My sister and nephew live just down the street from Maddy's grandparents and put me in touch with Maddy's mom, Jessica, a little while back. Jessica has been by her little girl's side through every second of this -- and with a lot of support from her friends and family. Jessica and I exchanged a few messages, but mostly I just follow Maddy's experiences through her mom's Facebook posts. I confess I do feel like a bit of a Nosey Nellie following Jessica's posts -- a well-intentioned "facebook stalker", I guess.
See, Maddy and I have never met; I've just been watching her story unfold from afar. It's made me laugh, and it's made me well up with tears something fierce from time to time. (Her recent run-in with C-Diff --a GI tract bacterial infection -- during her last round of chemo was just terrifying for me. I cannot imagine how inside-out her family was during that time.) I respect Jessica so much for having the courage to share so much with me. Sometimes it was hard to read and see some of those pictures of a frail little Maddy. But hard as that can be, sometimes seeing that sort of thing does something to you: it galvanizes you -- makes you act. Hopefully.
As I write this, I'm recalling that I posted something about "not looking away" here, about a year ago. <pauses editing to find article.> Here it is: http://my-pmc.blogspot.com/2014/06/bill-and-melinda-gates-2014.html
Here's the 'centerpiece' quote from Melinda Gates from last June, in case you don't want to read the post or watch the video:
"In the course of your lives, you'll come to see suffering that will break your heart. When it happens, and it will, don't turn away from it. Turn toward it. That is the moment that change is born."So I have not lost hope. In fact I'm more hopeful now than ever before. But while I am hopeful, I'm also thankful. I'm thankful that I can actually do more than just hope. I've been doing this "PMC thing" for the last 12 years and make no mistake: we are making a difference. The research that's been going on at Dana-Farber has been paid for in large part by the fund-raising that PMC riders have been doing. The immunotherapy research being done at Dana-Farber and elsewhere is now yielding some really promising results. Thanks to the doctors and scientists at Dana-Farber, people (including little boys and girls like Maddy) will soon be able to receive drug therapies targeted to kill cancer, without poisoning the rest of their bodies. I wish that these therapies were available NOW, especially for little Maddy, but they are coming and I have great hope.
...
"No matter how much suffering we see -- no matter how bad it is -- we can help people if we don't lose hope, and if we don't look away."
I hope I actually get to meet Maddy and her mom in person someday soon. If I do, I hope it doesn't weird them out. [I hope I can keep my shit together long enough to not ugly-cry.] It would mean a lot to tell Maddy, in person, just how privileged I am to meet her and how much I admire her bravery and her mom's generosity of spirit. That will be a Good Day.
If you're still reading this, I only ask that you also would do more than just hope: you can join with us and fight cancer with your generous donation to this year's Pan Mass Challenge. This will be my 12th year to ride and raise money for this cause and I sincerely hope that you will sponsor me with your online donation here: http://www.pmc.org/dm0192 100% of your tax-deductible donation goes directly to Dana-Farber to support their work in cancer research and treatment.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you can help.
/doug
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