TEDxAmoskeagMillyard - Tym Rourke - Surviving the Unexpected

Tym Rourke's life changed forever when his 15 month-old son suffered a seizure in the early morning of June 18th, 2006. Within a week he was diagnosed with an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) of the Brain/Central Nervous System. Over the next two years Tym and his wife supported their young child through over 60 grueling weeks of chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation and countless surgeries and procedures at Children's Hospital and Dana Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic. Tym has since become an outspoken voice on pediatric cancer and patient and family centered care. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Dana Farber Pediatric Patient and Family Advisory Council. He continues to share his experience as a parent and caregiver on his blog, www.vampdaddy.com, and is currently working on a memoir about his family's experience. When not focusing on his family, Tym is the Director of Program for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, one of the largest Community Foundations in the United States. There he oversees the Foundation's grantmaking, including a substantial fund to support the prevention and treatment of Substance Abuse Disorders. He was listed as one of Union Leader's "40 Under 40" in 2004. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)