My heart is lifted by how many people want to help!

Baking Up Hope
“My heart is lifted by how many
people want to help!”
When Gretchen Holt-Witt’s son—and favorite baking assistant—found himself
facing cancer, she wondered: What if there was a way we could bake up a cure?
S
tanding at the kitchen counter as she reached
for a mixing bowl, a handful of flour and
eggs, Gretchen Holt-Witt smiled to see her
three-year-old son bound around the corner.
With his apron on, Liam shimmied his stepstool up to the counter so he could reach.
“What are we making, Mommy?” he asked.
“Chocolate chip cookies,” Gretchen answered,
and without missing a beat, passed him the bowl.
Watching a smile spread across Liam’s face, her
little “baker in training,” the Califon, New Jersey,
mom’s heart felt both happy and heavy at once.
Since Liam had been diagnosed with cancer,
every day—every moment—was precious. And
as the sweet smell of homemade cookies filled
the air, Gretchen sent up a prayer that someday,
she’d find a way to help not only her own little
boy, but to eradicate pediatric cancer forever . . .
Mommy’s little baker
W
dose chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
In between treatments, though, Liam was allowed to go home. And he’d quickly bounce back
to his happy-go-lucky self. “I’m going to look for
a four-leaf clover!” he’d say, combing the yard.
When the chemo started making Liam’s hair
fall out, Gretchen forced herself to smile and
said, “Some medicines make you sleepy. Some
make you hungry. And some give you magic
hair.” Liam’s eyes widened. “Wow!” he grinned.
“I have magic hair!”
Finally, after months of treatment, scans
showed Liam’s body had no evidence of disease.
His cancer was gone!
Thank you! Gretchen wept with gratitude. And
one day, after dropping Liam off at preschool,
Gretchen sat on the school steps absorbed in
her thoughts. There’s something I need to do, she
realized. I have to give back. Now that Liam is
healthy, I want to help the other kids facing the
battle he did. And it struck her: Liam and I love to
bake. Why not bake cookies for cancer?
hen Gretchen and her husband Larry welcomed Liam into the world, they dreamed
of all the things he’d do and see as he grew
up. And even as a toddler, Liam was constantly
till, Gretchen didn’t want to stop at just a few
asking questions. “How does a fire truck pump
dozen cookies. She wanted to do something
water?” “Why do frogs jump, Mommy?”
big. Because since Liam’s diagnosis,
But most of all, Liam loved to cook.
she’d found out that pediatric cancer
The Food Network quickly became
was the number-one fatal disease
his favorite channel, and whenever
afflicting children in the U.S.
Gretchen was in the kitchen
Love and
So that holiday season, she
with his baby sister, Ella, Liam
was right beside her.
kindness are never called in favors with her family, friends and co-workers.
But as his third birthday apwasted. They
Soon over 250 volunteers had
proached, Liam started to
agreed to help bake 8,000
act . . . off. It wasn’t anything
always make a
dozen cookies to support pediGretchen could pinpoint, so
difference.
atric cancer research!
after a checkup, Liam’s pediaBARBARA DE ANGELIS
After she set up a website, a
trician ordered blood work and
news station picked up on Gretchan abdominal ultrasound, just to be
en’s efforts and orders started poursafe. But when the results came in,
ing in. Some folks even called in to order
Gretchen’s whole world shattered.
cookies and said, “I’m on a diet. So keep the
“I’m so sorry,” the doctors said. “But Liam has
cookies, I just want to help!”
Stage 4 neuroblastoma.”
Before she knew it, Gretchen had raised nearly
Cancer? Gretchen cried, her knees buckling as
half a million dollars! Long after the new year,
tears poured down her cheeks.
Liam was admitted to the hospital immediately. e-mails still flooded her in-box. So Gretchen
He’d need surgery to remove the cancerous mass formed Cookies for Kids’ Cancer (Cookies
from his abdomen, and several rounds of high- ForKidsCancer.org) a nonprofit that raises
The sweetest success
S
“
”
“Helping kids
like Liam
makes life
sweeter!”
Gretchen
says.
money for life-saving pediatric cancer research.
But sadly, Liam’s cancer returned. Though he’d
fight hard again and again, each time it came
back stronger. And just a few months before his
seventh birthday, Liam slipped away.
Enveloped in grief, Gretchen didn’t know how
she’d go on. Yet every day, she’d get e-mails from
people wanting to help put an end to pediatric
cancer. For Liam, they’d say.
And suddenly, Gretchen would think of her
sweet boy’s courage and never-ending grin. He’d
want me to keep going, she realized. So that no
mother would feel the pain of losing a child. So
that no other little boy or girl has to suffer.
Today, Gretchen has helped volunteers across
the country set up bake sales, 5k walks and fundraisers. And she even penned two cookbooks—
her most recent, Cookies for Kids Cancer: All the
Good Cookies—to support cancer research!
And Cookies for Kids Cancer has raised more
than $7 million, helping fund dozens of research
projects that led to six new cancer treatments!
“I have no doubt this is what Liam would want
us to do. Every day my heart is lifted by how
many people want to help,” Gretchen says. “So
often we think what we do doesn’t matter, that
it’s not enough. But that’s not true. We can all
make a difference!”
—Rachel Misenko
Fun ways to make money for your cause!
Pizza dough! Cash in on everyone’s favorite: pizza! Little Caesars
catalog (PizzaKit.com or 888-4-LCKITS ) offers kits for making pizzas
and more. Best of all: Your group
nets $5 to $7 for each item sold!
Lolli-profits! Find sweet success
with candy! Options for a TheGoodies
Factory.com lollipop fund-raiser include
tasty footballs on a stick and sour
lollipops shaped like lips. And your
group gets half of all proceeds!
Raise funds with these catalogs—
all you have to do is take orders!
A cash-filled kitty! Love to spoil
your pets? Take orders for Worthy
Cause Pet Products (WorthyCause
Fundraising.com) or TheBarkers
Dozen.com dog treats—your
group’ll get 50% of the profits!
Read or heard a human interest story you think belongs in Woman’s World? Send it to us! If you’re the first to share it, and we publish it, we’ll pay you $100! E-mail the story
with your name, address and phone number to: [email protected]. Or mail to: Scoop, Woman’s World, 270 Sylvan Ave., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632.
Photos: Getty Images; David Patino/Ikonik Pix.
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