A Birthday Message from Ali
Today, my brother should be turning 24. What would he look like? How would he celebrate? Would he have a girlfriend? Maybe he'd be married, like some of his friends now are.
Today, my brother should be turning 24, but we can no longer celebrate with him. I can't wrap my head around the fact that 10 of his birthdays have come and gone without him.
Childhood cancer changed birthdays for us, 9 years ago. Sure, we can celebrate the 14 years we had with Andrew, but I'm selfish.
I'm selfish because I want my brother to be here with me. I want to celebrate birthdays with Andrew. I want to have a catch with my brother. I want to be able to text or call him about the best and worst parts of my day.
Despite my selfishness, I don't want him to be hurting and childhood cancer was hurting him. I'm hurting now, but it does help to know that he's not. I just want my old life back - selfishly unaware of the reality and prevalence of childhood cancer, selfishly taking time with loved ones for granted because I didn't know the unbearable pain of missing them.
Today, I'm hurting, but I'm also grateful for 14 years. I had 14 solid years with my best friend. We had catches, told secrets, passed notes so our parents didn't know we were still awake, had inside jokes, and made some really great memories. Today, I'm clinging to those memories to get me through the day. There have been and will be tears, but there have been and will be laughs too.
Please join us in celebrating my brother's life. 24 years ago today, the namesake and inspiration behind The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation was born. I held my best friend for the first time. 14 years later, I held him for the last time, as he died in my arms after fighting so hard for 167 days.
We're running a special #24ForACure campaign to celebrate Andrew. Please consider donating $24 to The B+ Foundation (at www.BePosFdn.org/Donate) to honor Andrew's life and legacy. Your donation will fund research, so that one day, no sister has to know the pain of missing their brother.
