Songs For Aidan

Aidan Knox just celebrated his tenth birthday this week. He celebrated it in a hospital bed while undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma. This particular sarcoma is an aggressive cancer that requires aggressive treatment. Aidan is currently undergoing nine months of treatment at the Children's Hospital Of Pittsburgh. His treatment includes intensive chemotherapy on a compressed schedule and thirty-one radiation treatments to his tumor site which is his spine. Aidan's father is Lance Knox. Lance is an online listener of The Time Machine and shared his son's cancer battle with the Maui radio audience. Aidan is an inspiration with his high spirits during this ordeal that is beyond physically and emotionally draining to anyone who has had to deal with chemo. "Songs For Aidan" is a charity compilation on compact disc and digitally to raise money for the Oncology Child Life Department of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh where Aidan receives his treatment. Child Life provides activities, board games, video games (and consoles), books and toys to the patients during their admissions to the hospital. They do their best to make the time the kids have to spend in the hospital as pleasant and fun as possible. The CD features exclusive versions of songs from singer-songwriters Jim Boggia and Brandon Schott that have helped the family immensely during Aidan's diagnosis and treatment and have a message that they believe can help others who find themselves in difficult situations. The fundraising goal is a simple modest one to raise $1000 which would roughly be about 300 compilations sold.

Jim Boggia offers a brand new acoustic version of his song "Live The Proof". It's a song about the power of positive thinking and positive action, that has become a mantra for Aidan's family throughout Aidan's battle with Ewing's sarcoma. Every day they try to "Live The Proof" and take Jim's advice to "Go into the world you see, like it's already the way that it should be."

Brandon Schott offers a new, more intimate take on his song "Turning Toward The Sun" which he wrote when he was in treatment for cancer. The Knox family received Brandon's video when they were in a dark place about Aidan's illness. It gave them hope to see that this journey doesn't always end in sadness. We do our best to find the light in our situation. Admittedly it isn't always easy to find, but it's always there and even the tiniest bit of "sunshine" can make a huge difference.

Aidan's particular type of cancer requires him to spend a lot of time in the hospital. He has to be admitted to Children's hospital every two weeks to receive his chemotherapy. He has two day admissions which aren't that bad and five day admissions which are difficult for him. Near the end of those five day stays, he gets pretty homesick and just generally sad. This gave the family an idea for a project that might lift his spirits. A YouTube channel was created called "Songs For Aidan" and Mom and Dad (Jamie and Lance) were hoping that they could get musicians / artists from all over to offer a little personal word or two of encouragement and play a song for him. As of this week, there are currently thirty-six music videos posted on the "Songs For Aidan" YouTube channel featuring a wide variety of musicians including Steve Burns ("Blue's Clues"), Mike Viola, Slow Runner, Emily Robinson and Robert DeStefano of The Blood Rush. "When he's stuck in the hospital and feeling down, we can show him the videos so he can see just how many people are pulling for him and really there's nothing cooler than having someone play and sing a song just for you."

Along with Lance Knox and Aidan Knox on the radio, artists featured on this Maui afternoon FM broadcast include Jim Boggia and Brandon Schott.





Click here to listen or download the radio aircheck interview with Aidan and Lance Knox


Below: WTAE's "Action News" segment featuring Aidan Knox



Below: Kelly Jones - "All You Need Is Love" (For Aidan)



Below: Steve Burns - "Mighty Little Man (Mighty Little Aidan)" (For Aidan)



Below: Robert DeStefano - "Song For A Boy" (For Aidan)



Below: Brandon Schott - "Turning Toward The Sun" (For Aidan)



Below: Jim Boggia - "Live The Proof" (For Aidan)





Official website for Songs for Aidan - Live The Proof

Songs For Aidan on Facebook

Songs For Aidan - YouTube Channel