Chemo & Crayons
Chemo & Crayons is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in Pennsylvania dedicated to supporting caregivers of children with cancer by providing them with the latest research on side effect management, legal, financial, and educational information, parenting support, and medical information.
Chemo & Crayons is a unified resource for all people whose lives have been impacted by a child with cancer. Just click on the best description for where you are in the journey, a caregiver, survivor, supporter of a family facing cancer, or a medical professional for resources tailored to your needs.
Chemo & Crayons combines ‘real world’ experience with integrative medical expertise to support caregivers in navigating the challenges of pediatric cancer.
About Chemo & Crayons
In the summer of 2015 at the Jersey Shore, four little kids started playing together, Michelle an integrative cancer specialist noticed that McKenna had a port and Sarah explained that McKenna was undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Michelle became Sarah’s personal resource guide for helping McKenna manage treatment, offering suggestions for medicine-free side effect management, explaining the role of nutrition, and explaining the latest research on supplements to keep the whole family healthy.
Sarah and Michelle quickly realized two things; one that there were no available resources with all that information compiled for caregivers and their medical teams, and two that everyone should have access to medically sound information.
Chemo & Crayons was born to provide research-based solutions for caring for a family going through pediatric cancer. Sarah as an attorney provides both legal and parenting resources and Michelle provides easy to understand information on diagnosis, medications, chemo, and supplements.
Your medical treatment protocol is your doctor’s path to curing your child.
Chemo & Crayons gives you the tools to handle everything else.
About the Founders
Sarah Speed
Sarah is the mother of McKenna, a leukemia patient.
Parents often ask me, how did you know? I wish they wouldn’t because the answer is scary.
Michelle Niesley
Dr. Michelle Niesley graduated from Bastyr University in 2001 with a doctorate in naturopathic medicine. She completed an integrative oncology residency at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in 2003. In 2005, she earned her Masters of Science degree in Evaluative Clinical Sciences, with an emphasis on biostatistics and epidemiology, from Dartmouth College. She has worked at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Physicians’ Group in Chicago. She was a primary care physician in Anchorage, Alaska. Most recently, Dr. Niesley was the Clinical Director of Clinical Trials at Eastern Regional Medical Center. In 2016, Dr. Niesley moved to Eugene, Oregon, where she owns Pacific Integrative Oncology.
She is the past-president of the Pennsylvania Association of Naturopathic Physicians, and a former member of the Board of Directors for the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Dr. Niesley is the current Executive Director for the Pediatric Health Outcomes Initiative registry.
