Help Me End Childhood Cancer
As we get closer to the day I run 13.1 miles for the children of St. Jude, they are getting closer to finding the cure for childhood cancer.
Unfortunately, they aren't there yet. According to ChildCancer.org, "one in every 330 children in the United States develops cancer before the age of nineteen." And that number is increasing.
Entertainer Danny Thomas once said, "No child should die in the dawn of life." When he opened St. Jude's doors in 1962, his intentions were to treat children from all over the US and the world, at no cost to the family.
When the hospital opened, the survival rate for a child suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) was 4%. Now to lay that out where we can all understand it, in 1962 if 100 children walked through the doors of this hospital, only 4 would come out alive and cancer free. Now in 2013, if 100 kids walked through the doors, 94 would come out alive and cancer free!
My family and I are Partner's In Hope and have been for the last six years. We give to St. Jude monthly and do our part to pay the 1.8 million dollar a day operating cost. We donate so that when families have to uproot their lives to go to Memphis for their sick child, they won't have to worry about groceries, gas or hotel bills. We donate so that this mother and father never has to ask, "How much will the Chemo cost?"
I run for these same reasons. I run with thousands of others to raise money for St. Jude. So when I hear the whistle start on December 7, 2013, I'll overcome fear and the bitter cold wind to run 13.1 miles to do my part for St. Jude and the smiling faces who can't run beside me.
I've even issued a challenge this year; I will shave my head if I can raise $2,500.00. It seems like a hefty goal to reach but if each one of you reading this post could donate just $5, then tell one friend to donate as well, by the end of today, we could double that.
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