Dear Friend,
Every year after I decide to once again shave my head to raise money for pediatric cancer research, I look for the right words to again ask for your financial support.
This is a time of exciting progress in the world of children’s cancer research for which St. Baldrick's continues to be the leading private funder, investing $232 million in research grants since 2005 – the first year I shaved and the first year many of you generously donated! We've helped raise nearly $2 million of those research dollars.
Those funds have enabled St. Baldrick's to accelerate languishing clinical trials, train the next generation of researchers (avoiding a forecasted shortage in pediatric oncologists), and support the dawn of immunotherapy<https://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/what-is-immunotherapy-an-inside-look-at-a-new-way-to-cure-childhood-cancer> - a new weapon in the fight against cancer. At the same time, St. Baldrick’s has succeeded in gaining passage of important legislation, realizing several new drugs and treatments for kids<https://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/big-news-fda-approves-groundbreaking-car-t-cell-therapy-for-kids-with-leukemia>, and helping to improve survival and quality of life for pediatric cancer patients.
Yet even with these major advancements, more kids die of childhood cancer than any other disease in the U.S. As I considered this message on Sunday, I read the following thread on twitter from a South African doctor. It begins with these jarring words: "For an assignment, I asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning. Kids can be so wise, y'know." His patients were kids ranging from 4 to 9 years old. The full thread appears below along with an article on this viral post which includes this comment: "MANY mentioned their parents, often expressing worry or concern: 'Hope mum will be ok. She seems sad.' 'Dad mustn't worry. He'll see me again soon.' 'God will take care of my mum and dad when I'm gone.'"
Contrast these heartbreaking statements with the 14 years of wonderful memories Briget and I have with our family since our son Joey was diagnosed and successfully treated for osteosarcoma. He's now a 21-year-old junior at Indiana University making plans for internships, dances, tests, spring breaks, weekends at the lake and someday, we hope, a family of his own.
But other families – and we know many of them - are denied this happy, normal family experience and have instead dealt with the obscenity of "terminal pediatric palliative care."
So that's why I am again asking for your generous support on my soon-to-be-bald head. You can give directly here https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/chuck<https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/chuck or by phone (888-899-BALD). Credit cards are the easiest way to give, or you can send or bring a check payable to "St. Baldrick's Foundation."
If you're in Indianapolis on Friday, March 23rd, please join us at the Northside Knights of Columbus. It's a fun and memorable party, with a buffet dinner beginning at 6:00 p.m. It may be the only event you'll attend this year where you can mingle with 100 brave baldies, leading pediatric oncologists, and survivors of pediatric cancer.
On behalf of our family and all those families touched by pediatric cancer, thank you.
Chuck
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pediatrician-dying-kids-meaning-of-life_us_5a74d43ae4b0905433b41616
