The "c" word has been in my vocabulary since I was very young. My paternal grandfather died of cancer when I was three. In fact, cancer claimed many of the lives of his numerous siblings, as well. My maternal grandmother had breast cancer. My father has had cancer.
But, I must admit that my passions against this disease and my support of those battling cancer really increased significantly when it hit close to home for a child that I love. My niece, Amelia, is a leukemia survivor. She is also only five years old! Watching my brother and his family, learn and grow through the trial of leukemia has been inspiring.
Now, I also want to draw attention to other Childhood Cancer fighters.
Shortly before we moved from DeKalb, Illinois, to our isolated farm home outside of Indianapolis, we were looking for a baby sitter to watch our infant MS. We really hadn't left him very often. A friend at school recommended Kevin Ballantine.
I knew of his sister, Pooja. Pooja and Keerti (the Ballantine's two adopted children) used to wait for their ride at the back of the school when I had parking lot duty. Pooja always brought a little smile to my face. Thus, we ended up calling her big brother, Kevin, and having him babysit our little guy. As I ran back in the house to grab something, I knew he was going to do a great job. He had turned on some classical music to calm MS down.
Given the fact that we haven't lived in DeKalb for three years, it is somewhat amazing that I came to know any more about Kevin. But, a few weeks ago, when I began adding DeKalb friends to my Facebook, I noted someone's participation in a group for Kevin Ballantine's fight against leukemia.
He is fairly new to this game - only 190 days in (as his most recent blog post announces). He has AML and has already undergone a stem cell transplant. You can visit him at his blog at www.kballantine.wordpress.com or at his Caring Bridge page (if you become a free member of the CaringBridge community).
Even if you don't take a moment to visit and encourage Kevin, wear some gold this month. Gold is the color chosen to represent childhood cancers. Let these fighters know that they've got some backup support behind them.
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