Happy Birthday Bea

Today is the toughest of the tough. It's Bea's birthday. If she were with us today she would be nine years old and in the third grade.

To celebrate her life I have donated $200.00 to the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children today. That's about the amount we would have spent on gifts for her. Now it's a gift for other children with the hope that it will help find a cure for all the kinds of brain cancer in little people.

I made a post a couple of weeks ago asking that you, my readers, also donate to this specific charity. The amount I asked for was just $9. One dollar for every year since Bea was born. So far $270.00 has been donated by you all. Add our $200 and that's $470.00. Fantastic.

I'm going to ask again though, just in case you missed my other post or forgot about it. It's just $9.00 but, boy, can that add up fast if enough of you donate.

The organization I'm sending this donation to is the Brain Tumor Foundation for Kids. They are a national charity and have a home in Atlanta. They do a lot of community support as well as fund promising research. Their web address is http://www.braintumorkids.org/donate.html

If you are on the fence about the donation let me tell you just a little bit of what a child experiences when they have a brain tumor. Their body changes suddenly. Some go blind. Some lose the ability to walk. Some can't use their arms and hands. Some are in chronic pain from headaches. Steroids make them bloated and irritable with a weakened immune system. Anti-nausea medication makes them constipated. Radiation is painful. Chemo can cause all kinds of nasty side effect. They endure all of this and if they are very young they are absolutely confused about what is happening. It is the OPPOSITE of what is supposed to happen to their bodies. And for many children with brain tumors they do not get to live out the life they were supposed to.

Please, please, please... it's just $9.00. Collectively though those dollars can add up to a substantial amount that can help end this disease. The research out there needs funding and we can't depend on governmental subsidies to pay for it all.

My family was helped by the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children. Beatrice was helped for a time by a very promising clinical trial at Pittsburg Children's Hospital, the kind that the Brain Tumor Foundation supports. I am so glad for the help when we in such dire need. Their help is life changing and life saving. So, please, lend a hand and donate $9.00: http://www.braintumorkids.org/donate.html

Thanks. And I'd like to wish everybody who shares Bea's birthday to have a beautiful day.

Lots of love,
Helen

Celebrating Nine

Bea's birthday is this month. She would be celebrating her 9th birthday on September 26. If she were here it would likely be a girly affair with lots of pink. Maybe she would still be addicted to getting "luvies". Not diapers but her word for stuffed animals.

This year I'm going to start donating what would have been spent on birthday gifts to Bea to a worthy not-for-profit. I expect that we would probably spend somewhere around $200 so that's what it's gonna be. I know that's spoiling a bit but we're very, very lucky that we can do this.

The organization I'm sending this donation to is the Brain Tumor Foundation for Kids. They are based in Atlanta and do a lot of community support as well as fund promising research. Their web address is http://www.braintumorkids.org/donate.html

I am asking you, my readers, to please donate $9.00 to the Brain Tumor Foundation to celebrate Bea's 9th birthday. This is a really well run organization and the donation will be well spent on real services, not just administrative costs.

Next year I'll ask for $10 and I plan to do this for as long as I live.

Again... http://www.braintumorkids.org/donate.html