I don't want to grow up-so I am not going to

This was written by a Mom that I met through an online support group when scascot and I lost our babies- please read with an open heart and mind. The floor is yours Chris and Zay. (Zayla by the way is a brave warrior princess!)

This is the letter that I have shared with all of the writers at our local newspaper and at the Chicago Tribune. I am sharing it with you all....you can use it if you would like to email them too ( I strongly suggest it). What I am trying to do is raise awareness for the upcoming Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. What I am asking of all of you is1. share my message with everyone...print it, speak it, forward it, whatever you can do. 2. Go get some gold ribbon and safetypin and WEAR the GOLD this month. Gold ribbon represents childhood cancer....make people ask you what it represents and spread the word!!! 3. visit www.curesearch.org they are having a virtual walk for 12,500 this whole month. 4. Support our kids.....if you haven't been directly affected by childhood cancer, chances are someone you know, or will know is!!!
Perhaps this year I will actually get a response from someone and our kids will get the awareness they so rightfully deserve!!!
Thanks Chris


The Forgotten Children

Did you know that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month? September marks the time of year that millions of children return to the classroom. It also marks the 34 children that are diagnosed every single day of every year. That's right, a whole classroom of children are given the heartbreaking news that they have cancer every single day, which equals 12,500 children a year! Approximately 78% of those children will survive, but many will have additional health costs for survival. Lasting effects of chemotherapy can give the survivors issues with long term memory, neuropathy, infertility, hearing loss, and even brain damage. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children. However, it is extremely underfunded when compared to "other", more "popular" cancers. Everyone knows of the Susan G Koman and the pink ribbons for breast cancer. And I know we have all seen Katie Couric and her camera for colon cancer. But, these are children…innocent children who did not have any environmental exposures or "bad" lifestyle habits to increase their odds of getting cancer. But yet, they still did. How do we as a society determine the value of which cancer gets research dollars? Does age, race, lifestyle, geographic location, level of education or insurance status determine whom gets the opportunity at life? All life is precious, be it one day, one week, or ten years. The struggle I see is that the most prevalent cancers get the funding, and childhood cancer is not one of them.
The President signed into law the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007 in July, it granted $30 million over five years to research. Now, don't get me wrong, I was elated that the bill was passed….but geez, what we get for five years the Iraq war spends in 12 hours. What is wrong with this picture?!? Since government is obviously NOT the place to go for research dollars…that leaves the public and corporations to help raise funds for a cure for children. My plea is to raise awareness in the public through the media. Invest in the future of innocent, forgotten children by running articles about "our" month….September is National Childhood Awareness Month.
I have lots of statistics that I would love to share if you are interested. I also have "exclusively" childhood cancer supporters to share. American Cancer Society is not the non-profit organization for innocent children. They unfortunately do not support our children as much as they use our faces for their advertising propaganda. I am not trying to "trash" them, just make it aware that they do not financially support as much as the public would think.

Thank you for your time.
Chris Mitsdarffer mother to cancer survivor (twice) Zayla
You can visit her website at www.caringbridge.org/visit/zayla