Thursday, May 19, 2016

ST. JUDE'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

I just got off the phone with the childrens' hospital in the Midwest. They were asking me for donations. Patiently, I explained my wife and I are living off Social Security, as many millions of you out there are. ( Thanks to the crash of 2008/09)
    Anyway, I said that in spite of that I manage to send St Judes a token every few months motivated by my heart break over those kids. He told me that the survival rate of those precious children has risen fron 30% in the 60's to 80% as of now.
    I confessed that it broke my heart to hear of the death of one of the young girls on their commercials: she was the one that looked into the camera and said, "if you give to St. Jude and they find a cure for cancer, we won't have to go through this any more."
   She died a few months ago. I fell apart. I felt so badly for that child for so long.
   Marlo Thomas runs the place, actress, activist for this cause, I hear from the caller she was there as a child, running around the hospital in a sun dress as a child, now the CEO. I don't know how she does it.
   She watches 20-% of those kids die every year. What guts. I couldn't do it, I just don't have what it takes to handle that load of grief and loss.  (And, I thought I didn't have what it took to be a Marine!! )
   I'm cutting a check to the hospital tomorrow morning, what the hell, it won't be much. But, from 30 to 80% ?? Maybe my little piddling amount .....I just can't stand the thought of sitting by and doing NOTHING.
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