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| Wendy Team Bear Fundraising Page |
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| 10.10.10. What a great day for a marathon I though while scrolling through the email sent out for registration for the Chicago Marathon. After completing my first marathon last year and making the promise to myself that " I will never do that again" I quickly signed on to the website and registered for the marathon. Once registered, I decided that I would again find a charity to team with and raise mone y for a good cause. As I glanced through the charity list I found Bear Necessities. I had heard about the great work they do with pediatric cancer research from a friend on their auxiliary board and remembered a friend's child who also had benefited from this organizations "small miracle" program and decided this was the charity for me.
Bear Necessities is an organization whose mission is to eliminate pediatric cancer and provide support and hope for those who are touched by it. This organization is one of the only pediatric cancer organizations that are able to touch the three main areas that effects these children. They strive to provide support to their families, funding for research, and small miracles to brighten a child with cancer's day. Statistics show that every day 46 children are diagnosed with cancer. I never thought i would personally know one of these children but all of that changed for me over the past year and I will now share her story... the story of Hope.
Hope was a normal 12 year old girl full of live. She loved swimming, running, shopping, acting and music things that many 12 year olds love. Hope was the daughter of Jay and Deb, who I had known for a large part of my life as they worked in the same school district as my dad. I used to watch their other child, JD in high school while their dad coached basketball. Jay and Deb adopted this “Asian princess” when I was away in college. As the years went on I would occasionally run into this amazing family at summer theater productions or around town when I would go visit my parents. All of this changed in August 2009. I received a call from my dad asking if I remembered Jay and Deb. He continued to tell me that their daughter Hope had been diagnosed with a stage 4 Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a very aggressive tumor. She was going to be receiving treatment at Children’s Memorial Hospital. As time went on I would follow Hope’s treatment course over carepages and would try and stop in to see the family when they were at Children’s. I will never forget the first day I met Hope. She was so full of energy and spunk and you could tell that this 12 year old girl was fighting this cancer with everything in her. She would bargain with her beloved, Dr Stew, to reduce her steroid doses and would joke about her new found belly from the steroids as the “Buddha”. As her aggressive treatment including chemo and radiation continued hope began to lose strength in her legs to the point that she began needing a wheelchair. On February 4th, Hope was admitted to CMH with a severe headache which would reveal that the tumor was causing some bleeding in her head. Visiting Hope became part of my weekly routine. It was amazing how a girl in so much pain would make you feel like a million bucks when you walked in the room. Though her speech was impaired she would look at you with her beautiful brown eyes and you would know she was glad you were there. On March 10th, Hope’s courageous battle with this tumor was over and she was no longer in pain.
Hope has inspired me in more ways than words can describe. She taught me that even through the tough times to have “hope”. Hope is only one of many children that are diagnosed with cancer every year. Many of these types of pediatric cancers do not have cures and only through organizations like Bear Necessities, is funding made available to complete the research needed to find a cure.
Please support me in raising funds for this amazing organization as we join together to end pediatric cancer. |
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Total Donations: $190.00
Goal: $1,000
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