September is a time of mixed feelings for me. As a teacher, it has always been a time of excitement and anticipation for the new school year. A time of new beginnings, fresh new supplies, and the wonderful happy faces of new students to get to know.
However, that all changed one September fourteen years ago. That September, on a golden early fall day, we found out that Catherine had cancer. A cancer that did not have a great prognosis. That day and for weeks, months, and years afterward, it seemed like we were living inside a nightmare. Catherine would have started preschool that year, and John was starting Kindergarten. All of our plans turned into day-to-day survival mode.
September is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. So ever since the day that we walked through the hospital door that said "Pediatric Oncology," we have been very aware of childhood cancer and all that it entails. Each September we participate in activites to help others understand the urgency of funding research for childhood cancer.
This year amid the pandemic, we are not able to hold our annual fundraiser. And yet cancer does not care. Each day, still, a classroom full of kids is diagnosed with cancer, and seven children die of it. Every day. So we cannot give up or give in. We are asking you to donate to our September is Golden fundraiser as you are able.
September remains a time of mixed feelings for me, but I believe that Catherine would be glad to know that we are continuing her fight, against all odds, as she did.
