Isn't it Time for Change?

I had a lot of down time this winter but a lot of time to think about the last 7 months since Lincoln was diagnosed with leukemia. Now that I am working full time again and soon I will be working a lot of overtime, I will not have as much opportunity to do what I wish I could be doing, helping our kids fighting cancer. It doesn't meant I won't give up but the time and energy I have will be put into my work and my family with my seasonal job. In the last 7 months I have noticed though that I don't do as many things as I use to do. I rarely watch TV except football on sundays and I have not even played video games as much. It seems I have a new favorite thing to do following the stories of kids and their families who are on this journey too.

I know that I am a different person now and I cannot make anyone feel the same way I do about kids with cancer since my own son has been diagnosed, but here is what I will be able to do. As long as I have breath, no matter what is going on, good or bad with my son, I will not go back to the person I once was. We have all seen the pictures of starving kids in places like Africa and turned a blind eye because it is a reality so far from home. Now that I know some facts about cancer and I know how deadly it can be in our own homes, I am compelled to do something. I can't just go out and discover a cure by myself, but I can come home every night, spend time with my family and then skip the news and entertainment that has sucked the life out of me for so many years and make a difference in this world right from my own computer. Some people see facebook as a waste of time, and I couldn't agree more with those people who say it because of the circle of friends that suck the life out of them, but I see facebook, youtube and all sorts of social media as a lifeline for families suffering from their diagnosis. It is a tool that needs to be used as a tool, otherwise your just a kid running with scissors with the risk of being harmed.

Today on World Cancer Day I hope people will Stand Up, Speak Up and cause a tidal wave of awarness that will change people's ways of thinking as cancer has changed mine. There are kids dying right now because we have failed as a country to challenge ourselves until we ourselves are challenged with the suffering or death of our own kids. All you have to do today is turn the TV off and take a look into the world that cancer has created by clicking on any of my links on my blog. I keep adding more websites that are actually funding the fight and researching ways to cure cancer in kids. Life is to short to be entertained with all of the drama that is so useless, but to be concerned about people fighting for their lives, now that is a worthy cause. I challenge you this week to give up watching the Bachelor, Grey's Anatomy, American Idol or just the news and spend time thinking for yourself on how you can help save lives. Don't let 2012 pass without knowing you made a difference in the life of someone with cancer.

Let me leave you with something I made up this last year:

Challenge youself
Hope is your guide
Ask for it daily
Never give up
God is on your side
Expect Results

Isn't it time for Change?