Nickel'd and dime'd to death!

January can carry a pretty hefty financial load.

Everyone is still reeling from the Christmas spending extravaganza, baseball and softball registration begins, basketball games are in full swing, the tax man cometh, etc....

And right in the middle of it all.....the fundraising begins. Relay for Life really starts to kick-off its efforts, Jump Rope for Heart leads its way into Valentine's Day, and this year, we also got little cardboard boxes for Pennies for Patients, a division of The Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

I overheard one of my friends the other day lamenting to another mom that she was being nickle'd and dime'd to death!

Offensive - no. Thought provoking - yes.

I come from a large family. I remember at times it was difficult financially. My sisters and I often didn't have/wear/drive what the other kids did. My brothers were the youngest, and thankfully, the Hancock family economic climate had changed quite a bit by the time they were old enough to even remember the pre-Farm Bureau life! (Farm Bureau rocks, btw!)

That being said, I know very few people in my everyday circle of friends who can't spare an animal cracker box full of loose change. In fact, I think even in the Atlantic Veneer stage of life that my parents would have gladly filled up a box with spare change to send in to the school. They most probably would have sent in not 1 or 2.... but 6 such boxes! They surely would have even taken the opportunity in doing so to have a conversation with their children about the blessings of financial independence and the blessings of having healthy children. Having been touched by leukemia (my father lost a brother to childhood leukemia), they may have even talked to us about what cancer was and that it was an epidemic. They would have used the little cardboard box as a teaching tool.

There are plenty of things they might have done....but exclaiming that they were being nickle'd and dime'd to death wouldn't have been one of them! I count that among one of the reasons why they are and were the best parents in the world!

Before Grant's diagnosis, I must tell you that I never really even noticed what those little quarter collection displays at the check-out counter at Rite Aid were for! The kids loved to fill up the little quarter slots, but that was about all I knew. However, after April of '07, I became personally connected with The Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Of all of the cancer related research, support, advocacy groups out there...very few offer any assistance to people/families who are battling cancer. Most fund research and research is critical. But at diagnosis, financial assistance is critical, as well. The Leukemia Lymphoma Society has a Patient Assistance program that will reimburse medical expenses of $500 for up to two years. Read back to summer 2007 and you will see that we visited the hospital every week. This schedule lasted for nine months. Needless to say, it didn't take long to tally up $500 worth of receipts for reimbursement! Each visit to the clinic cost somewhere in the vicinity of $5000. Thankfully, our insurance was in-network for UNC and we have wonderful support from our families, but spending the night in a hotel once a week can take its toll.

In response to the nickel and dime statement, I would characterize that the better part of 2007 as being $500'd to death! And for the parents of leukemia patients, they are doing so in the face of real death! DEATH! They are spending every waking moment wondering if this will be the day that they will hear the news that their kid isn't going to make it, or they will walk into the clinic and find that the 7 year old who was playing lego's last Tuesday died the day before while recovering from his bone marrow transplant, or the 15 year old who sat in the lobby doing Algebra homework last Tuesday died of pneumonia on Thursday!

And I hope that none of you ever, ever, ever have to experience that! Take my word for it, you do not want to go to there! I'm a little nauseous just thinking about it.

So - why the soap box today?

My friend Teri (Teri Freeman for you locals) is doing something amazing! She is running a marathon....yes, a marathon.... a 26 mile race! I can't even drive 26 miles without stopping for a Dr. P. But, Teri is running a MARATHON to raise money and awareness for The Leukemia Lymphoma Society!

And she is doing it to honor my little boy!

How about that?

I can't tell you how honored I am that Teri has chosen to do this.

AND - here's the kicker - we are going to help her do it!

How, you may ask!?

By clicking on this nifty little link and donating some nickels and dimes and even tens and twenties to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society!

Now.... go do it!

I did!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ri/rnr10/Teri12