It's Baaaack!!

If you've been a reader here before, or have followed me on Twitter for any length of time, you may have seen mention of Mario Marathon before. If you haven't, here's a quick synopsis -

Some guys here in Indiana hijacked the idea of playing video games, streaming it online, and using it as a fundraiser. They picked an awesome charity, Child's Play, to support, and ended up making it a mostly annual event. (They took one year off in there because sometimes adulting is hard, and people move, and have kids, and these guys were forking out literally thousands of dollars making it all work and, frankly, they needed a break.) But then they came back, and my crew is yet again totally stoked about it. The cool part? Audience participation, which equals donations to Child's Play, to the collective tune over the last 10 years of over $560,000!!    

So, what the heck is Child's Play? Good question. Child's Play Charity is a charity that provides games, books, DVDs, toys, etc to children's hospitals around the world. Founded by "gamers" with the idea of "gamers giving back", Child's Play uses funds raised to help kids have fun in a situation that could be... less than fun. (Because hospitals are not so much fun!) 

So, anywhooo... This is taking on some cool new meaning for me as we will officially become patients of an area children's hospital soon, courtesy of our Bump. Both of the children's hospitals in Indianapolis are partner hospitals with Child's Play, so this has really started to come full circle for me. 

Gist of all this is that Mario Marathon is back, and will be streaming live beginning at 11am Eastern on June 23, 2017. We're looking forward to it, and hope you'll join us. If you'd like to support Child's Play, you can make a donation (which goes DIRECTLY to Child's Play, the team gets information for tracking purposes only, but your funds go 100% to the charity) using the button there in the left sidebar. 

Want to read other posts I've shared about MM in the past? Find those here! 

That day that I Louis C. K.ed

I shared this on my Facebook the other day. When I did so, I did while mostly thinking about it from the side of the person who was hurt, not the person who had committed the hurt. 

Yesterday, I had an interesting experience. I was volunteering at an event where I was selling programs. At one point, I had 3 people approach me nearly simultaneously. From directly in front of me, a gentleman approached, and there was a woman right behind him. Mere moments later, as the first man reached into his pocket for money, a second man approached on my right, asking if I had singles to be able to make change for his $2 bills. (Programs are $5.) I did not, as I had not received any singles so far in the day, but the man already pulling out his cash said he had a couple of singles, and would be able to help the man to my right. 

The man in front of me, with the woman on his heels, purchased two programs, handed two one dollar bills to the man on the right, took the two dollar bill, and walked away. The man on my right then handed me one of the singles and two two dollar bills, took his program, and walked away. Then the woman stepped up.

"How much?" she asked. 

"Five dollars." I replied.

"Well, you just lost a sale. I was here before that man, you should have waited on me first. Stop giving preferential treatment to men." 

I had begun to interject with an "I'm sorry" - you see, I had thought she was with the first gentleman. She wasn't interested, however, and walked away. 

I was left a little dumbfounded. I certainly had not intended any slight, and there was only a few seconds between the first man walking away and the second walking away. Less than 10 seconds. I didn't view any of it as preferential treatment, as the first man and the second man held the bulk of conversation between themselves, while I waited to hand them their programs in exchange for the cash. Frankly, I was offended by her reaction. I'm standing alone with a cart full of programs (we usually have at least 2 or 3 of us together, but we were shorthanded, so I was flying solo) and three people come up within mere moments of one another. I'm making eye contact and responding to direct questions, smiling, and trying to be as helpful as I can, and it wasn't good enough for this woman who perceived my (volunteer!) work as insufficient. 

As I thought back about the entire exchange, trying to determine what went wrong, this quote came back to my mind. She was hurt by my actions, or at least offended enough by them that she was going to stand there long enough to make her statement. While I didn't intentionally slight her, she felt slighted, and that was real enough to her. 

Was I responsible for her feelings? No, I don't think so, but that doesn't mean that her feelings were invalid. I hope that she felt better after scolding me, and I hope that just maybe she stopped at one of the other spots where the school kids who we are selling the programs to support were standing and bought one from them. 

