I just received the following email from a friend:
I'm writing you this email to hopefully break your hearts a little and open your wallets. As some of you who live in this area (Editor's Note: near Raleigh, NC) may know, MIX 101.5 is doing their 8th annual Radiothon to raise money for Duke Children's Hospital. They started out 8 years ago hoping for $25,000 and surpassed it by $100,000. Each year that amount has grown by at least $100,000, topping off last year at $890,000. This year they're hoping for $1 million.
I'm writing you this to beg you guys to please give money to these kids. If you've listened to it, you've heard their heartbreaking stories. Kids as young as one day old having surgeries and going through procedures grown men wouldn't want their worst enemies to go through. And they do it with a smile on their face. These kids are an inspiration to everyone they meet. They're still the same happy go lucky kids as ever, but they have no hair, or they're missing a limb, or they can't see, or they have some other horribly debilitating disease. While other kids their age are going to school, playing outside with their friends, riding their bikes, acting like kids, these kids are in the hospital fighting for their lives.
There was one boy who was in the hospital for 26 months straight, with only one day where he was well enough to go outside. 26 months. That's over two years. Think about a two year period in your life and what happened to you, the trials and tribulations you went through. Now compare it to a child living day in and day out stuck inside a hospital room with a TV but no cable, two VCRs to share with the rest of the hall, bad food, and all this on top of being tired and sick all the time from constant chemo, radiation, and surgery. Do your two years still look that bad?
And these are children going through all this, children! There was one girl who came on the radio and talked about a cancer she had in her eyes where she lost her sight when she was just three years old, then developed another cancer when she was 12 and had to have her eyelid removed. She talked about how she couldn't see her parents' faces anymore, she couldn't see all the colors or beautiful things in the world. But she said she still had so much to be thankful for because there are so many people out there who are worse off than she is. Can you imagine having so many problems, but still being thankful because there are others who have it worse? And this is a thirteen year old girl. That's how amazing these kids are.
Some of you may know that I had a very dear friend who was treated at Duke Hospital for cancer who died last March. Because of him, as well as two other friends I have who have died of cancer, I have such a passion and a longing to help these children, and I'd like to pass some of that longing onto you. I ask that you donate at least $5 to these kids, just $5. That's all I ask. And also, send this email to everyone in your address book. The more people we have helping, the better. That's the least we can do to help the children. They are our future, and without your help, there won't be much a future for them.
The money goes to books and toys for the kids so they won't be bored in the hospital. It goes to pagers for the parents so they can maybe go home and be with their other children, or get some sleep on something more comfortable than a chair. It also goes to recliners for the parents who spend every night at their child's bedside. It goes to research so they can find new procedures and treatments to help the hundreds and hundreds of kids that come to Duke from all over the world every year.
Do it for those kids. Do it for the healthy kids. Do it for the parents. Do it for the wonderful, caring doctors and nurses on staff at Duke. Do it for yourselves. I dont' care who you do it for, but just do it. As one little boy said on the radio last year, "it's just the right thing to do." You can call in your pledge at 919-890-6234, or toll free at 1-888-890-6234, or you can do it over the web. I encourage you to go there and look at the pictures of these kids. Look at the smiles on their faces, especially when they see the check every year. Look in their eyes and then tell them you can't give just five dollars. I know you can find enough love and compassion in your hearts to help out these wonderful children. We have so much to be thankful for that we take for granted.
One mother talked about how it was a miracle just to see her daughter breathe on her own. How often do we take breathing for granted? These kids certainly don't. So give them money and breathe a little easier tonight. They're counting on you. Don't let them down.
If you'd like to link back to this site, copy this link. The Radiothon ends June 3rd. Please make a pledge.
