This column is often filled with little snapshots from my past. Growing up on a Bureau County farm with all the trials, tribulations, comforts and opportunities farm life had to offer clearly affected me in many ways. My memory takes me down many dusty, gravel roads, which I share with you — sometimes, it’s more therapy for me than enjoyable reading for you, I’m sure. I try to produce a column every week; for some reason, I kind of feel like I’m letting you down if I don’t.
And so it was Thursday morning when the need to pen this column was upon me. I had been thinking about it since Monday, but nothing was causing the creative juices to really flow. In other words, I didn’t have a clue what I should write about. Believe me, it’s not the first time it’s happened, but quite frankly, I needed to get this column out of the way; I had a host of other obligations that really needed my attention. The minutes ticked by ... still nothing. I was just about ready to kick the column to the curb this week, when my phone rang. I picked it up to hear our front office lady tell me someone was waiting to see to me.
When I went up front, I saw a familiar face. I’ve known the fellow for years, but I never had any lengthy or meaningful conversations with him. Nice guy. That’s all I really knew. His first statement/question to me kind of caught me off guard ...
“Do you know what the yellow ribbon stands for?” he asked.
Right away the song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree,” came to mind, and then I muttered something about soldiers coming home and yellow ribbons tied around trees.
“Everybody knows what the pink ribbon stands for, but the yellow ribbon stands for childhood cancer,” he said to me. “And September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.”
Wow! This one took me by surprise! I invited him to sit, and the two of us talked for a bit. His family has a personal experience with a child with leukemia, and of course, most of you know I am a cancer survivor. We talked. We listened. We learned. At one point throughout the conversation, we both had tears in our eyes, our chins trembling just a bit and our eyes brimming with those tears you try so hard to not let fall.
Kids with cancer. I know what I went through, and the idea of a child having to undergo anything even close to that ... well, it absolutely breaks my heart. I can’t imagine what must go through their youthful minds, especially while their healthy friends live a happy-go-lucky life with no knowledge of words like oncologist, St. Jude’s, morphine, etc.
I guess it’s fairly common to say that when we think about cancer, we think about adults. But the facts about childhood cancer are alarming. According to a bit of research I did after my conversation, nearly 50 children are diagnosed with cancer every day in the United States, with leukemia and brain tumors being the most frequent diagnosis. In children, cancer is the leading cause of death, and in fact, it is responsible for more deaths than all other deaths combined. More than 40,000 children are in cancer treatment every year, and one in eight of those children will not survive. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg ...
The gentleman I spoke with asked if the BCR could do a story about September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and without hesitation, I said yes. Please watch for that story in an upcoming edition of this newspaper.
More importantly, though, when it’s time to dig down deep and make your donations for the year, I urge you to consider St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — a phenomenal place that is working tirelessly to eradicate this awful disease from children’s lives.
No child should have to say the word ... cancer.
Putnam County Record Editor Terri Simon can be reached at tsimon@putnamcountyrecord.com.