Childhood Cancer, and a Little Friendly Competition

Hello again! We made it back home, and are back into our normal routine. I haven't had any pain or problems since Monday, so I am very thankful for all of your prayers and thoughts!

Today's post will be dedicated to a very special cause that is near and dear to my heart. I meant to write about this at the beginning of the month, but life got in the way of those lofty ambitions. As I've talked about before, I worked during my nursing days with children who had brain tumors and continue to seek opportunities to help families of children with childhood cancer. Cline and I are looking forward to helping at the Lighthouse Family Retreat next month, which is a beach-side ministry for families who have a child with cancer. (We worked it out for Christa to come with us, too, so we're extra excited about it now!!! Thanks Mom!) At any rate, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, so, like last year, I want to raise some awareness in my little corner of the internet.

Today, I want to tell you about some great things that have been done this year and are continuing to be done by various charities and companies in the ongoing battle. If you'd like to read some personal stories of families who have been affected by childhood cancer, then click on a few of the links to the right: Victoria's page, Pray for Joseph, Midgets and Moonpies, just to name a few. I'll also add links very soon to some of my favorite childhood cancer charities as a special section, in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, so feel free to check those out. I'll leave them up for a while, so if you find yourself looking for good tax write-offs toward the end of the year, feel free to come back and reference those sites for some ideas!

Anyway, today, I don't want to ask for money or donations or anything. I just want to tell you about some great things that have been done this year that we are really excited about! (Although, I will throw in a plug for Chili's "Donate all Profits to St. Jude Day" coming up next week a little further down :) First of all, the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act was passed into law this year!! This was a bill in the making for years that succeeded this time, largely because average people like you and me took 5 minutes to e-mail or call their representatives in support. This bipartisan bill dedicates millions of dollars over the next several years specifically focusing on research for better treatments and better cures for childhood cancer. This is a great victory for families who have and will face this terrible experience, because until recently, most of the federal funding for cancer research has been geared towards adult cancers, which are very different from the cancers that strike children. There were a couple of good reasons why this was the case. 1.) No one wants to experiment on kids. Seems logical enough. 2.) Childhood cancer is rare, so research was focused on diseases that affected more people. Although this is a good "problem" to have, it doesn't give the kids that do get cancer a fighting chance. You can try to imagine how devastating it would be to be one of those families watching a child suffer through terrible treatment that might not even work, knowing that there have to be better medicines out there somewhere. So, our family is celebrating this great legislative accomplishment with the families who have fought this battle firsthand. We are hoping that it will be a turning point that will lead to childhood cancer being a temporary, curable illness in future years. My understanding is that organizations like St. Jude and Curesearch are going to get a large portion of these funds. I absolutely love both of these charities, and can't think of a better place for my tax dollars to go. Many of the treatments that ARE working for kids are in place because of the research of these two organizations and others like them.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about St. Jude, so that they'll be more than just junk mail the next time you get some cute little address labels from them. Most people are familiar with the concept - they treat children with cancer. What fewer people know is all of the medical care given to the children there is fully paid for by donations - not the patients. Traveling expenses are also paid for by the hospital/donations. And so is lodging. And food. For the family as well. As Cline and I drove with my mom and Christa to Augusta late Sunday night after Cline got off work at around 10 p.m., I felt a sense of dejavu, since I'd done a similar thing three years ago around this time of year. (You read my mind, M.A.) I got a Wednesday evening phone call from a dear patient's mom saying that they were headed to Memphis and wanted me to go with them if I could. After a couple of hours of shock and working out logistics with Cline, I threw some things in a bag and started driving. A scared mom, a sick little girl, Victoria, a great family friend of theirs, and I drove through the night to get Victoria to her appointment the next morning. We squeezed in about 2 hours of sleep, and reported first thing the next morning. It was a surreal 5 days.
What I learned during those 5 days is that St. Jude is a beacon of hope when other mainline treatments have failed. They are very good at what they do. But their primary purpose is research. Victoria got accepted as a patient there because she met certain criteria for a research study that had very little chance of helping her. Rather, she was helping them in the last days of her life gather information that might cure other children later on. I am still brokenhearted that there wasn't a treatment to cure her. But I truly believe that with more research and God's help, there will be a day when childhood cancer is just a minor inconvenience. I would be thrilled to see that day in my lifetime.

Here comes the friendly competition part. As I mentioned in my post last week, Chili's restaurant has taken an active role in supporting St. Jude. They do several fundraisers throughout the month of September that are fun for kids. People can participate just by eating there and letting their kids color a picture. This year, they are donating all of their profits to St. Jude on Monday, Sept. 29. Our family will be there at 6 p.m., wearing our "Victory for Victoria" t-shirts, to enjoy dinner, and would love for anyone interested to join us. Local friends and family, e-mail me by Sunday evening if you'd like to come, and I'll get there in time to get a big enough table. We've done this the past several years, and it is a very fun and cheap way to help make a difference. I learned earlier this month, that the donations from Chili's recently built a new brain tumor research center for St. Jude. I thought that was a neat coincidence; I hadn't known that brain tumors were an area they were focusing on! (Victoria's cancer was a brain tumor, and I have a cousin who successfully battled one several years ago, so research in this area is a very special interest to our family.) If you don't live near us, please drive up for the day - we'd love to see you :) Seriously, though, if that's not feasible, then go to your local Chili's on Monday, and please let me know about your charitable selves in the comment section!!! And, let's get a little contest going. Whoever can get the most people to eat at Chili's on Monday will receive a prize and a special post dedicated to your greatness! Keep me updated on your progress of recruiting eaters from now until Monday (you have all weekend, and nothing better to do, right??), and be creative. For example, if you personally eat at Chili's for lunch AND dinner, then that will count twice. If you call your grandmother in California and talk her into eating there, then she counts, too! The possibilities are endless, and it will be a good prize, although I need a day or two to assess what my budget can do right now!
Good luck, and say an extra prayer for the kids battling cancer and their families tonight!