Frugal Family Challenge: Can these parents trim expenses?

Some people spend too much on clothes. For others, it's stuff for the house. Mitzi Walker's financial downfall is food. Walker loves to eat out. Her family goes to O'Charley's or Ruby Tuesday at least once a week.

On other nights, they get takeout. Add in quick trips to McDonald's and Taco Bell, and she and her family eat out somewhere nearly every day. And with three kids, ages 1 through 5, even a quick visit to a fast-food restaurant can get expensive, Walker says.

Jimmie Walker has his own financial temptations. He likes to buy high-end electronics. An iPhone. Computers. A flat-screen TV.

Mitzi admits that she also likes to buy clothes for the children even before they outgrow the outfits they already have. And pretty soon, she'll need to buy even more clothes. The Walkers are expecting their fourth child by Christmas.

Jimmie, 30, is a government engineer; Mitzi, 28, is an accountant. They make a comfortable living, but they're spending more than they earn. As a result, they often turn to credit cards to make up the gap. They have at least 15 credit cards with a combined balance of about $30,000.

The Walkers, who are both from Memphis, try to visit their families at least once a year. They usually spend about $3,000 for airfares and hotel rooms.

"And every time, we have to charge it," Mitzi says. "Especially if we know we're only going once (a year), it seems like we should save the money."

Putting aside money for the trip is particularly important now, because by next year, their youngest child will be too old to sit on his parents' laps during the flight. That means they'll have to buy a ticket for him. And in a couple of years, they'll have to buy a ticket for the new baby, too.

The Walkers have some savings, but not much: about $21,000 for their retirement, $1,700 for the children's college educations and $500 for emergencies.

To help the couple gain more control over their spending, financial planner Tim Wyman has given both Walkers a small notebook and instructed them to write down every expense, from a 50-cent candy bar to the mortgage bill. That's the only way they'll get a handle on their spending, he says.

"Budgets don't work," Wyman says. "I want them to be thinking in terms of a spending plan, and the beginning work has to be understanding where the dollars are going."

By tracking their expenses, Wyman says, the Walkers should be able to save $500 during the 30-day challenge.

That's an ambitious goal. But the Walkers have already managed to make some small changes. Jimmie recently downgraded their satellite service, saving $15 a month. And after discovering that they're spending $50 a month on movie rentals, the Walkers are planning to switch to a less-costly subscription service.

Reaching their goal will require more sweeping changes, such as cutting back on trips to the mall. But Jimmie believes his competitive nature will help him resist the temptation to spend.

"I'm always up for a challenge," he says.

Young cancer survivors receive special support

By 2010 -- just two years from now -- one in every 250 Americans between ages 15 and 45 will be a survivor of some form of childhood cancer. That number may seem small, but it represents big strides in battling what is the leading cause of death by disease in young people.
As more children and teenagers near the end of or complete treatment for cancers, the focus shifts from getting them cured to making their adult lives healthy and enriched. Hospitals across the country have created cancer survivorship programs geared specifically for children and adolescents.

The Center for Survivors of Childhood Cancer at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital started its Kids Kicking Cancer program in 2004 with a grant from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Other services at the center include a long-term follow-up clinic and a school liaison program.

The Cleveland Clinic's High-Five Clinic at its children's hospital works with young people who are at least five years removed from an initial diagnosis and off therapy for at least two years. That program, also started in 2004, has financial backing from the Scott Hamilton CARES (Cancer Alliance for Research Education and Survivorship) Initiative.

Both hospital programs tackle the physical, mental and financial issues that come with being a young cancer survivor. The overall survival rate for childhood cancers is around 80 percent to 85 percent.
"We're at a point now where we have a better handle on the impact and significance of what a child survivor means," said Dr. John Letterio, Rainbow's chief of pediatric hematology and oncology. "We've had two, three decades to see the impact."

Rainbow's Kids Kicking Cancer has created sports clinics to promote physical activity and fitness. The first soccer clinic was held in 2006. In July, the program held its first golf skills clinic. Tennis and swimming are on the way.

It's a way for the Rainbow staff to keep connected with the families while physically preparing patients for life after treatment, Letterio said.

With gentle reminders not to run, jump or spin on the golf greens, 17 Rainbow patients took their first tentative steps on the greens a couple weeks ago.

As siblings played nearby and parents took photos, several coaches and golf pros showed the children -- all either undergoing treatment or who have completed it -- the finer points of putting and driving.

"This is an environment that's safe," said Pamela Martin of Lakewood as she kept an eye on her 6-year-old daughter Claire, diagnosed with leukemia at 2½. "She's with other children with similar issues.

"A lot of times, parents of children with cancer are afraid of putting them in the mainstream because of their immune systems," Martin said. "But it's important. All kids need to be active."

Transitioning patients back to their regular pediatricians, working with families on insurance and other financial matters, and coming to grips with long-term "late effects" of cancer treatments -- including the development of aggressive sarcomas and lower-than-normal levels of bone mineral density -- are all issues that survivorship programs continue to grapple with, said Pam Gabris, director of the National Children's Cancer Society.

In 2005, the St. Louis-based society started Beyond the Cure, which works with children 18 and under and their families. It sponsors survivorship conferences across the country and works with programs at a handful of hospitals.

Many families are so focused on their child getting better that they don't have the capacity to deal with anything beyond that, said Gabris. "You've got to constantly try to find ways to reach them."

One challenge in particular is communicating the long-term effects of radiation and chemotherapy that, short-term, are designed to keep a child alive, said Rainbow's Letterio.

Almost no one is thinking about fertility issues when a child is first diagnosed with cancer.

That's true for Rick Buzinski, who said he has not broached the issuewith his son, Christopher. The 11-year-old, who also has cerebral palsy,is being treated for an optical glioma that doctors discovered behindhis eye when he was 6. The tumor is treated withextensive chemotherapy, which Christopher received for more than ayear.

"It's kind of hard at this age, especially dealing with his special needs," Buzinski said. "But we're trying to get him to be more independent. We tell him that he can do whatever he wants to do because people will be there to help him."

The family of a girl diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 16 may not realize that she now has a higher risk of developing breast cancer as an adult.

A child struggling with school work may unknowingly be suffering from "chemo brain," in which the effects of chemotherapy have been shown to hinder concentration and memory.

"How do we help [families] understand the risk of therapies?" he said. "As we move forward in the future, we have to really start thinking carefully about the management of the survivor."

Miraculous recovery

EAST COUNTY – Skylar Potter is no different from most toddlers – cute and curious, entranced by cartoon character Dora the Explorer and in love with her orange tabby, Freckles.

Yet the 2-year-old is dealing with challenges no child should face.

She is relearning how to talk, how to walk, how to throw a ball. Just three months ago, Skylar did these things with ease. That was before she suffered a traumatic brain injury May 17 in a horrific traffic accident near her home just east of El Cajon.

For weeks, Skylar's parents, Ricky Potter and Ashley Pederson, feared she might not live. If not for a neighbor who administered CPR and rescue breathing, the firefighters and paramedics who cared for her, and the doctors and nurses at Rady Children's Hospital, she might not have.

After a two-month hospital stay, including three weeks in a medically induced coma in the intensive-care unit, Skylar went home July 18. Tomorrow, Potter, 24, and Pederson, 19, will host a barbecue at El Monte Park in Lakeside to thank the people who helped save their daughter.

The only thing, Potter said, is that “ 'thank you' really doesn't do justice.”

Firefighters and paramedics from the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District and the Santee Fire Department have visited Skylar at the hospital and at home. Businesses also came to the family's aid, donating a steel-reinforced car seat, a gently used car and free auto insurance for a year.