Hello!I've written about my sister's friend's daughter Tess before. She's so close in age to Zach, and she is fighting a valiant battle against a rare cancer. Even after reading CaringBridge updates for nine months now, it's still hard to hear the words "4-year-old" and "cancer" in the same sentence. You'd think that some of that reality would have set in after all my college years involved with the Dance Marathon program, but I think some of it just doesn't hit home til you have your own four-year-old. And the fears become realities for you or your friends and family.
Tess is being treated through a clinical trial run out of St. Jude in Memphis, TN, though her family lives in Morton, IL, where I went to high school. It's amazing and uplifting to see how family and friends in town have come to the side of Tess's family, as they drive back and forth for chemo and testing and await Tess' stem cell harvest coming up soon.
Obviously, those of us far away cannot help her as much as we'd like, but there are few options. Prayer for Tess and her healing, for her sisters and brother who are also affected by the changes in their lives, for the doctors and care providers, for her parents and all who surround her.
Additionally, in the month of September, Chili's restaurants nationwide are donating a percentage of profits to St. Jude. All month long you can decorate a chili and make a donation, and know your $$ are being used to help a child fight cancer.
And, if you can get to a Chili's on September 28th, *100%* of the profits from that day will be donated to St. Jude. That is awesome. Don't you deserve a night out? In case you didn't know, St. Jude does not just help those within their hospital, but rather it shares all its research findings around the world and NEVER says no to a child who needs treatment, even if a family is not able to pay for the treatment. That is also awesome.
So, the 28th is Scott and my 7-year anniversary. I'm hoping we can get to Chili's. I bet Tess wishes she could be there, too.
4 comments:
Nice post for Tess. Thanks for letting me know about Chili's. I think we will just have to eat there on the 28th.
Glad you may be able to make it to Chili's too, Liz! Spreadin' the word...
Don't think we can do the 28th, so we went last night. The boys did a couple of those coloring chilis to put up.
Thanks for letting us know.
awesome, eric! Thanks for going!
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