September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and one local boy and his family have been fighting the effects of the disease for three years.

On September 24, 2012, doctors found a cancerous tumor on the brain of Jacob Gosselink, who was four years old at the time. Parents Todd and Barb Gosselink say over the course of the next year and a half, the did everything they could to help Jacob get better, including experimental proton therapy in Houston and many months of chemo at Blank Children’s Hospital.

“Jacob’s head had started to hurt in late August,” Barb says. “By September, we knew something wasn’t right.”

They say today, Jacob is cancer free, and continues to do occupational therapy at Kinetic Edge Physical Therapy to work on coping skills, muscle weakness, and balance issues.

“It sounds silly, but you just don’t realize all the things the brain controls,” commented Barb. “We still have to deal with so many of the long term effects of Jacob’s cancer and surgery.”

Kinetic Edge is collecting donations and donating $10 to Children’s Cancer Connection for every patient referral they receive from a current or previous patient.

The American Cancer Society says cancer is diagnosed in one out of every 285 children under the age of 20 in the United States. And although advances in treatment have improved the outlook for many children with cancer, the side effects of treatment can have long lasting consequences.

Click here for more information from the American Cancer Society and here for more information from St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.