Help Sam

As many of you know, I spent a good number of years in high school and college helping to fundraise for the Four Diamonds Fund, with the ultimate goal someday of Counquering Childhood Cancer.

We still make our regular donations, and this past February was the first time in about a decade that we didn't make the annual trip to State College for our own little THON reunion among friends.

So naturally Jill's spur-of-the-moment fundraiser over at Baby Rabies for baby Sam -- who was diagnosed in April, at four months old, with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma -- tugged at my heartstrings.

So I donated.

And after tremendous initial response to her little fundraising effort -- through which she wanted to help baby Sam's parents pay for 2/3 of a month of COBRA health insurance by raising $1,000 -- Jill has now set her sights at raising $7,500 for the family.

No, the money won't go towards research that could benefit a multitude of littles down the road; rather it will all go to one family in need, a family I know nothing about and will never meet.

But now that I have my own little boy, I can't imagine turning down this request for a little bit of help. I see the innocent joy in that little boy's eyes as he plays in the hospital waiting room , and my heart aches for his Mama and Daddy, whose love and fears and hope and despair must be so tangled together in a mess of daily torture and confusion. Yet they must do their best to lay aside their heartsinking apprehension and financial anxiety to stay strong for their beloved boy.

It's Just. Not. Fair.

So I donated a little bit again. He's only one little boy with cancer, but so could be mine. And I know I'd appreciate and be uplifted by the kindness and generosity of empathetic strangers, should I ever have to face a simliar fate.

And I'm sharing baby Sam's story so that all of you who understand the unbelievable love and bottomless what-if fears that a child brings to his or her parents have the opportunity to pay it forward, if you so wish.

If you pray, add baby Sam to your prayers. And if you are able, donate $5 to help Sam and his parents breathe a little easier during this unimaginably tough time.

Pay it forward because you understand that "only one little boy with cancer" could have been or be any of our babies. Do it out of the compassion and understanding for other parents and families that only comes when you have a child of your own.