On Giving Up and Giving Back

I shared a few days ago about how much I miss this space, but how difficult it has been to find words. My heart just wasn’t in it, I had quit. I wanted to be passionate about it, and I wasn’t anymore.

That’s hard for me to admit, because if there is anything I am not, a quitter is pretty much right there at the top of the list. I’m an adapter. A “roll with the punches” kind of person. Maybe it (whatever “it” is) isn’t going how I planned – no worries. Plan B. Or F. Or LL. I learned a long time ago that planning has value, but flexibility has MORE value. Know what your end goal is, but understand that the path to get there is NOT a straight line, no matter how hard you try.

So this “quitting” thing? It’s really not sat very well with me.

Part of my quit, I think, came from not having that end goal. There is no end goal with this space. It’s the best “roll with it” scenario I could have given myself! It’s MINE! I can do what I want to! I’m not here to make money, I don’t have a bunch of affiliate connections, I’ve got a few ads on here with the idea that maybe I’ll have a little income to cover the cost of my domain, but this isn’t a full time job or anything. I don’t promote the space because, well, it’s mine. It’s public, and sometimes I feel like I’ve written something that folks might want to read. Sometimes I write things that are important to me, and that I want others to know about. In general though? This is my space. It’s about me. It’s a place where I can share things that need more that 140 characters. I can document our lives a little, and one day the kids can look  back and share in some of the memories with me.  But there is no “end goal” – no target for hits per day. No revenue goals. Not even a posts per week goal.

With no goals, no guidelines, I didn’t have the focus to be here. To write here. I was so focused on doing other things, I lost the focus I needed to maintain this piece of me.

I’m not sad about it though. Really, this is just another step along the way, and my focus was in good places. I’ve been working, leading our elementary PTO, participating in charity events, and enjoying my family. We’ve travelled a little, visited some. I lost my grandfather, but celebrated an amazing man with people I love. I barely mentioned it, but a year ago, my 10 year old daughter and I participated in  St. Baldrick’s event and raised over $6,500 for pediatric cancer.

I’ve given. Time and again, I’ve given. I am not in a position to always give monetarily, but let me tell you something really, REALLY important.

It’s not always about the money.

More often than not, those folks you want to help? The group you want to support? They just need a little of your time. Can you work a school carnival booth? FANTASTIC. Your 30 minutes means the kids can play the games. Can you type? That group needs someone to put together some thank you letters to volunteers and donors. Clip Box Tops & such. Photocopy handouts for a teacher. Chaperone a field trip. Work a Book Fair. Read with students who are struggling readers. No kids in school? That’s ok – adopt a local elementary, they’ll likely adopt you right back.

Heart in other places? EMBRACE it. What can you do to help? Is there a family you know who is facing a challenge? Can you watch the kids for a couple hours so mom and dad get a break? Wash and vacuum the car? Come by and flip laundry, maybe sweep and mop the kitchen?

Volunteer at the food bank once a month. Offer to walk the dogs at the animal shelter. Visit the elderly – they may just need a friend.

Give back. Give of yourself. It doesn’t have to cost you a dime, but there is NOTHING that will fulfill you more.

I gave up a little here. I gave back in so many other places. I’m ok with that.

Mario Marathon Time again!!

Our setup for MM7 – the feed is happening on a 32” TV, with chats and twitter on my laptop.

I’ve talked about Mario Marathon a zillion times, once here, again here, made some cookies here, and so on. (Search the blog for Mario Marathon to see the posts I’ve shared over the last 4 years!)

I’m sharing again.

The guys started their event on Friday, so at the time I’m writing this, they have been playing for 53 and a half hours. Unfortunately, last night, they endured a DDoS attack and were unable to properly process donations. As a result, they are behind pace.

Donations, you say? Yep. See, Mario Marathon is a volunteer run charity event. Exactly *ZERO* dollars of the money raised is used to cover the overhead for the organizers. They use their vacation time and personal funds to operate the event. All money raised goes directly to this amazing organization, Child’s Play Charity. Child’s Play uses the funds raised to fulfill wish lists from children’s hospitals around the world – games, books, movies and more. From the Child’s Play Charity site:

Since 2003, we’ve set up and organized Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide. Over the years, you as a community have answered the call and come together to raise millions of dollars.

