I decided for FC6 that we should do something good with the annual party I throw to celebrate beating cancer. I asked everyone to bring a couple extra dollars to the party to give to a kid that is going through what I went through. Since all of my friends were there for me throughout the entire time and saw what it did to me, they had no problem opening their wallets to help. I just wanted to give the kid something to get his mind off the hospital, the chemo and his illness for just a moment. I was given many moments away from all of that by my friends and family. I always seemed to have someone checking in or checking up on how I was doing. All the people around me were my escape from the reality of my illness. We were able to give the money raised to a child battling cancer at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
At FC7, I had a coworker who was battling cancer so we decided to raise money for him and his family. I hated to see someone I knew going through the stuff I went through but I knew the money would be able to help in some way. I told him he should use in whatever way he wanted. I just asked that he do something with it to get his mind off of everything he was going through.
FC8 we gave back to the kids at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia again. I will be forever connected and indebted to everyone that works there. We also collected toys for kids at our Christmas party that year.
The LIVESTRONG Challenge came around just in time for FC9 last year. We were able to use the challenge to reach more people and raise even more money. With the help of the LIVESTRONG Challenge we were able to raise $2,200, which is more than any other year. Hopefully until this year! I set a goal of $3,000 this year and hope to reach it with a little help from my friends and family.