landed the parents in the local ER.  After the exam they were told that Montana was teething, and that he may have a slight ear infection.  On this same trip the parents explained that this was not normal.  They even went to the extreme of taking a photo of Montana with them to show that what once was a happy healthy baby, was no more.  Montana had started to show a bulging of his right eye.  The eyelid had a slight bruising to it like maybe he had hit himself with a toy.  Repeatedly Mom & Dad were told that this was from the ear infection and that they should not be concerned with this and to just forget about it.  Of course any parent dealing with a sick child could not and after this went on and the Upper GI test came back showing that this child did not have a blockage of any sort to cause the vomiting Nancy & Mike continued to worry.  They had to worry because Montana would not suck on a bottle, he would not eat his food, and he was always crying.  Finally, after the long wait they walked back into the doctors office and as soon as they did the doctor explained that he was sending them to the ER for an MRI which was a relief.  Someone was finally listening to them. 

After the MRI was complete the doctors informed them that Montana had a mass on his head located behind his eye.  They planned a next day trip to Riley's children's hospital in Indianapolis, IN.  This is how this website was started.  You see Mom & Dad did not know until after many tests, days in the hospital, doctors, blood draws, etc. that Montana was suffering from IV Neuroblastoma.  This is a silent killer that they are now battling.  Montana joins this battle with many children.  We created this site to educate, assist, and inform. 

   Visitor's to his site!

Thank you for visiting this site.  Please remeber to pass the link on so that everyone know's the danger of Neuroblastoma.  If you or your family is in need of any more information please email us at montanashope@hotmail.com