I have 4 personal pediatric honorees and working on a couple more! After thinking about this for over a year, I have decided... I'm having my head shaved to stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer, but more importantly, to raise money to find cures. Please support me with a donation to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. This volunteer-driven charity funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U. S. government. Your gift will give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers. So when I ask for your support, I'm really asking you to support these kids.
After giving it more and more thought I would like to share a more personal side of the story with you all.
In the beginning of 1990, I received one of the most devastating phone calls from my parents saying my (just) 19-year-old cousin, *Christopher Kingsepp, was diagnosed with leukemia. On February 16, 1990, he passed away and it was one of the hardest times of my life. I cried every day for over a year and although time has eased the pain, I think of him everyday and he will be the first person I honor on March 18.
In 2008, I would encounter the 2nd hardest time of my life...the death of my son, *Sean Libby Van Ness. He was born with a genetic immune deficiency, Chronic Granulomatous Disease. A relatively healthy boy, he was admitted to Strong Memorial in February 2008 with ulcerative colitis and in April, after many complications and infections, Sean passed away. While he didn't have cancer, Sean was taking a medication that is given as a cancer/chemo treatment and had brain (biopsy) surgery on March 18, 2008. He will by my 2nd honoree.
To make the event more personal, I contacted several nurses from Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong in Rochester, to see if they could ask any of the patients or their families if I could honor them. In the meantime, I began my own search through the St. Baldrick's site and found two more children.
*Brendan Caselli, an angel, was from my home town, West Islip, New York.
*Ashley Brown, in remission, is from Corning, NY, close to my current home and treated at Golisano Children's Hospital.
As the event gets closer, I am nervous, excited, emotional...but am so thankful that I have such strong supporters in so many ways. I am thankful to have the emotional support most of all. The financial aspect helps the kids which is the goal of this event. I will also be bringing handmade caps and other handmade items to Strong in April and June, all generously donated by various people, mostly from patients at Achilles Foot Center, Athens, PA where I work.
Ahead of time, Thank you! Any and all donations are so appreciated by me and most of all for the kids that your are helping to make a difference in their lives! Click "Make a donation" to give online, or donate by phone or mail.
