Okay, just to get the question out of the way right from the start, No I haven't had cancer, haven't had a parent, spouse or child with cancer. That is always the first question I get asked and am always met with surprise when the answer is No. I think when people ask me that, they are gearing up for my cancer story and are a little confused when I say that No, I haven't personally experienced the devastation that this disease can inflict.

But it doesn't take much to look around and see the havoc that cancer wreaks on the lives of the patients and those closest to them. And to see that once the battle with cancer becomes the focus of someone's life, that they need all the help, support and energy of those who are able to give it to them.

That's where we come in. Cancer Fears Me is an idea of the Cool Kids Campaign which is a division of the Belanger Federico Foundation. It's a little confusing so I'll just start from the beginning.

In 2004, Rob Belanger and Chris Federico joined forces to raise money for lung cancer research after both of them lost a parent to cancer. Rob's dad, Mark Belanger, was a shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles for 18 years. Chris's mom, Susannah Federico, was a mom who had raised 7 kids. After Mark succumbed to lung cancer in 1998 at age 56 and Chris's mom died of leukemia in 1995 at age 66 they wanted to do something to honor their parents and help others. So in their "spare time" they formed the Belanger Federico Foundation, developed a kick butt Celebrity Golf Tournament and gave all the proceeds to lung cancer research.

In the meantime, I was busy being a stay at home mom trying my best to keep three young kids busy and happy. We were having a pretty good time working the playgroup circuit, making friends, and growing up. Then out of the blue in March, 2003, one of our best friends, six year old Annie, was hit and killed by a drunk driver when she was leaving the circus in Baltimore City. What followed were months of confusion for so many people - how a perfect, healthy child could start on one of the side of the street with her whole life ahead of her and never make it to the other side.

In an effort to provide an outlet for a community's grief, Annie's Playground was built in Fallston, Maryland to provide a place for all children who had died too soon to be remembered and to give them a chance to leave a legacy.

As general coordinator of that project, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet so many amazing families and people, those who were in need of support and those who had the energy and time to give their support. As the playground project was wrapping up, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with that experience but I knew that I wanted to stay in the nonprofit world and try to continue connecting those two sides.

As things tend to happen, I met Chris and Rob through a mutual friend and the idea of the Cool Kids Campaign was born. They were both relatively new dads and were wanting to extend their foundation to help kids. We blended their cancer platform and the kids and came up with some initial programs to help as many kids as we could on a very limited fledgling nonprofit budget always keeping our minds open to mold our vision to the needs of the kids and their families.

After working with these families for 2 years it dawned on me of all the concerns these kids and their parents faced, fear was the most overriding emotion. I wanted to give them a rally cry that would empower them, show the cancer that they are in charge, that Cancer Fears Them!!

It took us a little while to go through the trademark process and really decide what to do with the slogan that would be the most beneficial to the patients and their families. Over time the Designated Patient Fundraising idea came into play, we developed a line of merchandise and hope to grow the idea so we can continue to meet and help those who live the Cancer Fears Me mindset whether as a patient or caregiver.

And now for our Academy Award moment – we wouldn't be here without the help of so many others – many, many thanks go to the following people: John Eiben, oh my, where to start! John designed the Cancer Fears Me logo after great guidance (not really) from me and then still stuck around to create this website for us. It was exactly what we wanted but didn't know how to describe; Mitch Stringer, the photographer who has donated so much of his time to us before this project and now lent his talent to get our product photos; Suzanne Singleton for editorial help; all our models, Ben, Emily, Mia, Marisa, Ceo, Amy, Riley, Dan, Kirsten, Kristin, and our cover models, MacKenzie, Katie, Lauren, Nikki, and Steve and Sue Stuck for taking that picture!

Thanks! Please email us with any questions, comments, suggestions or your story!

Sharon Perfetti