The little boy, who was Mary Hazel’s next door neighbor last July at the Children’s Cancer Center was having a rough go of it that week. His mom and I spent several late nights in the lounge sharing, commiserating, wishing, and crying. His name is Will and he is the same age as the possums. He was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Well, to be exact, it is Average Risk (AR) B-Precursor (Pre-B) Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). That’s too many acronyms for such a little boy. He is a little over one year into his three-year treatment. He has his “bucket days” when he doesn’t react well to his very potent medicine, but he has a lot of good days, too. His father affectionately refers to him as SuperDude and keeps all of Will’s adoring fans up to date through his CaringBridge site. From what I read, Will’s family is devoted to him and takes great comfort in their faith. I really want this little boy to be OK. I really need him to be OK. I feel a special connection to him even though I do not know him very well. Time and circumstances play a major role in what turns out to matter in this life. I think about little Will quite often. Yesterday, I got a notification that his CaringBridge site has been updated. When I clicked the link, I read that Will’s dad is taking part in a local fundraising walk, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. This organization is a national non-profit foundation whose mission is to fund and support children’s cancer research and provide information and resources to all those affected by children’s cancer. Well, that sounds good. When I browsed the site, two statistics jumped out at me:
- Charitable giving is especially important now, as federal funding for children’s cancer research has been flat for the last decade and was reduced by five percent in 2011.
- In the last 40 years, the overall survival rate for children’s cancer has increased from 10% to 78%. At CureSearch, our goal is 100%.
That would make me super happy if all children diagnosed with cancer could be cured. So, in part, to make myself feel super happy, I donated to Will’s page.
The walk takes place June 2 at Furman University in Greenville, SC. If you are interested in walking, check out the 2012 Upstate CureSearch Walk page. I you would like to help little Will reach his goal, please consider donating to his team.
I wish that fewer of my acts of kindness had to do with pediatric cancer. I really do.
Two Possums and a Bug 