In support of September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Hadley Park (Courtney Dashe and Morgan Leigh Garner) is sharing their video for “Things I’ve Learned,” a song they co-wrote with Morgan’s then 9 year-old nephew, Kaleb. After being diagnosed with cancer for the second time in his young life, Kaleb allowed his mother to transcribe his feelings on a CaringBridge post. Then, while stopping over at Courtney’s to write the following day, Morgan showed her the blog post, leaving both of them in tears. They knew at that moment that Kaleb’s words needed to be put into a song with the sole purpose of trying to make him smile.
Hadley Park recorded “Things I’ve Learned,” put it up on iTunes and drove to Virginia from Nashville to surprise Kaleb at his school with a performance to let him know know that, like his aunt and grandfather (Hall-of-Fame Songwriter, Richard Leigh), he too was now a songwriter. That evening, the duo hosted a benefit concert to raise funds for Kaleb’s medical bills. A videographer happened to be in the crowd and approached them with tears in his eyes. He asked Morgan and Courtney if they would come back to Virginia and allow him to shoot a music video to tell Kaleb’s story and help raise awareness for Childhood Cancer. Of course they did, and the video has now been shared by thousands of people, including Martina McBride, Rodney Atkins, and major organizations like CureSearch for Children’s Cancer and CaringBridge.
Please watch and share the heartfelt video below:
“Things I’ve Learned” is currently being played nationwide on The Country Network, and will also be in an upcoming episode of Netflix’s The Ranch, starring Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliott.
Only 4% of the national budget for cancer research currently goes to childhood cancer research specifically, so Hadley Park has proudly partnered with CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, a nationwide children’s cancer research organization. For more information or to donate, visit here.
For more information on Hadley Park, visit their website: www.wearehadleypark.com