A new THANK YOU and one LONG overdue!

First, Grier is doing great in school-- he loves to tell us about his friends and teachers. He went on his first field trip to Discovery Place-- All normal things for him and we are so glad-- He is looking forward to Trick or Treating-- He does not remember going before ( he was only 2) but we have talked about it enough that it will be fun to watch him enjoy Halloween-- It is hard to believe the 1 year anniversary of his HUGE surgery is in a few days!! On the medical front, we may be taking his mediport out !! We got the OK from Dr. Kushner in NY and he said the sooner the better! He said it could be done in NY or in Charlotte-- so we will start the process in Charlotte-- I know that if we were in NY it would be done quickly in a procedure room but I am not sure what it will entail here-- I just hope it does not require an admission to the hospital-- We are taking it out because we are not using it often enough to warrant the risks of having it in (ie. infections)-- the only downfall will be having an IV for all blood draws-- but hopefully he will handle that as well as being accessed-

Since all three are in school -- I have stayed busy trying to help organize the CureSearch Walk-- I have decided that when I do get a "real/ paying job"-- it will not be in fundraising!! As much as I love to hear the words.. "yes, I would love to help"--- I can not stand the No's! And lately that is all I have been told! I know the economy is bad-- trust me.. I know --BUT I also know cancer does not care! And my scale of BAD is so skewed by the words "your child has cancer" it is a little different - So, I go full speed for awhile-- then I take a break and get energized and go full speed again because of something good I hear from some of you---!

Those good things have been happening for quite awhile-- some are things I did not ask anyone to help with -- they just decided to make a difference on their own by using Grier's story. John Cantrell recently completed an Iron Man all the while raising a lot of money for pediatric cancer research! He has worked on this for a long time and I could not be more thankful!!
Everyone knows about the Cookies for Kids Cancer bake sale we had-- but what you do not know is that I asked another friend if she would have one too-- She not only had a successful bake sale but her church in Morehead City, NC decided they would partner with the idea and use it as their mission project and kick it off on the Sunday that the children led the worship-- So many great things came out of that day in Morehead City at First Presbyterian Church. The whole church family learned about the need for more funding for children fighting cancer as well as coming together to bake cookies in their Fellowship Hall to sell at the bake sale! Both worship services were about children including songs and sermons-- and a guest speaker, 4 year old, Grant who told why they were baking cookies and told the congregation about Grier! I heard they want to make it an annual event now!

This is from Kristie on her experience with the bake sale---

The children had a fantastic day on Saturday baking cookies and making their "cookie pots"! The Children's Sabbath was just wonderful with all the gold ribbons throughout the church and the message Suzy gave was remarkable! I'm forwarding you a link to the church website so you can hear it with your own ears. The way Suzy gave the message of seeing God through the eyes of children, children's cancer awareness and our responsibilities to all children was beautiful! You will be amazed by the personal connection Suzy has with St. Jude! I hope you will each take a few minutes to listen to it. I promise it's worth it! The website is www.firstpresmhc.org. If you click on "Recent Sermons" the audio is available today.

I found out yesterday that the article I submitted to the "Crystal Coast Parent" Magazine will be off the press next week. The article is about Cookies for Kids' Cancer and encouraging people to host a holiday bake sale. I was so pleased to find out it made the cover of the magazine! The magazine will go out to over 16,000 readers in eastern North Carolina. I hope the article will do the organization justice! At least there will be that many more North Carolinians made aware of the shortfall of funding for pediatric cancer and they CAN make a difference!

And that leads me back to talking about the CureSearch Milestones walk--- The Go, Grier, Go team is 87 members strong at this point and we as a team have raised more than $10,000! I still would love to hit my goal of 100 team members.... some of the concerns I am hearing is that the fundraising goal is set at $200 per walker-- please do NOT worry about this-- Also, this walk is a few laps around Freedom Park's lake-- not a long distance so this should be a family event for all levels of athletic ability!!!

That is it for my overdue update-- My favorite part is that the medical issue is NOT the biggest deal right now -- I think that would be finding a cure !