Follow Me in 2014

In January 2013, a small group of about 50  people began running together to raise awareness for one purpose and with one goal in mind. What happened next would become an Olympic sized, virtual event across our great nation known as the "Follow Me" movement. This 7 month virtual running event with 3500 active members, reached places as far as Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and 20 other nations, in a worldwide effort to increase and magnify awareness for children with cancer, the #1 killer by disease in all children.

On September 1st, many of those who ran would meet together in Washington DC, on the steps of our governments front door, the White House, to finish what had been started . The end of this race would not be completed for glory and honor, but for a chance to let our elected leaders know that our kids are still dying at the rate of 50 children in all 50 states and something needed to be done now.


The Run for the White House for Childhood Cancer Awareness event (Follow Me 2014) began at midnight, January 1st and will go through September 30th, and this is how it will work for those who want to join:

Join the live event on facebook here now:
https://www.facebook.com/events/514823015291839/
Begin by posting your miles on the event page. Post as often as possible because people will notice your activity and want to know how they can run for the White House too. Invite all your friends using the Invite feature in the event to invite someone you run with, a relative or anyone you meet and are excited to share this idea with.
Talk about it at the gyms you visit or with the high school track and cross country teams. We will look at adapting other sports and activities too in the near future like golf or cheerleading.


Next go to the official facebook page and click LIKE here:
https://www.facebook.com/RunForTheWhiteHouseForChildhoodCancerAwareness You can share the page and invite friends and there is a link that will lead them to the live event in the "about" section.

Here are some ways you can be active in this event:

Start by clicking on the map (on the event page) and comment with your city and state or country.

Run, walk, bike, swim, exercise and post your miles, km or time on the event page and they will be counted toward the total goal of 1,000,000 miles. Be sure to post your state each time until we know that all 50 states are participating.



We will count every mile and turn minutes in to miles for workouts (one mile every 10-15 minutes, and 1 bonus mile at each hour.) If you are not a runner, you can contribute with yoga, P90X, Zumba or other activities. Give us anything that is an activity and we will convert it to miles!

Create or join any team to dedicate miles to real kids, then shout out your team name as you post "26.2 miles for Running for Lincoln!" Let these kids know your are running for them: Like their facebook page and leave them with a message of support.

One of the high lights of the 2013 event were the Follow Me tech shirt made for running in during your 2014 5k's and marathons. You can order an awareness running shirt by emailing your request with your sizes to FollowMe2014@hotmail.com (details to follow via email)

Creating awareness along the way:

Talk about how you are running to the White House, everywhere you go, to everyone you meet. People will be interested and want to know why they should "follow you."

Run and exercise like you have never done before, people will notice your activity and want to know how you are doing. Tell them why you're doing it and for who, if you are dedicating to a certain child.

Become aware of all advocates everywhere especially on social media and share your pages, organization and public events that promote awareness in our event. Many run races different times of the year, and you can join and donate to those causes, and still donate to this event too, especially you marathon runners.

Talk to those who have the power and responsibility to make changes for our kids. Email is a quick and easy way to write to your elected officials to let them know our kids need a voice.

There is unlimited potential for creating awareness, just give something a try and if it doesn't work, just keep running with us.

The Run for the White House is an awareness campaign to promote awareness to the unaware, activity in the community of families with pediatric cancer diagnosis, and most of all to take action that will amplify the voice of kids who's only hope is in everyday people like you.

When matters of life and death are concerned for our kids, all it takes is a single step to make a difference. Are you willing to JOIN the movement today?

Click here to join right now.

 https://www.facebook.com/events/514823015291839/

 

A Handful of Change

Fifty cents is not worth very much these days. Its nearly impossible to find a candy bar that cheap at a 7/11 and it wouldn't even get most people to buy a $10 item if it was only 50 cents off. This month was my sons 5th birthday, and he really wanted some coins, so I gave him two quarters. You wouldn't have guessed the first place he wanted to spend his money was the "Dollar Store". Unfortunately he would have been very disappointed if I told him he would have to wait until his 6th birthday to get two more quarters to be able to buy the $1 treasure he had been waiting for all year.

 

Don't you think he would feel a little "short changed?" Literally?

 

To a 5 year old, two quarters are worth their weight in gold, but to an average adult who's annual wages are more than 10x that amount for every single hour they are still breathing, its hardly a handful of change worth holding onto.

 

Like most parents, we want to give our kids everything good in life, but who would actually want to switch roles with our kids and put them out there in the work force, commuting everyday in traffic jams, and taking heat from the boss for not pulling in the sales needed for the corporation to fatten their wallets and their waist lines. No one would want to put their kids through the torture we adults endure everyday. So why would we want to let our kids suffer from things that only people over 50 are supposed to suffer, as they prepare to meet their maker? There is no need to rush them into adult living that often feels that it is worth less than a pocket full of change.

 

Now imagine your child had a life threatening disease such as cancer and ask yourself, what is the world doing today to help over 13,500 kids that are diagnosed each year.

 

Here is a challenge for you: using the number 50, choose which one of these statements about the current state of pediatric cancer is true? (I'll give you 3 choices, and if you guess wrong you will have to change your profile picture to a Giraffe...ok I'm joking, but seriously...)

 

1 - Every year, only 50% of the funds raised by the American Cancer Society go to childhood cancer research.

 

2 - Every year the National Cancer Institute budget of $50 billion dollars, only gives 10% for childhood cancer research ($500 million)

 

3 - Every year there are 50% as many children's who die from cancer as there are with AIDS, diabetes and cystic fibrosis combined.

 

If you believe that any one of these are true, I challenge you to become more aware of the half truth's, or should I say, those that are less than 50% true at all, listed here.

