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Welcome to my Light The Night Walk homepage.

Hi friends. Barry Roberts here. Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. I appreciate your support of this awsome charity. Below is a photo of my daughter Madeleine who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 3 years old. After three hard years of chemotherapy she had it beat. Click on the two following links for more of our family story.

The Roberts Family Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqWa9mFPi3o&feature=player_embedded

All-County girls basketball: Madeleine Roberts' past made her stronger

Bartram player had to beat cancer before turning to basketball If it wasn't for the evidence, there would be no reason to believe Bartram Trail's Madeleine Roberts.

Her past, if you've heard it, seems more like a nightmare than a memory. She smiles too wide, laughs too loudly. This can't be the same girl who nearly died before she ever grew up.

"Leukemia. Every time I think about it I can't help it," said Roberts, the St. Augustine Record St. Johns County Girls Basketball Player of the Year. "Not everybody makes it out, and when I see or hear about someone who has leukemia, it takes me back real fast. I weirdly tear up."

She can't control the outbursts. Sometimes it happens at the movies or simply in her bedroom when nobody is around to watch. It's not easy battling a slippery past, especially when the memories are so old that they hardly exist.

There's a photo of her that's nearly 15 years old. She's swollen from steroids so badly she might as well be twice her regular size.

It must be a stranger. "We're so thankful she doesn't recall much," her mother, Kim, said. "It really wasn't a sad time for her. We just put a bow on her bald head and moved on."

Madeleine was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as ALL, when she was 3 years old. Her battled waged on through nine months of in-hospital intensive

chemotherapy every other week and another 2 ½ years through a port in her chest at home.

Although it remained in remission, she didn't receive a full bill of clean health until the same year she celebrated her 16th birthday. But for her, the cancer has never played a pivotal role in her life, although it's part of the makeup she wears today.

"Even in the hospital, we couldn't slow her down," her father, Barry, said. "She never wanted to sit in that bed. She's been determined to make it from Day 1."

Roberts has clearly walked out of a desperate situation without any noticeable limp.

She just completed her senior year at Bartram Trail on a team that finished 24-5 and lost in the Class 4A regional semifinals to Bishop Kenny. Her career is one of the school's most storied. She started as a freshman and finished with 1,407 points, including her sophomore season at Providence. She will also be playing for Mississippi College next season.

Those numbers, those accolades, are things that everyone who has ever met Madeleine could tell you. They love to point out how smart she is, how hard she works. Few, however, ever pause to ask why.

Bartram coach Ben Windle marvels at how upbeat she is. How she can come to practice with the same approach she would if she was playing H-O-R-S-E with her two brothers in her backyard. She never complains, Ever. "Every time she comes into the gym I know she's going to work," Windle said. "I never have to worry about Madeleine. I've never seen her come into the gym in a bad mood."

There's something about Madeleine most people can't understand. Truth is, she has the stain only a survivor could wash out. It's always easier to see the light when you've lived in the dark. Even if that war belonged to someone else.

Madeleine knows her parents fought a battle she couldn't shoulder herself. That's part of the reason she has trouble coping, even though she knows it's a small price to pay in the scope of love. "I remember standing on the IV cart and my mom pushing me around," Madeleine said. "I know they were the best." It's one of her only memories from the time. The other involved a series of painful shots in her back.

Her parents have plenty of both. Kim remembers the first day with clarity. Madeleine was lounging on a couch, resting on a sunny day. "She always wanted to be outdoors. She wasn't prissy at all," Kim said. "I knew when she wasn't running around that something was wrong."

Late one night, Barry received a phone call from Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville. The doctors told him to pick up his daughter and head to the emergency room.

"We didn't know what they wanted, what that meant," Barry said. "We just figured it was in God's hands now. It was up to the Lord." After that, the fight was on. It took place on tiled floors of Nemours and Wolfson's Children's Hospital.

The survival rate for ALL in young children hovers around 80 percent, according to various reports. Madeleine responded well to the treatment and began to recover quickly.

All the while, her parents said she was oblivious, happy and wired to the wall like she had been before. "She thought everyone her age went to Nemours," Kim said. "Why would we tell her any different?"

One of the setbacks of her treatment took place on the playground. Madeleine didn't have many opportunities to make friends during chemotherapy.

"That was sad," Kim said. "All she had were her brothers."

And that's where basketball joins the story.

Her father loved the game like a caffeine addict loves coffee. He left the keys to his obsession in his children's hands, first starting with Lee, who was playing organized basketball when he was 5. Next came Madeleine, three years younger, with a ponytail and a clear disposition: She was going to play with the boys. Heck, she was going to beat them. "All that competition growing up," Barry said. "That's why she's great."

She lived up to her dreams, even winning a youth state championship before she turned 10. She can't remember the age exactly, just her teammates. Included were Bartram boys stars Erik Oram and her younger brother Will Roberts, Bolles quarterback Chandler Carr and Bishop Kenny standout running back Mark Butler. "She isn't scared of anyone," Barry said.

Will and Madeleine are the jewels of a growing Bartram program. Will is just 16 and scored 29 points in a game this season. Madeleine topped out at 27. Will never misses an opportunity to rub it in. "He's still talking about that?" Madeleine said. "You can't be serious. I hope he talks about the times I beat him at H-O-R-S-E." Barry loves to see his children fight on the hardwood. It's like a proud parent framing a diploma of some long lost dream.

One day, Barry calls Madeleine to tell her Will just beat him in H-O-R-S-E.

"'I'll be right home,' she told me," Barry said. "'I'll beat him for you, Dad.'" You don't have to read fortunes to watch the pride drip off Barry's voice. It has something to do with her struggles and everything to do with her goals. Madeleine has a nightmare about what could have been if the doctors didn't save her life. It's the kind of statement that would make even the toughest dad blush. "I could have ended up with some problem and not been able to dribble," Madeleine said.

And to think, that's not even the best part of her game.

Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual fundraising walk to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer. Hundreds of thousands of participants raise funds for lifesaving research and patient services.

For more than 60 years, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has been solely focused on people with blood cancers. Presently, we have more than $250 million committed to research across the United States and in ten other countries. Every dollar is provided by concerned donors. We invest in the best, outcome based science:

• Anywhere, with no geographic or institutional boundaries
• Without profit incentive
• To meet unmet Medicare needs of people with blood cancers

And LLS funded advances are helping patients beyond those for whom they were originally developed, including people with solid tumors and auto-immune diseases. In the past decade, nearly 50% (19 out of 39) of the cancer drugs approved by the FDA were approved as treatments for blood cancer patients. Twelve are already approved for people beyond those for whom they were first developed. With your help, we are saving lives.

• A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
• A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
• A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
• A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.

Please make a donation to support my participation in the Light The Night Walk and help save lives. Be sure to check my Web site frequently to see my progress, and thanks for your support!