As an emotionally aware human I’m able to empathize with those who lie wrapped between blankets of a delicate reality; cradling each heartache and tenderness as if it were my own. As a new mommy to an extraordinarily vibrant seven year old, I’m granted the indescribable emotion of endless love and the true warmth it resides within me. From a bruised knee to a small, yet meaningful heartbreak, it’s difficult – as it is for most parents – to watch my baby suffer even in the slightest form. For an individual who fearlessly follows kindness, sensitivity, and compassion, I hurt so deeply for those mothers and fathers who are unable to cater and support those small, daily pains and disappointments their child carries, and instead have to put their own grief aside to comfort the hardship of adolescent cancer. Even more, I feel heaviness sink deeper into my chest when I think of those sweet, innocent children endure the physical and mental pain that cancer inevitably brings – a type of misery no human should ever have to bear, let alone a child. As I tearfully watch my sweet son belly laugh as he gleefully wrestles with his father, I vow to myself that I will show my precious boy every ounce of compassion I own. I will teach him to understand heartache and how to live through it with love. I will demonstrate how to be there for others and how to offer up one's heart to those who have great sorrow in order to provide hope through all they may be suffering through (or in this case fighting for their life). I would/will give every strand of hair on my head, just knowing that cancer research may take a microscopic step toward finding a cure for kids with cancer.