Teletastic!

This weekend was a very long, emotional, and rewarding week for our family and many other St. Jude families out there.  It was telethon day.  It's a day where the runners who started at Memphis come into the telethon, its a day where runners from all over central Illinois come together to run and raise money for the children of St. Jude.  Its a day where people volunteer and get on the phones to take pledges for children who are fighting cancer, for research, and for a cure.  It is an amazing day.  And if you have never participated, I challenge you to do so next year.  It will be the most amazing experience of your life.  It amazes me how many people each year participate, and how those numbers keep growing, and how the 7 million dollars raised will help to run St. Jude for 4 days.  Back in the 70's, the numbers were few and far between of volunteers for several reasons. 1.  it was new  2.  childhood cancer was (some still say is) rare 3.  who wants to think about a child having cancer and participate in that event?  It brings up fears in people that some don't want to deal with.  But I submit that the reason that the telethon has grown and the runners have gotten to be more and more is because childhood cancer is in fact NOT rare.  More and more people know a child or family suffering from a horrible disease.  And it inspires them.  I submit that its growing because awareness about child hood cancer is also becoming more prevalent.  It is these two things together that will help to raise money to find cures for the many different cancers that children suffer.  Awareness = funding = research = cure.  Simple as that.
I remember as a child and when I watched "Terms of Endearment" for the very first time.  Breast cancer and cancer itself was a nasty word.  It was a word spoken in back rooms behind closed doors.  People died in hospitals and had little to no hope a lot of the time.  Well, what happened to that philosophy?  Susan G Komen happened.  She was courageous enough to get out there and speak about her sister.  She wanted breast cancer to be the forefront and see that it didn't just effect women, but the entire family.  She branded breast cancer.  And you know what, I applaud her for that.  Because of that, pink is all over. Funding has grown, cure rates are higher, and everybody knows what Race for the Cure means.  That is exactly what I feel needs to happen with childhood cancer.  We need to acknowledge it, see it, show it, be aware of it and stop hiding from it.  It doesn't have to be this sad horrible thing that turns people away.  It can be this inspirational event that shows people that cures and miracles can happen.  But until there is awareness, there can be no funding, and that means less research, and lower cure rates.  That is why I love the telethon and why its so emotional for me.  It is raising that awareness and those people running in that heat are doing so for my daughter and the many other children out there.  And each year it grows because each year more and more kids are getting cancer, so the friend of a friend theory no longer applies.
It was a very emotional day for me.  The flyers in the RV's for the runners were amazing.  The life size posters I saw when I walked into Central Catholic of all the children (Lucy included) was breath taking.  And all the people that came to volunteer or show their support brought tears to my eyes.  I only hope next year I see many many more people out at the school to show their support.  Let's brand the Gold.  Gold is Childhood awareness.  Let's give it the attention it deserves and go big and bring in dollars that help to save more children's lives. September is Childhood Cancer awareness month.  What will you do to show your support and spread the word?  This was one poster in the flyers of the RV's.  It says "Hard things take time to do.  Miracles take a little longer".  I cannot look at this picture of my beautiful miracle without still crying.  Thank you to all the runners, supporters, and volunteers who made the Telethon a huge success. Much love, the Webers