Yup, You Rock

Current mood: grateful

Radiothon has come and gone (silly rhyme was accidental) and we did well. Considering that last year we just broke $100k and the recession/depression/financial malady of your choosing of the last several months, I don't think our total of somewhere in the area of $84k is all that shabby. I did tell the guys, however, that no matter what, every year during the drive home I get the feeling I could have done more to help us make more for St. Jude.

I met some amazing people this year and I feel like I am going out on a high note. I know that there is always a possiblity that I can do another radiothon somewhere or that I can fly back for two days to do it here, but I am going to move forward with the thought that my days of doing this are through. Maybe it is just a coping mechanism.

El Paso has a few St. Jude patients we've had the pleasure to come to know. The first survivor I met, nine years ago, was TM. She was three when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She was flown to St. Jude where treatment began immediately. Her mother, LM, would later learn that T was within hours of death. Today she is a healthy and amazing young woman who sings and has (last I had heard) eight little brothers and sisters. She has aspirations of making it big in a Christian rock band. I didn't get to see her this year, but I love her for showing me the heart of the hospital.

GO is another St. Jude patient. I've never had the chance to meet him. I know that he's been on with the station a few times in the last six or so years. He's gone back and forth in his treatment and had successes and setbacks, but he's still going and that makes him one of my heroes. Rumor was that he was getting a service dog this week. I am excited for him.

Today I met a little girl who is nine. I want you to know her name because I want you to know her. If you pray, I want you to pray for her. If you don't pray, I want you to contemplate goodness and wish it her way. Her name is Briana. In the early months of last year, she began to complain of headaches from time to time. Her mother, Maribel, didn't think it was much to be concerned about because kids sometimes get headaches. Before too much more time passed, her eyes began to cross, one at a time. Maribel took her to the doctor, who told her that she was fine and that there were no problems. Her next step was to see the eye doctor, who confirmed that there was a problem and she needed additional testing. She was admitted to the hospital immediately after the CT scan which revealed that she had not one, but two tumors in her brain. She was in the hospital for a few days here in El Paso, then she was transferred to Memphis to be treated at the main campus of St. Jude. She underwent thirty continuous days of radiation on her tumors and doctors introduced them to a new experimental chemotherapy. It didn't take long for her doctors to tell her mother that the tumors had matured and that one of them was at her brain stem. The location of the tumors makes them inoperable. That was April 2 and her doctors told Maribel that she had twelve to fourteen months to live. Now, because of the tumors and their relationship to her nervous system, she is having problems with simple things like speaking and writing and walking. She is in the third grade. She travels to Memphis twice a month to receive treatments. She loves Hannah Montana and painting. She wants to sing on American Idol. And, April 2 marks one year from her diagnosis and prognosis. She has an eighteen year old brother who is in college and wishes he hadn't told her to scram from his room so much. She has a little sister who is eighteen months old. When Briana has a hard time walking, her little sister, who is just a baby herself, will come to her and take her hand and try to help her walk. She also gently rubs her big sister's head. Briana believes she is going to get better. The doctors told Maribel to make their days happy. Maribel doesn't cry much any more because she wants her days to be happy.

Later tonight I met a five year old boy named SR. He has a scar on the back of his head that could have just as easily have happened by wiping out on a Big Wheel as it could have from brain surgery, but he had the latter. He was seventeen months old when his mother (who was sixteen at the time) noticed that he had stopped walking when he had been just learning to run. He had become lethargic and always seemed to be battling nausea. When she took him to the doctor they knew right away that there was something seriously wrong. Doctors in El Paso took his tumor out and then sent him to Memphis. He was in remission by his second birthday. He didn't much care that I wanted to talk to him. He was eating a huge green popsicle.

That is why I do this. I know that there are those who survive and that some will not, but every one of these kids has a story worth hearing. They deserve a chance to make their mark in this world. They deserve to be well, to grow up, to make their own joy and make their mark in their own way. If you called and made a pledge today, I thank you with all that I am. Your generosity makes St. Jude possible. If you listened today, I want to thank you as well. Just by listening, you know more about St. Jude and what it can do for a child in need. You now have the power to share that knowledge with others. That is power in your hands. Use it if you have the chance.

I love you for giving me the chance to do this for the kids of St. Jude.

Currently listening:Celebration of Life: Musicians Against Childhood CancerBy Various ArtistsRelease date: 2006-04-18