Child’s Play works in two ways. With the help of hospital staff, we set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, books, and other fun stuff for kids. By clicking on a hospital location on our map, you can view that hospital’s wish list and send a gift.

Child’s Play also receives cash donations throughout the year. With those cash donations, we purchase new consoles, peripherals, games, and more for hospitals and therapy facilities. These donations allow for children to enjoy age-appropriate entertainment, interact with their peers, friends, and family, and can provide vital distraction from an otherwise generally unpleasant experience.

Before the start of the event this year, Mario Marathon was responsible for bringing in over $400,000 to Child’s Play. I’d love to see them cross over the $500,000 mark this year! I continue to be so grateful for healthy children, and fight hard for families who are not as fortunate.

Gamers Giving Back–Mario Marathon 6

Guess what tomorrow is?!

My kids and I are SO excited – Mario Marathon is back for a sixth year raising money for Child’s Play Charity. Child’s Play raises money to provide games, gaming consoles, movies and more for over 70 children’s hospitals around the world, bringing a little joy to kids facing challenging situations.

Mario Marathon is independently run by a group of friends who play the Mario series of games live online and generally do silly things in the name of supporting Child’s Play. Donations go directly to Child’s Play – these guys spend their own money, use their vacation time, give up hours of sleep, sanity and time with their families to support the great work of Child’s Play. The 5 previous events have raised nearly $350,000 (and if you count their Zelda event in 2008, they’ve hit that!), which is amazing.

If you ever hung out with your friends playing Mario in somebody’s basement, you have a pretty good feel for what MM is like. So, you’re officially invited to come hang out with the gang! If you’re so inclined, feel free to donate -you can even do that from right here!

If you’re on other social media, give the gang a shout out. We’ll all be tweeting with the #MarioMarathon tag, and you can tweet @MarioMarathon. You can also find them on Facebook.  Hope to see you there!

Mario Marathon 6 begins Friday, June 21st at 11:00am EST at MarioMaration.com

The “Why”

Friday night, I was as proud as I could possibly be of my boy.

This guy:




Became this guy :

And donated this:












to help a child who has lost their hair to a medical condition. He went ahead and raised money for St. Baldrick’s while he was at it, raising over $3,200.
(I gotta be honest. Right now? Still pretty proud.)
I forget sometimes though that people don’t know why we care this much. Why my son, at 9 years old, decided to grow his hair until it would be long enough to donate. Why he smiled through three years of being mistaken for a girl, and endured endless questions about when he was going to cut that hair.  I hope it helped him that his dad and I were so supportive of what he was doing, that we never hesitated to explain to people that we were incredibly proud of what he was doing and why.
You see, our awareness of the reality of childhood cancers began in 2005, when Jeep was just 4. A little girl in his Sunday School class was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of the adrenal system. Her diagnosis came just days before her fifth birthday. Her name is Morgan, and she was our friend. And so? We talked about it. Morgan was sick, and the doctors were going to have to try to make her better. It was going to make her hair fall out, and there would be lots of Sundays that she wouldn’t be at church with us.
When Jeep started kindergarten a little over a year later, Morgan was a first grader at our school, and we saw her after school every day, when she was well enough to be there. You see, the treatment protocol for neuroblastoma involves several rounds of chemo, surgery to remove as much of the solid tumor as possible, maybe more chemo, some radiation, then a bone marrow aspiration in the hopes that they can get clean marrow. Why do they need clean marrow? Because they then attack the body with enough chemical to kill off the marrow still in the body of an innocent child, and then they return the “clean” marrow to the child and hope it sticks.  Then there are days, weeks, months of isolation. The fear of contracting an illness before the marrow has fully recovered is overwhelming. Your bone marrow is what provides you with your immune system, and for a child who is already weakened by chemo, and who has no immune system, a simple cold that inconveniences you or I? It could be a death sentence.
Morgan’s cancer wouldn’t give up, but neither would her family. Her mom and three younger sisters packed up and they went to New York to be part of a clinical trial, hoping that it would be her cure. Lots of times, her scans would show improvement, things would look better and better, and then? A new spot. Another tumor.
Eventually, after fighting for more than half of her life, on October 2nd of 2010, Morgan passed away.
Early in Morgan’s treatment cycle, we connected with another family whose 2  year old was diagnosed with the same cancer, about 2 weeks after Morgan’s diagnosis. The girls underwent essentially the same treatments, just a week or two apart. Colette is a survivor, but the impact of the treatments on her body are still very much an unknown. Her hearing was severely compromised, and she wears hearing aides now. She’s still to young to know for sure what the impact may be for her in regards to her reproductive system, and the risk of secondary cancers as a direct result of the treatments she received are very high.
In 2011, another friend’s son was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a brain tumor. Again, treatments, surgery, more treatments.
The part that crushes me is that when you see marketing from cancer fundraisers, you frequently will see young kids. What you don’t see, the reality of it is this:

