In 2019, the course of my life was altered. Everything came to a halt and I would never again be the person I used to be. This is not a sad story. It’s a story of hope and love. It’s a tale of rebirth through an unexpected path. Maybe not one I would consider choosing, but nonetheless, it chose me and I accepted. I’d been completely drained before my body violently protested. I now joke about how stubborn I must have been that it took what it did to make me come to a full stop. You see, laughing is always good for us no matter what the situation. At the time, there wasn’t much laughter. Everything came about so fast. Yet, all I could I think of were my children. Almost as if, I, myself, didn’t matter. What would they do without me? Guided we are. I found my way to the right care, the right people and the strongest will I’ve ever known myself to possess. During the course of hospital chemotherapy, pulling an IV pole, I met a family and a fellow patient. We were going through the same journey except for one, big difference. He, was three. In that moment, everything I was going through faded away. My heart went out to this little boy and to his family. As a pediatric dentist, I’d spent almost two decades taking care of children. They have been my passion in life. But, when I got to see them, they were enjoying their full health. Gratitude filled my heart because it was me who had fallen ill and not one of my children. A desire to help in any way I can was rekindled like never before. And what better dream to join than Danny’s dream of building the hospital that was said to be impossible? Here’s to all possibilities! Please listen to the song I’ve created for children: “We are all together” (https://youtu.be/iRR9bs5ybqQ). It’s a song for hope and love and has a life of it’s own. It keeps reinventing itself in different languages! If you feel hope, love and possibility, please support St. Jude's lifesaving mission of finding cures for children battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases. There is no number on this goal. The sky’s the limit.
How your donation helps:
- Thanks you donors like you, no family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
- Treatments invtened at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago.
Join me! Together we can help St. Jude change the world.