Why People Do Nothing
Day 13
Why people do nothing…
I’ve been writing for 2 weeks and each night I’m blown away at the amount of people that are reading them and responding to them. I wake up each morning and before my eyes are barely open; I’m on my phone seeing if anyone made a donation and what our current number is for race registrations. Every once in awhile I will see a bump in things or a donation will come through my page. But it’s never what I think should be happening.
Childhood cancer can often be like a car crash. You drive by slowly and can’t take your eyes off of it. You read the blogs, you follow the children and then when you close your computer, you go back to your normal life. “Wow, that accident looks horrible, I hope no one was injured”, you say as you drive by slowly. Then once you pass it, you turn your radio back up and continue driving. How many of you would actually get out of the car and see if you can help. That’s what I’m asking you to do. Stop driving by it… get out and do something.
I’m sure I was the same way. When you aren’t affected by cancer personally, the only time you are faced with it is when it’s on the news or you receive your St. Jude’s return address labels in the mail. Occasionally you give the $25 and you use the stickers they send. Or you just look at the family and thank God it isn’t you.
Well it was me. It was us and it was her.
I had to put my child through unspeakable, painful treatments and in the end had to watch her die in my bedroom. I wasn’t able to just drive by like the rest of you and watch from a distance. I had to stare her in the face. Unfortunately, people don’t change until they are forced to. For us, the curtain was pulled back and we were exposed to a world of unbelievable sadness and despair. It changed us forever.
You hate to think that something like our situation has to happen to you in order for you to get up and move, but that is usually the case. Instead of waiting for it to hit close to home, I’m asking you all to do something to prevent it from happening to anyone else. It may not be your child that gets cancer, but someday your child could have a family and it could be your grandchild that suffers. Our goal with this Foundation is so when your grandchild receives that diagnosis, there is a cure and he or she will live.
You will thank us one day for saving someone you know. So ask yourself this question, what if it were your child? What would you do then? How would you respond? So today, do something… take action as if it were your child in the hospital, or your grandchild just received this diagnosis. Cancer doesn’t discriminate and no child is safe so it may be your own family your are eventually protecting.
Stop reading and watching the car crash… get out of your car and help these kids, because one day it could be yours.
-Isabella’s mommy