• There are 12 primary forms of pediatric cancers.
• 1 in 330 kids will be diagnosed with some form of cancer before they are 20.
• Most pediatric cancers are treated using lower doses of adult treatments. Research is needed to provide kids with safer treatment options, providing them with a better future.
• Less than 5% of the federal government’s total funding for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancers each year.
• In 2009, the American Cancer Society spent $22 of every $100 raised on fundraising expenses, $6 on management, $14 on research for adult cancers, and spent $0.60 of that same $100 raised on research for childhood cancers. Sixty cents.
• Worldwide, each day another 720 children are diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer, and 250 kids lose their battle.

No one asks for cancer. Some make choices that they know carry a higher risk – smoking, sunbathing, etc, but kids?
Kids have done nothing.
Think about the people you know who have been treated for cancer. Think about how sick they were with chemo. The pain in their bodies. The surgeries. The recovery.
Now, imagine that they’re two.
THAT is why we fight. The reality of it is why I’m passionate about it, and Jeep embraced it early on.
Possibly my most favorite part of Friday night was much later, in the quiet of our own home, as we prepared to say goodnight, as I rubbed his fuzzy shorn head, I asked Jeep if he was glad he’d done it.
“Oh yeah.”
Would you do it again?
“Over and over.”

Home Stretch!

I know I wrote about it a little bit before, but I wanted to throw this out there – we’re just 5 days away from shave day, and have $400 to go to hit our final goal of $3,000!

Incredibly proud of this boy.

www.StBaldricks.org/participants/JeepM

Overwhelmed

I'm feeling overwhelmed - both in good ways and not so good ways.
Not so good? Buried in stuff to finish with work. Even that is a positive, though. I have a job, with ample work to do. I'm behind because my husband had a wonderful opportunity arise, and he was away for training, so I was pulling more weight at home than is typical for this time of year. It's not a bad thing, per se, just has added an additional level of pressure I'm not usually facing.
More overwhelming, and in a fabulously positive way, has been the response to Jeep's fundraising event. If you've been here much at all in the past, you know that I have a heart for pediatric cancer research, support and awareness. This has been something that my oldest has embraced as well, and he's been growing his hair out to donate for the last couple of years. Just over a week ago now, he decided that he was ready to donate it, and was going to do so via a St. Baldrick's fundraiser.
We set a modest fundraising goal of $500, figuring that we should be able to attain that in the 7 weeks we had until the event.
We hit it in less than 24 hours. In less than 3 days, we'd more than doubled it. As I write this, we're at over $2,000 raised for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.
That right there? It's a good sort of overwhelmed. He's so excited about the impact he's making. I'm near tears every time I think about it. He's learning some great life lessons about giving back, too. So good.
Yeah. I'm overwhelmed. It's not a bad thing though. I'll take it.

Such a proud momma…

So…

That boy? The one that just turned twelve?

He has insisted on stealing my heart.

I mentioned in his birthday post that he was growing his hair out to donate it. Today he told me this:

On April 26th, we’re going to join some students at Indiana University and he’s going to take part in a St. Baldrick’s event, shaving his head to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.

This decision was not one he took lightly, and I’m so impressed with him, I can’t begin to describe it to you. His hair has become such a big part of his identity, and let’s face it, it’s tough being a tween/teen. This was something he slept on, thought about, and decided he was willing to do.

