Founded by Erin, Fourth & Gold officially became a 5013C non-profit organization in July 2022. Much of the team is lead by healthcare professionals that are on the frontlines of oncological practice, helping children and their families battle cancer everyday.
Each week, Fourth and Gold will highlight a cancer warrior that has bravely and fiercely stood strong against childhood cancer. At Fourth and Gold, we want you to see the faces behind our drive and connect with them in a way you wouldn’t have been able to if you didn’t take the stand to demand #MoreThan4! Our precious kids have cancer, but cancer is not who they are.
Week of April 30th, 2018
Wyatt Lafontaine, aka Turtle or Baby Bear, diagnosed with Infant ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) at 10 months of age
Current Age: 22 months (DOB 7/16/16)
Favorite things: Wyatt LOVES cows! One of his favorite things to do his visit the farm and see the cows in the pasture. Wyatt is also quite the entertainer! If you put on the wiggles, you’ll get a dancing show from Wyatt, no matter who is around!!
Favorite foods: Wyatt is a breakfast boy… waffles and bananas is where it’s at for his sweet little appetite
If you know Wyatt, you know that he: is always smiling and happy. Wyatt is so full of life and joy, nothing, and I mean nothing, will bring him down from spreading his love and light
What you cannot see here is that Wyatt:
Wyatt’s mom, Sam, on the hardest part of your child having cancer: “Watching your child suffer, watching them deteriorate in front of you and not being able to fix it or to help others than give love and comfort”
Sam on what she wish people knew about Childhood Cancer: “Infant leukemia is its own diagnoses so it’s not the same as older kids. It’s not as rare as you think and it’s UNDERFUNDED. I dread relapse because for infant protocol there isn’t enough research. The next step is transplant which is at a hospital 9 hours away from us.”
Biggest change since Wyatt’s diagnosis: “His appetite and appearance. Before diagnoses he was a great eater and loved food.. he had a feeding tube for a while because he refused food and bottles and lost all his hair.”
Wyatt is a warrior. At just 22 months of age, he has experienced more in his life than he should have ever had to. It is beyond comprehension that our government can truly think and believe that our children are not worth more than 4%. I long for the day that we live in a world that values childhood cancer research over entertainment purposes, saving toys r’ us or anything else that doesn’t value or save human lives.
We introduce you to Wyatt, and kids who have stories just like him, because we want you to feel moved. We want Wyatt’s story and his precious face to kick you into action of demanding more from our government. We want you to take it upon yourself to do research into the harsh reality of childhood cancer, to donate to childhood cancer research, to give blood and platelets as often as you can, to support businesses or foundations who help childhood cancer… but most of all, to BE AWARE. If we can get just ONE person to start a conversation about childhood cancer, we’ll be considered successful. It’s never your child… until it is.
#MoreThan4 #NotRare
As of October 2023, Fourth and Gold has funded $226,000 to pediatric cancer research and will continue to do so until we reach our goal of finding and funding a humane cure for childhood cancer.
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