numbers, lemonade and haircuts......

[AJs Dad]

Numbers
That's 46 kids in the picture. All happy, healthy, athletic, having fun, goofing around, innocent. That's the number of kids who will be diagnosed with cancer today.

And tomorrow. And the day after. All through next week. All month. All year. Ad infinitum. Until we stop it.

Look again, totally randomly, 7, black, white, orange, yellow, brown, green, 2 days old, 20 years old, it don’t matter. That’s the number of kids who will die from cancer today.

And tomorrow. And the day after. All through next week. All month. All year. Ad infinitum. Until we stop it.

When you read the stats, when you see the numbers, NEVER EVER forget that those numbers have NAMES...faces full of love, Moms & Dads, brothers & sisters, friends & families, hopes & and dreams.......futures.


Lemonade & Haircuts
Isn't it a shame that the richest nation, with the highest standard of living, the greatest world power, the country that went to the moon, has to rely on kids selling lemonade while their parents get their heads shaved bald to try to stop the #1 killer of our children?

While it sounds like a bad comedy, I put forth that it is a tragedy.

It’s up to our kids to sell enough lemonade? Up to us to get our heads shaved bald? To get petitions signed?

They even agree! And write about it! Picking Up the Pace - Igniting progress in the cure of children wit...

To paraphrase - “we must enlist friends and families of children with cancer to secure funding for research” ! What?

What are the last 2 national tragedies you remember? The Challenger and 9-11? Did they call the astronaut's families and ask them to assist on determining the failure temperature of the O-rings? Did they tell the victim’s friends, we need you to come in and help us figure this war thing out?

I know how they felt. I will never forget the days/months in the hospital. The feelings of powerlessness, out-of-controlness. Not that I didn’t advocate, research, learn, fight for, scream. But inside, sometimes it seemed my primary function every day was to not only do the stuff to support Age, but, at the time, to me, importantly, NOT step on the medium green colored tiles on my trips back and forth to the break room for ice, snacks, coffee, whatever. THAT to me was the only thing that I could truly control about all the things going on. And it was my goal to NEVER EVER step on one, and then everything would be OK. Sounds ridiculous now doesn’t it? But I bet the 9th floor nurses knew what I was doing after awhile, had seen someone like me before, weaving back and forth as I walked down the hall, looking down balancing plates and spilling 2 cups of coffee. When you are fighting the war as a parent, it is hard to do much more that truly affects the reality, your journey, or the outcome. So you do what you do.

So let’s keep doing what we’re doing, apparently they need us to. It makes more sense than not stepping on medium green colored tiles. I guess.

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

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AJs Dad We love you

FIGHT! HARD! NOW! Sign The Petition Help the Kids!