I am so proud of him. I can’t begin to explain it.

Anyway – if you would like to donate, we’d love that, but if you can’t donate, would you consider sharing his donation site via your social media  of choice? Each tweet or FB post reaches out to someone else, and if we raise nothing more than awareness for the kids who are fighting cancer, that’s one more step.

Jeep’s St. Baldrick’s Fundraising Page

Thanks!

Mario Marathon 5

If you’ve been a reader of my blog for more than a year or so, you’ve already heard about Mario Marathon. After all, I’ve written about it here, here,  here, over here and even shared these cookies with them. Seriously, if you search for “Mario Marathon” on my blog, you’ll find several references.

Why?

Because I am a child of the 80’s. Because Mario and Luigi are icons for my generation. And? Because this group of guys, their wives, their children, they GIVE so much time, energy and money for the benefit of Child’s Play Charity.

Over the last four years, we’ve been invited into a living room where a group of friends are playing video games, and raising money via our donations.

How much?

Nearly a quarter million dollars to date.

Not bad, huh?

That money all goes DIRECTLY to Child’s Play, who  in turn uses it to provide games, books and joy to children who are inpatient at children’s hospitals all over the world.

If you get a minute this weekend, go check it out. The event kicks off today at 11am EST, and will run for several days. If you’d like to donate, you can do so either there on the site, or via the link in my right sidebar.

Now, let’s go save the Princess!

A little follow-up

I must extend my thanks to the folks over at BlogFrog -

I tweeted to them, crushed, when voting closed early on the Hero Mom Contest. It was, however, the weekend, and they weren’t on hand immediately.

In the meantime, a kind soul stepped up and offered to cover the cost for Colette’s trip.

Tonight, I was contacted by a representative at BlogFrog.

They acknowledged that an error had, in fact, taken place. Time zone issues, changes from the norm, human error. It happens.

They obviously couldn’t give me that last 30 minutes, couldn’t put me into that top five spot.

They did, however, graciously and humbly apologize, and offer up a $100 gift card, which would have been our “guaranteed” prize for being in the top 5.

That card is, of course, going to be sent to Colette & Tammy, for Colette to use as spending money while in Nova Scotia. (That was our “back-up” plan anyway, just in case we didn’t win the whole enchilada.)

So, while that $2,500 would have been great, and having that nice, big donation for the folks over at Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation would have been AWESOME, we’re so blessed. Blessed. Colette’s trip is paid for, she has some spending money, we’ve raised some awareness for pediatric cancer.

Thank you again  to all of you who put up with all my tweets and such begging for your votes, and special thanks to each of you who voted and shared!

Hero Moms, Flannel Sheets & Squeaky Toys

Time for 5 Question Friday with Mama M.!

First, though, my Hero Mom link!

And now, my not quite seven minutes of : Hero Moms, flannel sheets and squeaky toys! 

Complete with ridiculous frozen image. Thanks for that, YouTube.

Hero Mom

She’s no different from any other mom – when our kids are sick, we take care of them. We take them to doctors appointments, dispense medications, cuddle and comfort them.

The difference for her was that her child had cancer. The doctors were oncologists. The medications were injected through a port in her two year old daughter’s chest. Cuddles and comforts were in hospital rooms around IVs. A fever meant an ER trip, not another dose of Tylenol. Holidays were spent in isolation after a stem cell transplant.

That was six years ago now, and today that little girl is going to be nine soon. She’s cancer-free, and full of life. And she wants to share her story.

Allstate & The Blog Frog have an opportunity where we can help.

You don’t have to sign up. No emails, no linking your Facebook or Twitter. You just go to the page & click  the “Vote” button. All we need is to finish in the top five. You can vote once a day, and each and every vote is so valuable.

You see, one of the Hero Moms, one of the top five based on our votes, will win $2,500. My Hero Mom? She’ll get the money they need for her to take her daughter on a mission trip to share her story of faith and her battle with cancer, along with the after-effects of treatment. The remaining money will be donated to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to help fund research grants so that in the future, kids will have better treatment options.

Please, click on this image to go vote for my post for my Hero Mom, Tammy, and her daughter Colette.

