Families fight to end childhood cancer

YORKTOWN, Va. (WAVY) - Families from across the country will converge on Washington next week and ask Congress for money to fight childhood cancer.

Several families from Hampton Roads are going to share their stories, and the Hermes-Thompson family of Yorktown is one.

Nina Hermes was just 6 years old when she was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.

"It started out with a little limp and tiredness, so nothing you'd really think was a big deal," said her mother Stephanie Thompson. "After the scans they discovered she had a tumor in her chest wall."

A year of treatments took Nina's hair, but her father, Patrick Hermes, said nothing could take her spirit.

"She kept saying 'Who needs stupid hair anyway?' you know, 'I don't need that.'"

The cancer went into remission and gave the family hope, until Nina got what appeared to be an eye infection.

"The cancer had metastasized to tumors behind both eyes and the brain," said Thompson.

She fought, but eventually doctors told them it was only a matter of time--weeks, or maybe months.

"We didn't even have time to get our arms around that timeline because she passed away the next day," Hermes said.

Now simply setting the table feels "off" for the family.

"We always wanted to have three kids, and we did," Hermes said. "Then all of a sudden we didn't anymore."

Nina's cancer changed her whole family. Her older sister Michelle now wants to be a pediatric oncologist.

"I feel like its like my job because I know what cancer does to kids," she said.

That is why this family is sharing their story--with you this week, and next week with Congress.

"Everybody says 'Oh yes, that's so sad, poor child.' But it doesn't really mean anything unless you know someone personally," Thompson said.

Pictures of Nina and hundreds of other children with cancer will be hard to ignore, the families hope. Families across the country are counting on that, like they are counting on Congress to help find a cure.

The event is in D.C. on June 21 and 22, and is called Reach The Day. It is sponsored by the non profit group Cure Search .

The group says scientific research must continue until we reach the day that every child diagnosed with cancer can be cured.