Hey there, LIVESTRONG blog readers!

My name is Mackenzie Neel and I am so thrilled to be able to share something I have been involved in this year at my high school in New Braunfels, Texas. I’m in a class called Independent Study Mentorship that allows kids to design their own senior projects. My idea was to create a fundraising and service event focused on children with cancer.

This year cancer has risen to the number one cause of death, with over 100,000 deaths of children alone due to this global epidemic. I have been deeply affected by cancer within my own life through two family members passing away due to the disease and because of this and through working with Katherine McLane, the communications director at the Lance Armstrong Foundation, I created Krazy Quest for the Cure to promote cancer awareness and raise money for pediatric cancer patients.

To rally my community and raise funds and awareness, I planned a Krazy ride for kids at a local kid’s sports camp. My next challenge was connecting with a family who had been affected by cancer. I found Hunter Townsend, an 11 year old boy who has been battling a cancerous brain tumor, known scientifically as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, for almost two years. Hunter was diagnosed on March 27, 2008, and although he has undergone numerous treatments and sessions, his positive attitude goes way beyond his illness!

As I struggled with coordinating the hundreds of details around putting this event together, what was truly wonderful and inspiring to me was how supportive everyone was. From local businesses, to volunteers, to civic groups, everyone strived to be involved in any way they could and all had a connection with cancer in their lives.

After many hours of organizing, promoting, and recruiting sponsors, I’m looking forward to this Sunday when our community will come together for Krazy Quest for the Cure at TbarM Sports Camp in New Braunfels. My hope is to honor Hunter and his family, raise money that will benefit them and bring people together for a fun family activity.

I would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of this endeavor. To me, this experience has proven that anyone, including kids, can give back to their community through a variety of capacities and that people are eager to help and support each other, even during tough economic times such as these.

You can visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/huntertownsend for more information about Hunter and www.krazyquestforthecure.com for more information about this event and ways to help cancer patients not only locally, but around the world as well.