I’ll love ya forever!

Cookies for the Crew!

I made a promise to the Mario Marathon guys last year that I would bake them cookies. I’m behind the schedule that I wanted to be on, but I finished the last bit of decoration just as they were kicking off the event!

Now, I’m semi-local, so at this point, I’m considering a personal delivery of said cookies because otherwise, we have a Sunday in there and that’s a big ugly extra day.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the cookies.

 

 

 

StarGet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EpicFail?

 

 

Wanna donate to Child’s Play via the Mario Marathon? Click that Donate button in my sidebar!

Boredom is in Another Castle

In about 24 hours, it will begin.

Mario Marathon 4.

As of the time of this posting, with that nearly 24 hours remaining before they even actually really start, donors like you and me have already contributed within $300 of the total amount raised in their first year.

Be prepared for tweets, short update posts, and lots of laughter and fun as we enjoy a bunch of guys playing Mario games live online at www.MarioMarathon.com to raise money for Child’s Play Charity.

If you want to help out, donate via the cute little Mario Marathon widget in my sidebar! All the donations we make go directly to Child’s Play, none of the funds are touched in any way by the guys at MM. Check out their website for more information!

Twitter = Friends = Giving = ROCKING!

I have learned over the last couple of years that Twitter is awesome. Much like blogging (but not as wordy!) you find some really amazing people out there that you can connect with.

I have my bloggy friends.

I have my tax friends.

I have my sports friends.

And I have my charitable friends.

I mentioned in this post a year or so ago that via twitter I found the Mario Marathon. I won’t rehash too many of the details, the links are all there, but I do want to hit a few highlights, and give you an official heads up: We are now just over 3 weeks away from the start of Mario Marathon 4.

Long story short – a bunch of guys, supported by their wives, bosses, friends and other family members, hang out and play video games – specifically Mario games – for days. Why? To raise money for charity.

Child’s Play Charity purchases games, books, movies, etc for children’s hospitals across the globe. Mario Marathon’s first three years have resulted in nearly $125,000 being raised for the organization, with the growth being nothing less than astronomical. Year One saw $11,767 raised, which was huge. Year Two more than doubled that amount, bringing in $29,082. Year Three resulting in a whopping $82,082 being donated by people all over the world to Child’s Play via Mario Marathon.

Year Four is gearing up to be the biggest and best year yet. As it rolls out, you will see me talking about it in my twitter feed. I’ll be facebooking about it. And it will show up here.

It would make my heart feel warm and fuzzy if, should you decide you’d like to make a contribution, you’d link up and do so through the little widget on the top right of this screen.

Do you have an emergency kit?

I’ve started probably 25 posts.

I hope to finish at least this one.

Forgive me, though, we’ve had a hell of a week.

As I write this, it’s Saturday. This past Monday, we had some serious storms roll through – lots of trees down, power out, that kind of thing.

Then, it was Wednesday.

And we were just getting started.

If you follow me on Twitter, thank you again for bearing with me as I spent all of Wednesday tweeting about our weather conditions. I was our community’s geographical “front line” and information I was sharing was being passed on by several of our local paper’s reporters and others.

And then, of course, there was our tornado. The one that passed between my house and my mom’s house. The one that took the homes of my children’s classmates, and my mother’s students. The one that flipped the semi’s at our Wal*Mart, and ripped off part of the roof of our Sam’s Club.

It’s not anything like Joplin here, or Tuscaloosa. Our tornado was just an EF1, with no fatalities, and only 17 people even injured, none seriously. Believe me, we recognize how lucky we are. But when it happens in your neighborhood? To people you know? It’s still terrifying. And a little humbling.

Thursday I already had an appointment to donate blood. (That didn’t go as well as usual, and they had to pull the needle part way through the donation. I’m sporting a beautiful bruise on my right arm, and can’t try again until July. But I tried. And I know that THAT lady and I don’t mesh well.) After I finished up at the Red Cross, I headed over to Big Lots, where I picked up toiletries. Soap. Tissues. Razors. Toothbrushes and toothpaste. Things I knew that people who had lost so much might need just to feel human again.

