Paying it Forward - Day 393

I'll never forget a fellow cancer dad I came across several months ago while reading up on one of our online support forums through the LLS message boards.  His son at age 4 had been diagnosed with the same form of Leukemia that Ellie has (pre-B ALL) several years ago.  He had successfully endured his son's ALL treatment protocol (which is 3.5 years long for males - 1 year longer than for females) but not without the pain and suffering that comes along with dragging your family through a sustained nightmare.  His son was now 11 years removed from treatment and about to graduate from high school.  Like a breath of fresh air, he keeps participating in group discussions on the board to offer advice, insight, and most of all hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel (which is fairly bright for him now and his dear son!).  Anyways, after he answered a question on the ever popular topic of "How do I best comfort my child when **insert your favorite chemo side-effect here**?", a reader posted a response asking why he sticks around on these boards so many years later.  His response?  He felt it was his duty to aid other cancer families in anyway he could much like folks who swarmed to help him so many years ago.  He said he is always thinking of ways to Pay it Forward.

It is time for us to help.  There really isn't a choice here.  We embrace the opportunity to help because we understand what it is to be recipients of that help when you are struggling to come to terms with knowing the life you had before cancer is gone....and never coming back.  Ellie's form of Leukemia has gone from a 1965 mark of 4% survival rate to now 80-85% in the year 2012.  It's because there have been tireless people who have set aside political and special interest agendas to find a way to raise funds that aid forward thinking research, development of new treatment protocols, and support systems for all family members of the innocent kids who have been robbed of their childhood.  No contribution is too small nor insignificant.  We fight this disease with no division of race, religion, ethnicity, or political views.  It is a human problem where my ignorance in thinking "It will never happen to us", that changed with a short phone call on June 26th, has put the perspective in place to fight the beautiful fight on behalf of Ellie with crystal clear clarity.

Please....PLEASE join me.

Polly and I have decided our initial event will be the Feather Falls Run in Davis, CA to benefit Camp Okizu on September 9th.  We chose this event as our first one because Memorial day weekend of this past spring was perhaps one of the brightest spots of our journey yet since life changed a little over a year ago.  It is a place where kids can dream big, find commonality, and run with the wind at their back because for a short few days....they are truly free.  It is also a gathering of a small cross section of the parenting world where folks can lean on one another while taking a break from the grind of work, kids school, and weekly trips to the hospital.

There is a 5K run I am going to do in the morning FOR TIME followed by a family 1K run in the afternoon for all four of us.  Our goal is $3000 dollars and we know we can reach it.  I am setting a 5K time of 24min 30sec as a goal.  If we can exceed our fundraising mark of $3K, I will lower my time I promise to beat to 24 minutes even with an eye on 23:30.  You have my word.  Since mid April, I have run and biked a combined estimate of ~475 miles.  I've dropped 15 pounds and still have a goal of 9 more to go to reach what the doc says is my ideal BMI.  It is the best shape I have been in since I was 16 and trying to find anyway possible onto the Varsity soccer team in high school back November of 1992.  During these last few months on my runs, one of my favorite things while running around the track at Serra is making the turn at the 300m mark away from 22nd Ave.  There is always a tail wind that picks up behind me in the same spot everyday.  It is like the 2nd wind everyone looks for in the 4th quarter when your body wants to hit a wall while your mind is searching for the will to dig deeper.  If Ellie can beat cancer, I can keep running.  That's all the motivation I need.  You will see 24 minutes get CRUSHED on September the 9th and then it will be on to the next event (Marathon????) soon thereafter.

We have set up a fundraising page through "Causes" which will send the money directly to Okizu.  To support our efforts please pass this message along to as many people as you can.  The link to donate through can be found by Clicking HERE.

Or if you are the copy/paste type use this link - http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/474222

Your donation is secure through this site and completely tax deductible.  This fight is an aspect of our journey where we can do something about it and guarantee results.  How good does it feel to be able to say that??!!!  If words could do Okizu justice, I wish I could give you the proper perspective on just how far reaching this will go in keeping alive one of the only things so many families cling to because often there simply is nothing else - HOPE.

Here is a little extra super-hero motivation:

This picture was taken in June around their birthday.  I updated the photos on the side bar with a new one from a few days ago.  Her hair is now thick enough where you can no longer see her scalp AND she can tell Daddy to stop giving her "Spikey Hair" after she gets done with her swim lesson and I am drying her off.  Her counts rebounded to great levels after a small dip a week ago.  Her ANC is almost 3000 (Wow).  Last Friday she underwent her routine 4th lumbar puncture (chemo injection into her spine) of Long Term Maintenance and finally figured out that she is entitled to a wheel chair ride if she wants it out of the recovery room (You would think she were at Disneyland when the wheel chair showed up).  We are done with LP procedures for 2 months.  Tomorrow she takes her last Predisone dose for this month and hopefully the cranky fits of tears that come on both surprisingly and instantaneously will be gone (Ok, that is probably more Polly and I's hope than hers).  Today we used my first full day off since summer school ended to ride the train up from Redwood City to Burlingame (10 miles one way) and had lunch at a special brunch spot where she found out she likes buttered toast dipped in syrup, eggs dipped in syrup, and bare fingers dipped in syrup (Well seriously, don't you?!?!).  When she is happy, I am happy and it is amazing how empowering a day can be when it starts off on that note.  On days like today, she is simply stunning.

Have I done everything possible to help my daughter today?   I hope so.  Time to Pay it Forward.