Why Bozeman’s Shrauger family hikes for pediatric cancer research
By Mira Brody VP MEDIA
When I ran into the Shrauger family on Baldy Peak, the Bridger Range’s most locally prominent appendage, the three had that thousand-yard stare carried by those marred by many miles.
“Did you guys do the whole thing?” I asked, referring to the popular 19-mile Bridger Ridge Trail that begins at Fairy Lake, and stretches south to the ‘M’ Trailhead. Nineteen miles is even an understatement for the route; with 6,000 feet of gain and 9,000 of loss, and mostly uneven, exposed terrain, it’s a leg pulverizer.
The family, consisting of Pam and Jason, and their son Caden, nodded in affirmation, small, fabric flags with the words “Ask me about pediatric cancer research” clipped to their backpacks. So I did.
“That was the hardest hike of my life,” Pam told me with a laugh later on over the phone. “It was so hard. But we did it because my son, Caden, really wanted to do it.”
Caden, now 17 years old and healthy, was diagnosed at age three with stage-four, high-risk neuroblastoma, a type of pediatric cancer, which he battled for nearly five years. It was a dark period of time that Pam often recalls when her son encourages them, along with little sister Camryn, to partake in the long-distance ventures he is so passionate about. His health and love for hiking, Pam said, is “a dream come true.”
“It was beyond what I could have imagined when he was sick,” Pam said. “So it was really impactful.”
Their endurance hikes aren’t only to celebrate physical achievement as a family—the Shraugers are participants in CureSearch for Children’s Cancer’s Ultimate Hike endurance events, “a life-changing, lifesaving event that combines the joy of hiking with the mission of raising funds for pediatric cancer research,” according to CureSearch’s website.
About 10 events take place every year all over the country, in which friends and families impacted by pediatric cancer team up and raise money for the nonprofit’s mission. For the events, CureSearch provides expert coaching and training plans, fundraising resources and covers travel expenses. The Shrauger’s next event is Sept. 13 in Jackson Hole.
CureSearch has been an organization raising money for childhood cancer research for more than 35 years. It specifically addresses the urgency needed for new and better childhood cancer treatments, putting preclinical research to work in hospitals. While hundreds of nonprofits focus on helping those battling cancer, from passing legislation to providing resource and monetary support to families, the Shraugers appreciate CureSearch’s direct focus on pediatric research and getting new and effective treatment options to children, quickly.
“Cancer is horrible at any age. We’ve just lost Caden’s grandmother a couple months ago to cancer, and it was horrible,” Pam said. “But it’s different for kids. They haven’t had a chance to live their lives and they have a whole future ahead of them. And I think that there is something especially heartbreaking as a parent to see your child go through something like that, versus a parent or an older adult.”
Pediatric cancer research is “a significantly underfunded area of medical research,” Pam said. Children’s cancers are less prevalent, and affect a smaller portion of the population, she explained. However, it was pediatric cancer research that saved her son’s life.
The Bozeman family discovered CureSearch in 2012 on one of their many trips to Seattle during Caden’s treatment, which included six rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and surgery. While there, they participated in a CureSearch walk. Her recollections of CureSearch Ultimate Hike events since then are described as milestones in Caden’s journey.
Like when Caden was eight and he pointed to the Bridgers’ Sacajawea Peak and told his mother “I want to hike that.”
“At the time, CureSearch had their create-your-own Ultimate Hike. And I said, hiking Sacajawea Peak with an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old is an ultimate hike for us,” Pam said, laughing.
The family succeeded, and in 2017, raised their first dollars for CureSearch.
Nearly seven years later, during the family’s first time attending the Jackson Hole event, a 15-year-old Caden took off, and led the way to the finish line.
“He crossed the finish line first, and there wasn’t a dry eye there,” Pam said. “My big memory in all of that is that when Caden was so sick, when he was first diagnosed, he couldn’t even walk.”
Another memorable event was this past June in California, at Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Marin, a stone’s throw from UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in neighboring San Francisco—the city where Caden had previously received an experimental intravenous radiation treatment where he remained in a lead-lined room for four days.
While the road to remission was not quick nor easy, Pam believes it was that treatment—and the research that made it possible—that kickstarted her son’s ability to finally beat the cancer that had stolen nearly five years from his young life.
“[We thought] that this might be the last shot at getting ahead of this,” Pam said. “And so we were kind of feeling a lot of stress and a lot of pressure for it to work. And thankfully it did.”
“It just was special on that hike to just be back there in a happier occasion to celebrate how far he had come,” she said of their endurance event years later. “Because when we were there during treatment, it was a really scary time.”
Today, Pam hopes their fundraising enables other families to reach the point they have—watching their children thrive, “and hopefully help other kids get to do crazy things like hike the Ridge like Caden does,” she said. “The fact that he’s a cancer survivor and we get to do this is pretty awesome.”
Like many touched by pediatric cancer, or cancer of any kind, CureSearch’s Ultimate Hike events are gatherings of solidarity and healing for the Shraugers. It’s a way for Pam to process, and create a purpose for what her family, and her son, endured. She also hopes every dollar raised helps not only find a cure, but save another life the way research donations saved Caden’s so many years ago.
“I often think about the people who donated to pediatric cancer 15, 20 years ago and how that saved our son,” Pam said. “And we just give thanks for those people who did that. They may never know that what they did is the reason my son and others are still alive.”
