No Matter How Small Your Action, Do What You Can

Two bloggers in the Generous December Group Writing Project wrote about pediatric cancer research. Allison at BCS Frenzy wrote about Thon, the university’s dance-a-thon to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital. The hospital is one of the recipients of the Children’s Miracle Network that Frog Parenting wrote about in her post. Obviously, there was common ground! There was just one problem. I don’t know if it was my foreign address or my foreign credit card, but I couldn’t make a donation online. Luckily, there was one more option to make all of us happy. I hope you don’t mind sharing.

Tom’s post about Alex’s Lemonade Stand made me cry. Learning more about the organization made me weep even harder:

• In 2000, a 4 year old cancer patient named Alexandra “Alex” Scott announced a seemingly simple idea -she was holding a lemonade stand to raise money to help “her doctors” find a cure for kids with cancer. The idea was put into action by Alex and her older brother, Patrick, when they set up the first “Alex’s Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer” on their front lawn in July of 2000.
• For the next four years, despite her deteriorating health, Alex held an annual lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research. Following her inspirational example, thousands of lemonade stands and other fundraising events have been held across the country by children, schools, businesses, and organizations, all to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for childhood cancer. On August 1st, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of 8 — she had raised over $1 million for childhood cancer research in her short lifetime.
• Alex’s spirited determination to raise awareness and money for all childhood cancer while she bravely fought her own deadly battle with cancer has inspired thousands of people, from all walks of life to raise money and give to her cause. Alex’s family and supporters are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501c3 charity. As of June 2007, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised over $16 million for childhood cancer research. The result — Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has given millions of dollars for childhood cancer research across the country!

Our families have been deeply affected by cancer. I am a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor, my father died of leukemia at the age of 38 and my mother-in-law died of breast cancer almost two years ago. Serious illness makes it too easy for a sense of powerlessness to overwhelm a family.

And yet, as Frog Parenting’s post tells us, when there is an illness in the family, all of us must do what we can. When patients undergo treatment, they have to be full of hope. When friends and family members care for us when we are sick, we learn to live and love more deeply. When children make guestures like lemonade stands to raise research money, they do so in great faith.

As a result of Tom’s post, and considering the spirit of Allison and Frog Parenting’s posts, I have donated $20 to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (they accepted PayPal).

I’d also like this to stand as a symbol for another Christmas gift to our children, our nieces and our nephew. One day, when one of you is old enough to read this, please know that the message I want you to understand is this: Whoever you become, whatever you do in your lives, when bad things happen, I hope you will always be people who are inspired to try something new, to do what you can to keep the light at the end of the tunnel glowing bright.