Five years ago, when Teagan Stedman was only 8 years old, he found out that his friend Emma's 13-year-old brother, Alex, had been diagnosed with cancer. 

Teagan immediately sprang into action and founded Shred Kids' Cancer, an organization that has raised over $100,000 for pediatric cancer causes. 

"Both my friend who was battling cancer and I were into music, and I knew other kids who wanted to help, so I came up with a plan to put on a concert – a battle of the kid bands to battle kids’ cancer. In this case, we actually wanted to “shred kids’ cancer”.  Lots of rehearsals and organizing happened which was a bit overwhelming for an 8 year old but a few months later this concert, the Shredfest, was born. It was a great way for my friend who was battling cancer to be able to see that we were all here for him. He even was well enough to come on stage and perform a song.  By using a shared passion of music kids were able to create a strong feeling of solidarity which lifted my friend’s spirits and also helped generate some much needed funds that went toward pediatric cancer research."

Teagan doesn't just fight to raise money for these kids. He wants to build a community of young people around these young cancer patients. He wants them to feel like they're part of something special. He wants them to know that other kids are out there every day fighting for them. He is the Chairman of the Board, and many of the other board members are kids, including some of the kids who've beat cancer that his organization has helped.