Brandon Stanton, who started Humans of New York, is sharing stories from the Pediatrics Department at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the hopes of raising $1,000,000 to help fight pediatric cancer.

"Obviously these are not going to be easy stories to read," Stanton wrote on Facebook. "These are war stories. The treatment of cancer can be nearly as violent as the condition itself, and even the doctors will frame their efforts in terms of warfare.

"But the fight against pediatric cancer is uniquely tragic because the battlefield is the body of a child. So these are definitely war stories. But as with every war, there are heroes."

Sharing Dr. La Quaglia's story on Facebook yesterday, the doctor says the "absolute best thing in the world that can happen to me is telling a parent that their child's tumour is benign. I live for those moments."

But the worst thing is something no parent should have to hear; "That I've lost their kid."

"It's only happened to me five times in thirty years," he said. "And I've wanted to kill myself every single time. Those parents trusted me with their child. It's a sacred trust and the ultimate responsibility is always mine.

"I lose sleep for days. I second-guess every decision I made. And every time I lose a child, I tell the parents: 'I'd rather be dead than her.' And I mean it. But I go to church every single day. And I think that I'm going to see those kids in a better place. And I'm going to tell them that I'm sorry. And hopefully they'll say, 'Forget it. Come on in.'"

Facebook commenters were quick to share their own stories of how Dr. La Quaglia saved their life, or the life of their child. 

"Yes but then there's kids like me that you saved 18 years ago. There are so many more of us," one commenter wrote.

Another said: "When Dr La Quaglia was taking my son in for surgery his words were ones we will never forget; 'Behind these doors your son is now my son.' Those words put an ease over us. And hours later when surgery was complete he told us 'start saving for college.'"

"My most vivid memory of him is the night of my daughter's first surgery. Dr. LaQuaglia got the tumour out but she clotted in a way he had never seen before… He looked at me as I was trying to maintain my composure and welled up with genuine tears and said he wished it was him and he'd try everything to save her. And he did," another shared. 

"He wanted to even stay by her bedside with her but the rest of the team wouldn't let him. His tears will forever be etched into my memory, he truly got our pain."

Dr. Richard O'Reilly has been the Chairman of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre for 30 years; this year, he is retiring.

According to the fundraising page set up for the hospital by Humans of New York, "Dr. O'Reilly has never been able to distance himself from the outcome. He thinks we've failed if we don't save every single kid."

"So let's help him save every single kid."

The page has raised over $750,000 so far, to make a donation click here.

Essential Kids via smh.com.au