Thurs. Apr. 19th
Featured B+ Family
Why do we ask for your help? For little girls like Kendall.
Kendall is a 3 yr old girl that lives on a military base. Her Dad has served us bravely and honorably with two tours of duty in Iraq. This little girl has shown her bravery over the past 14 months as she has battled leukemia. Like most families, it was very difficult for Kendall’s parents to ask for help. I understand and admire that, but to the families of kids battling cancer who need a little help, please reach out to us. That’s one of the reasons why we’re here. It is OUR honor to be able to help Kendall and her family; especially considering her parents’ service to our country. I so wish that we could pull the leukemia out of her blood. But, until we have the ability to do that, we will help lighten their load with a bit of financial assistance. And, without fail, every thank-you note that we receive carries a similar message. The families of course thank us for the money, but they also tell us that what we’ve given them is something so much more than money — we’ve given them HOPE! You have shown them that someone ‘out there’ cares about them. Battling cancer can feel very lonely and overwhelming…you have no idea how much you are doing for these families.
Out of respect for the family, I don’t want to go into too many specific details, but I would like to share one thing with you. As if battling childhood cancer isn’t enough, Kendall had to suffer through a potentially lethal dosage of medicine. Kendall received, in one day’s treatment, the amount of that medicine that she should have received IN TOTAL over the course of a few years’ worth of treatments. It was described as ‘burning her from the inside out’! It is a miracle that she did not die and it’s too soon to tell what long-term affects this problem will create. Clearly, the staff in that situation made terrible mistakes. My point in sharing this story is not to get into that. What you should know, though, is that the treatment of a child with cancer is extremely complicated. And, the more complex, the more likely that mistakes can happen. My son, Andrew, was on (literally) 2-3 DOZEN medications each day. Unless you’ve been in the battle, fighting childhood cancer is so much more complex, difficult, and scarier than you could ever imagine.
On behalf of Kendall and all of our B+ Hero Families, thank you for helping out. Thank you for caring.
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B+ Running Team – The Hamptons Marathon/Half Marathon
Reminder – TONIGHT Thurs. April 19th, we will be holding an Informational Meeting at the Christiana Hilton (100 Continental Drive, Newark) to discuss the new B+ Running Team and the Hamptons Marathon/Half Marathon in Sept. The meeting starts at 7pm.
Check out www.BePositive.org/Marathon to see how we can help you participate. This isn’t just for people that live in DE/PA/NJ/MD. Regardless of where you live in the US, you can join our team. We’ll still pay for your travel to The Hamptons (NY) and cover MANY other expenses….including the services of a personal running coach. Check out the link and then join our team. Contact me with any questions (Joe@LiveLikeAndrew.org).
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Help us Build our Mobile Database
The B+ Foundation is going mobile with new functionality. This functionality provides us with another way to stay in touch with the B+ Nation and also allows to offer an affordable way to financially support us in our battle against childhood cancers. Here’s how it works:
You have two choices.
1. Text the word LEARN to 80 000 to stay up-to-date on B+ Foundation happenings. Don’t worry, we won’t bombard you. Please give it a try right now.
2. Text the word FIGHT to 80 000 to make a one-time $10 donation to The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation to support our mission of creating a world without childhood cancers.
You don’t have to make a choice. You can do both.
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Live Like Andrew – “Be who you are, and be that well.” (Francis de Sales, patron saint of Andrew’s high school)
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Ali & Andrew’s Dad