 

Currently the ACS (American Cancer Society) gives less than 50%, more accurately an astounding 1% to pediatric cancer research. That doesn't make the NCI look any better because their budget is approximately only $5 billion, not $50 billion. Less than 10% of that goes to pediatric cancer research, again less than 50% which is only 3-4% of that $5,000,000,000! Finally, the mortality rate due to pediatric cancers, far outweigh the deaths of those in the combined categories of AIDS, diabetes AND cystic fibrosis!

 

To give you another perspective, I heard on the world news tonight that over 2000 American soldiers have been killed in the last 11 years of war, but the war on childhood cancer on American soil still claims the lives of over 2500, every single year! That is an average of 50 kids in ALL 50 states!

 

If you don't think 50 cents will matter, you better believe what really matters is that families can tuck their children in bed in their own rooms each night, rather then laying them in a miniature coffin 6 feet under the earth.

 

The next time you pull a handful of change out of your pocket, remember that in order to make change, you yourself will need to be the change for what matters most, our future generations.

 

If you are ready to make change, now that you are aware of the state of pediatric cancer, share a link to this blog or post a picture of a handful of change and include this link. Then watch this short film by the Truth 365 and take action before you hear about another child diagnosed with cancer, or worse.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLnNyZclkDQ&feature=youtu.be

In a Matter of Minutes

I promise this will only take a few minutes of your time...

FACT
The National Cancer Institue’s budget for FY 2013 was $4.8* billion.
Most of it went to 10 major types of adult cancers (lung, breast, prostate, colon, etc.)

 

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/research-funding

FACT
Approximately 4% covered 12 major types of children's cancer

FACT
The US Government spends $435,841,200 per hour (that is $7,264,020 per minute)  http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/us_deficit/us_deficit.html

FACT
4% is about $192 million dollars, so in 26 1/2 minutes of an entire Year (525,600) the money needed to find a cure for kids like yours and mine is spent. When that money is gone, the world depends on parents of children who are on the front lines, who are spending their life savings and more to sell lemonade and shave their heads and run to the White House, to raise even more money for research that has yet to scratch the surface in finding a cure.

Until our government gives us just a few more $minutes$ our kids will continue to suffer and die at the rate of 50 children in all 50 states.

... I hope this doesn't take a lifetime to decide something needs to be done to cure children's cancer, will you give a few minutes to write to congress to make change for our kids in 2014, before all we have with our kids are the last few minutes of their lives?

 

 

Icing on the Cake

Friday the 13th has never been more exciting than it has on National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day 2013! All day I have seen the golden glow of children's faces, as people everywhere come together to create awareness for our kids. Today may have been just another freaky Friday to some, but for kids all around the world who's lives have been terrorized by cancer, there has been celebration and an outpouring of support for children who deserve to see their next birthday.


Speaking of birthday's there are 2 coming up in October that you won't want to miss out on. Last year was a big celebration as my son Lincoln went on his Make-A-Wish trip and met Buzz Light Year on his 4th birthday! I won't say it made me feel old, but less than 2 weeks later that was a different story as I turned 36. I know many people who say they don't need birthday's anymore because they have had so many of them, but after thinking about it for half my life I have finally discovered that the secret to staying young is by giving back twice as much as you received, with each year that you have left.

This year I'm not going to have a surprise birthday party, but I am going to blow out the traditional party ideas by celebrating kids with cancer, who are hoping to blow out their own candles just one more time. To celebrate all of Our Kids in a special event, I want to create awareness by running 13 consecutive days, beginning on my son Lincoln's birthday and ending on mine. To help me in my pursuit for a cure and for the care of all, I will ask for 1300 people to join anywhere and anytime in this 13 day running challenge. You can do this one of many ways by running all 13 days, running a half marathon (13.1 miles) running as many 3.1 (5k's) as possible or walking with 13 friends to help raise awareness. Finally I will be looking to inspire 13 sponsors who will be willing to donate $1000 each to the childhood cancer research "Dream Team" through the efforts of The Truth 365 film and social media campaign.

Now that's what I call Icing on the Cake for #OurKids!

I have created a special facebook event page where you can donate your miles, celebrate kids who are still in the fight, and inspire action in the pursuit for a cure. You can join and invite all of your friends here @  https://www.facebook.com/events/566091380104579/

https://www.facebook.com/events/566091380104579/

Plan of Action

September is in full swing for #OurKids fighting cancer and awareness is on the rise, but "what" we ask is awareness really doing for childhood cancer in 2013? Back in January a petition was signed that was going to turn the White House Gold, or so we thought, but  now we feel the government has turned their backs on our kids and the fire is burning now more than ever. Awareness is something that can take place at anytime of the year, but in the Run for the White House for Childhood Cancer Awareness this year, people were doing more than raising awareness, they were literally taking ACTION that would bring a virtual idea into reality. Now that the event is over (for this year) people won't stop running because they know our kids need us now more than ever.

What is awareness and what is action?

Awareness is defined as "knowledge or perception of a situation or fact"

Fact: children get cancer
Fact: people know that children get cancer
Fact: people are aware that children have cancer
Fact: If we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and watch kids die day after day but don't take action, we fail to invest in our own future.

Action is defined as "the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim"

Do you have a plan of action? If you fail to plan, inevitably your plan will always be failure

Do you want to fail our kids like our government has? Do you think they ever had a Plan to help them overcome cancer?

Here is my plan: DON'T FAIL OUR KIDS!

Time is short and there is so much more on the line, comment here or on my facebook or twitter posts about how you will take Action this September for #OurKids.

Follow Me in a real life action event @ https://www.facebook.com/RunForTheWhiteHouseForChildhoodCancerAwareness