Tribe

Kids with cancer are in the news.
So much now.

Is it that I'm noticing more?
Is it that I'm moving in those pediatric cancer circles and it perpetuates itself?

I don't know.

Sometimes I weep. When 19-year-old Lauren Hill talks about her desire to play one last game (okay, and the sports reporter tears up at the end of this clip too) of basketball, when Devon Still chats with Ellen Degeneres about his daughter with neuroblastoma, I cry.

These are stories that have made the national news and while I weep, I am also grateful that they are bringing light to this, attention to this, awareness (there's that word again)....and hopefully action.

Because most of us aren't celebrities, and we're okay with that. But we want to tell our stories.

So I read Sabrina's blog and the words of JLK's mama and I see posts like this one from Mary Tyler Mom...and I cry then too.

You might tell me not to read those things. To stay away from them....

But I can't. These are my people, my sisters and brothers who walk these paths through this deep valley....so I can't walk away. We are a tribe.

And because I can't walk away, I can't turn my eyes, I keep looking forward.I keep sharing stories. It's not just my Sammy, although let me tell you, the Sammy-sized hole in my heart isn't any less painful. But I have a tribe.

I wish I didn't.

To help keep more kids and families out of our tribe...how about a little extra pocket change over here at St Baldricks? Every day, research is making a difference.