Buelow family to hold Bear-athon at A.E. Wright Middle School next week

LEGACY—Max Buelow, a local boy who died at age 11 from bone cancer, has become an inspiration to countless others through the charitable work of his family. The Buelow family is now sponsoring a portable teddy bear "stuffing station" that will bring a fun and comforting project to other children battling cancer at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. It has been more than twoand a-half years since Max Buelow died of bone cancer at the age of 11, but for the Buelow family of Calabasas, time has been a fickle friend.

"Max has been gone for two and a half years, and it feels like two and half days," his mother, Tracey Buelow, said. But the past two-plus years have been filled with purpose for the family, who continue to turn their hardships into a quest to help others.

Tracey and David Buelow's latest charitable work is focused on brightening the lives of youngsters battling cancer at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The Rocket Bear Stuffing Station, a portable build-your-own teddy bear machine, was designed to be wheeled in and out of hospital rooms, Tracey Buelow said. The station is one part "rolling special effects" closet that houses all the merchandise, including "bearskins" and clothing, and one part stuffing machine that will allow children to stuff the skins into a cuddly toy.

The merchandise closet, designed to look like a rocket Max had drawn on his chalkboard closet doors before he died, has a custom sound system that plays music from the NASA network, the "Star Wars" movie series and the television show "Star Trek."

"It's not just about giving children a toy; it's about giving them an experience," Buelow said.

From their hospital beds, children will be able to choose among three styles of teddy bears, which they stuff and dress at the stuffing station. Each child will have the opportunity to write a wish on a "wishing star," which will become part of the bear's stuffing. Each child's bear will come with a T-shirt, jeans and pajamas, Buelow said.

To help defray the cost of the program, Buelow will conduct a Bear-athon at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas from Nov. 12 to 21. The goal is to sell 500 bearskins for $25 each. The purchase will allow people to personalize a hangtag for a bear, which awill later becomeatoyforaahospitalized child.

Businesses are also invited to participate in the program through sponsorships. The ultimate goal, Buelow said, is to sell a total of 3,000 bearskins.

"I know what it would have meant to my kids" to have the distraction of making a bear during their hospital stay, Buelow said of Max and her daughter Emily, now 15. Emily was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4. When she had a relapse at 7, she underwent a bone marrow transplant. After being in remission for eight years, she recently had a setback and is recovering from a secondary illness stemming from her initial cancer treatment.

Max and Emily's siblings, Ilsa, 11, and Lena, 6, have had no health problems.

Another aspect of the Bearathon is an essay contest that will be conducted in the English classes at the middle school.

"The Bear-athon at A.E. Wright is not just to raise money for our cause and Childrens Hospital, but to encourage children to give of themselves," Buelow said.

Sixth-grade students will be asked to describe a time when they felt gratitude for the kind act of another person and to explain how the act affected their lives.

Seventh-graders will write about why Americans should participate in charitable activities. Students will be asked to support their thesis with details and examples to convince an audience that charity is important to a healthy society, Buelow said.

Eighth-grade students will be challenged with quotes centered on the importance of charity in modern-day America.

They will be asked to choose between a quote from Mother Teresa—"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving"—or William Shakespeare—"How far that little candle throws his beams, so shines a good deed in a weary world."

Over the past year, the Buelows have raised $17,000 for bone and soft tissue research. The Max of a Million Dreams Foundation for Cancer Research is working toward a $3-million goal.

Peter Heumann, a friend of the Buelow family who donated blood for Max throughout the child's illness and raised funds to purchase the "Maxmobile," a mobile blood bank for Childrens Hospital, said the Buelows were "an exemplary family."

"It's just so amazing that despite their loss they've just given so much back," Heumann said. "Through the most challenging times they've just showed such incredible class to do the things they've done and continue to do."

For more information about Max of a Million Dreams Foundation for Cancer Research, call (818) 707-2071 or visit www .maxofamilliondreams.org.