Mon. June 27th
“…But it’s a dry heat.”
Yeah, right. 🙂
Ali and I were invited to speak at her sorority’s convention in Phoenix, AZ last week. As the plane was landing, the pilot informed us that the current temperature was 105 degrees, going up to 113. It did hit 113 that day! Wow! Dry or not, 113 degrees is amazingly hot. But, the air conditioning worked, so I can’t complain.
We were very privileged to address 625 of Ali’s sorority sisters from 138 chapters in the U.S. and Canada. The objectives of our visit were to increase awareness to the fight against childhood cancer and secure commitments from some of the chapters to bring The B+ Foundation to their campus. I am pleased to say that about a dozen chapters are very interested in doing events on their campuses to raise awareness and money for our fight. I was so proud of Ali for getting up in front of that large crowd and so bravely talking about her best friend, Andrew. Thank you, Alpha Delta Pi, for inviting us to your convention.
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Featured Family of the Week
Today, we reviewed 48 applications – an all-time high. All of the families’ stories tear at my heart, but this next one even more so. This young man, like Andrew, is 14 years old and preparing to leave this world. He is now homebound and requires two people to move him. As a result of the steroids, he is very swollen and has developed multiple skin tears. Last week, he had a Grand Mal seizure and is now on pain, anxiety, and anti-seizure medicine 24 hrs/day. He will spend his final days at home. Dad is a single parent who is unable to work since he’s caring for his child non-stop. He has requested financial assistance for two things — the mortgage, which he has fallen behind on — and funeral expenses, which he is already planning.
I know that we are helping this Dad out, but it’s so hard to accept that our assistance is going to funeral expenses. I wish the check was going to cover an experimental medicine that insurance won’t cover that may save this young man’s life. Too many precious children are dying…and they didn’t do ANYTHING to deserve this horrible fate. Until we make more progress on the proactive (research) front, we will be here for the families…even if it means helping them pay for the funeral. Boy, I wish we could do more!
May God bless this poor young man and his Dad.
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Live Like Andrew — take stock of your life and your blessings and keep your life in perspective.
B+
Ali & Andrew’s Dad