Message From Kenny to all Kids with cancer.

    Hi everybody!! I'm Kenny. Let me tell you how and why I started The Grouchy Bear Foundation. I will also tell you how I used my Grouchy and what you can do with yours. 

    When I was 9 years old I was told that I had Ewing's Sarcoma. That is a type of bone cancer. My classmates gave me a stuffed bear while I was in the hospital. Well, I never was much for a stuffed bear, so I thought the only kind of bear I would want would be a tuff bear. So my brother Austin and I came up with this bear that likes pain. Well you know when you have cancer there is a lot of pain. We decided to name him Grouchy. With Grouchy I could be grumpy, sad, mad, and ornery. I would just do it through Grouchy. When I was bored I would use Grouchy as a football, soccer ball, and basketball. I abused that bear. When I would puke, I would puke on Grouchy. He liked it!! I really think it was just the wash machine ride he really liked. Nobody really understood Grouchy, but I didn't care. It was my way of making the hospital fun. He really liked making smart mouth comments to the doctors and the nurses. I even made up a voice for him. That way when I used his voice everyone knew that. He would get in trouble, but I wouldn't. He went with me everywhere. I even took him to radiation treatments with me. He was the only one that could go in with me. He was really my best friend during my cancer.

    As far as starting the foundation, here is how that happened. Kids at the hospital would see me kicking and throwing Grouchy around, and would ask why I was doing that. I would tell him that he liked pain. They thought that was cool. They wished they had a bear to do that with. I would go and ask my mom or dad if we could get them a bear. They always did. When I was done with all my treatments I wanted to give back to everyone that helped me. I thought what better way than to give Grouchy's away to kids. Mom and dad looked into it and got all the legal stuff done so we could do it. That's how it all started.

    Yes! That is me in the picture at the top of this page. I am now 17 years old now and a Junior at Rochester High School. I have lettered in wrestling and in football.

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