Post by paulpogue on Mar 7, 2011 15:24:39 GMT -8
All right, folks, time to fire up the Nerd Signal with a dispatch from the cancer wars.
As most of you know, my son Armand was diagnosed two years ago with just about the worst case of cancer imaginable -- a stage-four neuroblastoma that put a tumor the size of a cabbage in his stomach, spread to bones all over his damn body and left him with survival odds in the low double digits.
Armand is doing great now, two years later, and is cancer-free, though we're always on the lookout for a resurgence. At the time, we received plenty of offers of help from the Sanity Assassins/K-Box circle, including financial help. At the time, we demurred, because thankfully, of all the massive problems we had in our lives at the time, money wasn't one of them.
But recently our circle of friends was hit with the cruel hammer of irony, and I'm hoping to call upon people's generosity. One of my close friends these many years is Sarah Rogers. Last week her 12-year-old daughter Patty was diagnosed with neuroblastoma – exactly the same kind Armand had, and possibly an even worse case, with a tumor wrapped around her spine and another in her lung.
Right now she’s at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, getting the finest care available. My goal here, though, is to help her stay a little more sane.
If there’s one thing my family knows after 240 long days of inpatient treatment, it is that the days can go on endlessly. Armand got lucky – he had a DVD player and later an iPod to while away the days.
Armand was 2. Patty is 12. She has a lot of long days ahead of her and not a lot to keep the boredom away, especially when she won’t be able to leave the room. Which will be very often. And for a cancer patient who could barely sit up, there is nothing better in the world than an iPod.
Unless, of course, it's two years later and the world now has the iPad as well.
So my small contribution to her sanity is to find a way to get this kid an iPad. I’m putting up $50 to start a fund, and Apple’s already agreed to give her a discount. I’d like to ask the nerds of the world to lend a hand – 50 cents, five bucks, ten bucks, anything you can give. If we go over the limit needed, I’ll just throw in an iTunes store card to fill her up.
For convenience’s sake, we’re taking the online donations via Paypal. Send it to paulpogue1@hotmail.com and put “For Patty’s iPad” or something similar in the header.
I know it’s asking a lot. But I also know that my family and I wouldn’t have made it through the last two horrible years without the enormous support of everyone around us, and I want to do everything I can to help Patty Rogers get the same help.
Want to know more about her? Check out www.caringbridge.org/visit/patriciarogers/
Thanks a lot, everyone!
Paul F. P. Pogue
Veteran of the cancer wars
As most of you know, my son Armand was diagnosed two years ago with just about the worst case of cancer imaginable -- a stage-four neuroblastoma that put a tumor the size of a cabbage in his stomach, spread to bones all over his damn body and left him with survival odds in the low double digits.
Armand is doing great now, two years later, and is cancer-free, though we're always on the lookout for a resurgence. At the time, we received plenty of offers of help from the Sanity Assassins/K-Box circle, including financial help. At the time, we demurred, because thankfully, of all the massive problems we had in our lives at the time, money wasn't one of them.
But recently our circle of friends was hit with the cruel hammer of irony, and I'm hoping to call upon people's generosity. One of my close friends these many years is Sarah Rogers. Last week her 12-year-old daughter Patty was diagnosed with neuroblastoma – exactly the same kind Armand had, and possibly an even worse case, with a tumor wrapped around her spine and another in her lung.
Right now she’s at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, getting the finest care available. My goal here, though, is to help her stay a little more sane.
If there’s one thing my family knows after 240 long days of inpatient treatment, it is that the days can go on endlessly. Armand got lucky – he had a DVD player and later an iPod to while away the days.
Armand was 2. Patty is 12. She has a lot of long days ahead of her and not a lot to keep the boredom away, especially when she won’t be able to leave the room. Which will be very often. And for a cancer patient who could barely sit up, there is nothing better in the world than an iPod.
Unless, of course, it's two years later and the world now has the iPad as well.
So my small contribution to her sanity is to find a way to get this kid an iPad. I’m putting up $50 to start a fund, and Apple’s already agreed to give her a discount. I’d like to ask the nerds of the world to lend a hand – 50 cents, five bucks, ten bucks, anything you can give. If we go over the limit needed, I’ll just throw in an iTunes store card to fill her up.
For convenience’s sake, we’re taking the online donations via Paypal. Send it to paulpogue1@hotmail.com and put “For Patty’s iPad” or something similar in the header.
I know it’s asking a lot. But I also know that my family and I wouldn’t have made it through the last two horrible years without the enormous support of everyone around us, and I want to do everything I can to help Patty Rogers get the same help.
Want to know more about her? Check out www.caringbridge.org/visit/patriciarogers/
Thanks a lot, everyone!
Paul F. P. Pogue
Veteran of the cancer wars
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