Summertime is...

...almost over.

September is fast approaching, bringing with it Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It's time to Get Your Gold On. Team Unite has put together a line of Gold Gear to help remind the world that the fight to save our future is still on - our children, more precious than gold.

Because there is no end to this battle in sight, it is a fight which can drain physical and emotional energies. When you know how long something will last (a race for example) you can pace yourself to maintain your strength and when that finish line is just around the corner you can reach a little bit further inside and GO!

The race for a cure doesn't offer mile markers - so you try and pace yourself, but you can still only go for so long. You reach for a little bit more to make it through this day or that night finding that there's nothing left. You sit down, but that doesn't get you any further, so you stand back up, plodding along, hoping...for a medical breakthru...that no other family has to hear the words - "Your child has..."...that no other family has to say the words - "DNR"...hoping...for this nightmare to be over...but it's not.

It's not over...yet. Which is why what each of us does is so important - raising awareness - offering a shoulder - showing up with a cup of coffee - funding clinical trials.

This September the awareness net is being cast in the northeast. Scranton, PA will be hosting a walk held by Aimee's Army. Nashua, NH will have a locally organized duathalon which will benefit ICBYC. If you are in either of those areas or want to be for the day, stop on by - show up with a cup of coffee and be with people who want the nightmare to be over.

Derric, Joshua and Assiyah have all finished their races; Andrew, Ashani and "Ing" are still in theirs. There is no way of knowing when the cure will come along - we just have to keep going until it shows up.

Fashion

High Strung Beads has created a bracelet and earrings for Brain Tumor Awareness. Combining gray pearls and pewter they make a very powerful and beautiful statement of support for a type of disease that all too often goes overlooked. A percentage of the purchase price has been generously offered to I Could Be Your Child - we are honored that of all the worthy brain tumor organizations, ICBYC was selected. (If gray isn't your color - don't worry - Sue has more.)

There are, unfortunately, always children in this dipg community who aren't having the easiest of times right now. Some are having to change medications or are being told there are no more medical choices for them. Please stop by and offer the children and their families some words of encouragement. I can assure you that even when you don't know the person on the other end of the computer, reading the support that is offered so freely can make a really miserable day bearable.