A couple of people have asked me why I am supporting the Ronald McDonald House and spending time and effort raising funds for this particular non-profit organization. I want to share a bit about my personal connection, and it’s something most of my friends today likely don’t even know about.
When I was a freshman in high school, I ran indoor track during the winter. At the time, my school district had three junior high schools, and there was one very large senior high school with close to 2,000 students. Because of the high school’s size, freshmen attended the junior high schools. To make a long story short, I was the only freshman who ran indoor track on the senior high team, and I didn’t have friends on the team when I started.
One of the older guys on the team was a popular sophomore named Ramesh, who also ran the 55m dash, and he had a ton of friends at school. Ramesh was very friendly to me, despite my receiving the typical freshman treatment from the rest of the team. Ramesh and I were not close friends outside of the track team, but he was always looking out for me, and it’s something I appreciated and haven’t forgotten. He was a focused person with a big heart.
The much abridged version of the story is that I learned Ramesh was diagnosed with cancer in his sophomore or junior year of high school. His battle with cancer was difficult, and it was heartbreaking because one of his biggest goals in high school was to attend Boston College. Just as my senior year began and his friends were starting college, Ramesh lost his battle with cancer. It was probably the most difficult thing I dealt with up until that point.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like for a child (and the family) to battle cancer, and I know the Ronald McDonald House makes it easy for them to focus on beating cancer by taking care of everything else when they are away from home. The people at the RMH are caring, and they take care of the residents and families on different levels – physical and emotional.
Cancer is a horrible disease, and it’s especially frightening for children. RMH helps families so the kids can focus on beating cancer and not worry about other things.
In addition to Ramesh, I have also had family members who fought cancer. Sadly, my Aunt (Mom’s sister) lost her battle with pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago, and it was terribly sad to watch her and her family cope with the disease. My Grandmother also fought and beat breast cancer a number of years ago.
I think cancer probably touches most of us at some point in our lives. I want to be able to help an organization that is helping families with kids who have cancer. So far, you’ve helped me raise over $3,500 towards our $5,000 fundraising goal, and I am immensely appreciative of this support. I hope you’ll help me reach the $5,000 goal.
It’s not often that I’m in New England for Patriots Day, but it’s a lot of fun. Not only is it a holiday in Massachusetts (friends have the day off from work), but the Red Sox play an 11:30am matinee, and of course, the Boston Marathon is run.
