May 10 10

I hope everyone had a good Mother’s Day.  My special thoughts and prayers go out to all of the mothers who have lost a child.

Let me tell you a little bit about our Mother’s Day.  Chris received the most beautiful assortment of different colored roses at our doorstep.  I assumed it must be from her boyfriend :) , because I’m afraid to say that I didn’t send her flowers.  I guess you could say it was.  The card simply said “Love, Andrew”.  It was a really thoughtful gift from a really special girl sending flowers on behalf of her brother!  And, to top it off, Ali made a homemade apple pie for Chris as her gift.  Man, the two of them are making me look bad!!!  :)  So, while it is always sad not having Andrew here in person, I hope we made it bearable for Chris this weekend.

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We are very touched that Andrew’s Salesianum classmates on the Rugby Team are hosting a rugby tournament this Sunday to benefit The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.  I don’t claim to know a lot about rugby, but I know it’s a rough sport…but these guys have big hearts.  If you’re local, I hope you’ll come out and support these high school rugby players and our Foundation this Sun. starting at 10am at Salesianum.

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I have an update to a story of a family that YOU helped through YOUR Foundation.  As background, back in December, a family in Mississippi was facing eviction for being just 1 month behind on their rent.  The single Mom was caring for her child, who was critically ill with cancer, and the the landlord was going to evict them on Dec. 26th — yes, the day after Christmas.  That is COLD!  YOUR Foundation stepped in and made the rent payment and it allowed the family to stay in the apartment.  In speaking with the social worker last week, she said that because of our help, the family has been able to keep the apartment.  Unfortunately, though, 14 yr old Brittany passed away about 4 weeks ago from neuroblastoma.  It doesn’t feel like we did enough, but the social worker told me how appreciative the Mom was that they were able to stay in their home for the final months of this girl’s life.  We just have to do more to stop these cancers in the first place.

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To me, one of the great things about the work of our Foundation is that we ask a lot of people to do just a little.  Together, we can accomplish SO much and no one has to do or give a lot.

One of the things that was so successful for our fundraising for our recent dance marathon (UDance) at the University of Delaware was our ’spread the word’ email campaign.  If you’re participating in our “4th Annual B+ Fighting Childhood Cancer 5k Run/Walk”, PLEASE take just 90 seconds and copy the note below and send it to at least 10 people in your address book.  And, please ask them to send it on to 10 people as well.  Can you please give 90 seconds to helping us eradicate childhood cancer?

If you’re not currently registered, please create a team, join a team, or sponsor an existing team (i.e. Andrew’s Angels).  It doesn’t matter where you live…we help families all around the country and we need your help.

I’m sorry for asking for money…it’s my least favorite part of my work with the Foundation.  But, when our government is only dedicating 3% of National Cancer Institute cancer research funding to all 12 major kinds of childhood cancer COMBINED, we need to step up and take it upon ourselves to make a difference.

Thank you very much.

Please join me in helping to fight childhood cancer with The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation 5K Walk/Run.

Join us by clicking on this link: http://www.elleevance.com/BPos2010/EventLandingPage.aspx

Then click on “Join a Team”

Select our team called _________________________

Run or Walk with me as a “Participant,” or “Support” our team through an online donation toward our Team Goal.

Thank you for helping The B+ Foundation fight pediatric cancer!

Through The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation “Family Assistance Program” we have helped support families in 35 states across the country.   The economy has dramatically increased the call for assistance.  So please join us June 17th as we run, walk, and cheer for those who need our help.

In addition to providing emotional and financial support to so many families with critically ill children, The B+ Foundation recently awarded a $250,000 grant for ground-breaking childhood cancer research.

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Thank you for your support.

Live Like Andrew – make a difference!

B+

Ali’s & Andrew’s Dad

www.BePositive.org