I assembled toiletry kits and dropped them off at our AmVets post, which was cooking food and collecting supplies for those displaced and those working on the recovery effort. It wasn’t much, but I hope, in the end, it was helpful for someone.

The damage is amazing – we’ve lost hundreds of old, majestic trees throughout our city. Several homes have been damaged, and a small mobile home community was completely destroyed.

So many things to think about, much of which was already on my mind after the devastation across our country – emergency kits, making sure insurance is current, good contact numbers for people, just being prepared.

People? You don’t know what tomorrow may hold. Floods, fires, natural disasters. Please, take a few minutes and put together a bag that you can grab and go. Check out the thoughts of Cassie, who I’ve just met through twitter and this experience, who HAD a bag and was displaced by our tornado. See what she had, what she wished she had, and how comforting it was for her and her husband. Then?

Pack yours.

Fighting Mad

I visited a blog today of a mother. This mother has a little girl who has battled cancer. She, too, is using this month to promote awareness for pediatric cancer, fighting for treatments and cures for all kids, including her own baby girl.

She shared information that focused on some of the treatments that exist for our children, on the disparity in treatment protocols, funding and more. I invite you to visit Amber’s blog, in particular this post, and read more about it.

I commented on that post, asking her permission to share it with you, and she graciously and enthusiastically agreed. You see, she’d just come home from the funeral service for a sweet five year old little girl. A little girl who wasn’t ready to give up, but who was out of options.

Five.

A sweet baby who lost  her fight at an age that all of my children have seen come and go. An innocent child who fought for her life for better than two of her five years. Nearly half of her short life was spent battling a monster that ravaged her body.

Can I tell you that right now, I’m weeping, and I want to punch something. Because it makes me MAD. Mad that Kate, that little girl, left a mother and daddy, and 4 siblings, all wondering why. Mad that my little friend Colette, who began her battle with neuroblastoma before she was three is clear of her cancer, but requires hearing aids because the treatments damaged her hearing. Mad that there are not better answers, better treatments, better options. I’m ready to fight. Are you?

Fighting for our kids,

No Money? No Problem!

I’ve talked over the last week about pediatric cancer. I’ve linked to a couple of my favorite places to give, but that’s monetary giving.

Folks, I know, it’s hard to give money.

Times are tough.

We’re living paycheck to paycheck, or even worse, unemployment check to unemployment check.

How do we give back now?

Give Blood.

Children who are fighting cancer need blood products – platelets, plasma, whole blood, you name it, it’s VITAL in their fight.

Donating is free. It’s easy. And one pint of your blood could help save the lives of up to three people.

Find your local donation site, or a blood drive near you, by visiting www.RedCrossBlood.org and give the gift of life, without spending a dime.

September

I have always loved September. The temperatures are cooling, the leaves begin to change, my birthday rolls around, and now my younger son’s as well. Let’s not forget that football season kicks off in earnest!

But there is more now to September than I ever imagined.

Now, there are the gold ribbons.

There is awareness.

There is fighting – for better treatments, more research.

For a cure.

You are familiar with the pink ribbon.

You see it, and you know.

Do you KNOW the gold ribbon?

Gold ribbons are for Childhood Cancer Awareness.

This month, September? This month is for the kids.

I’m blessed with healthy children. I thank God for that every day. Over the last five years, I’ve “met” dozens of families fighting for the lives of their children. I’ve wept with those who have lost their sons or daughters to the monster that is cancer. I’ve celebrated, screaming with joy, at clear scans. I’ve prayed for little ones as they’ve suffered through high-dose chemo, and been grateful that they’ve only suffered minor hearing loss.

I am just one voice. One mother. One person in the vast sea that is the internet. But, the reality is, that’s how it begins. One voice speaks. A few listen, and they choose to speak, too. And those who hear, speak. Before long, the one small voice has become a roar, and awareness is born.

I want to be part of the roar. This is my statement to you:

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and I want YOU to be aware of it! The Gold Ribbon is the Childhood Cancer Awareness Ribbon. Please help make it as recognizable as the pink ribbon. And fight for a cure.

A few of my favorite Childhood Cancer charities: