CCA Blog

While sitting in my office last week I heard music that was not the familiar music we hear every day.  When I entered the hallway to check out what I was listening to, I discovered 13 year old Lauren and her father standing by our office stereo equipment.  Lauren was beaming with a huge smile on her face and was pointing at the speaker, mouthing “I wrote this song”.  

I stood there soaking in the wonderful lyrics, music, excitement and joy from Lauren and her father as they sang along.  Lauren is in remission from cancer, and has recently begun participating in CCA’s newly created Music Rx song writing project.  This project pairs seriously ill teens with local talented musicians/songwriters to make hip music together.  Lauren had just received a rough cut of the song she co-wrote with local songwriter, Lisa Forkish, and rushed down to the CCA office to share it with us.  In August we will be recording a professional-quality version of her song!

We all gathered around Lauren and her father after the song, celebrating her debut with laughs and hugs.  I remember one lyric from her song which still plays in my head - “live in the now, don’t worry about the future”.  What a wonderful reminder for me, and testament to our mission.  

I am extremely grateful for the support we receive from our local community to ensure that moments of joy like this occur every day in the lives of seriously ill children and teens like Lauren through CCA’s programs and services.

Through my work at CCA, I will always remember to live in the now, not worry about the future and to SING OUT!

 Warmly,

 Dave Schaeffer, CCA's Vice President of Development