I have to admit that perhaps my goal of raising a million dollars might have been a little overzealous. I'm not upset about falling short. My goal is to raise awareness and yes. Money. It's pretty important in that whole research part of things.
It was one year ago this week that I was diagnosed with my tumor. It will be one year ago on November 11 that I had it removed. I have to tread lightly with my words because some people have chosen to use my surgery as something to be held against me and have basically said that I'm incapable of performing basic adult tasks. That is their ignorance at work, but I choose not to feed it.
I've been on the Kidd's Kids trip a bunch of times now. I honestly don't know how many. It's life changing to see how medical conditions can effect the lives of people. You see specials on TV and read stuff in newspapers and magazines, but it's a completely different thing to experience it first hand. You go from being that clumsy kid who gets hurt all the time to the invincible teenager who can do anything to the adult who thinks they're out of the woods back to having to worry about what's to come with age. It's really strange how life works.
With Kidd's Kids, I see kids who don't get to be clumsy and experience the normal bumps and bruises most of the time. They spend their days in hospital beds and getting home schooled because they can't afford to be exposed to all of the germs and stuff that other kids bring around. I see the look on parents faces when they know that their child will not outlive them. I've seen and cried with parents who have lost their babies. When it comes down to it, life just sucks sometimes.
You look around at everything that's been going on lately and how advanced medicine has gotten. We have this big Ebola scare like three weeks ago where everyone is in a panic thinking there's going to be an outbreak and now the two nurses who contracted the disease have been released and are back to normal life. How insane is that? At the same time, though, how frustrating?
I think back to the Krista Brewers of the world and all that she went through in her battle with Neuroblastoma. It pisses me off so much that that little girl and her loved ones suffered and still suffer to the extent that they do. It's not fair. To never feel good. I think of Penny Jurkash who is so self-conscious of her hair that she won't leave the house without a beanie on her head even if it's 104* outside. And her brother, Joel, who is so sweet and supportive, but has to miss out on so much because his little sister is sick. Why them?
At the end of the day it all comes down to two things. Awareness and money. Period. The end. I think I said before that the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is an amazing thing because it has achieved both. It's raised awareness and gathered so much support year after year. Millions of dollars are raised for that cause and it's truly a beautiful thing. If I had dealt with Breast Cancer over the past year, I know I would have been on here this past month preaching about the significance of continuing to support that cause. I didn't though. I had my head cut open to remove some build up of skin cells smack dab in the middle of my brain. They had been there since birth and finally gotten big enough to cause my brain to swell and cause physical symptoms. Once the meningitis was controlled, they went in expecting to get most of it out, but not all because it was in a terrible spot in my brain. But with the help of two fantastic neurosurgeons and the grace of God, they got it all out. Now I'm here preaching about the significance of spreading awareness about brain tumors and, of course, raising money for research.
If you don't know, the brain controls everything in your body. So having anything in there that doesn't belong can really screw you up. Getting hat doesn't belong taken out isn't cheap. The MRI's to have what doesn't belong checked out are insanely expensive. You know that healthcare is a profitable business and that money isn't going to the doctor's. It's sad, but it's true. You think that doctor's are rich and going home to million dollar mansions and stuff and yes, they do make nice livings. But it's not like you think. At all. The healthcare business is full of greedy insurance companies and hospitals that will charge you $20 for a single Tylenol. It's insane. The insanity is NOT going to stop unless we take a stand and do our part to make a difference.
That's why I'm asking for your help. It's like we tell you on Kidd's Kids Day. I'd love it if everyone could donate a hundred dollars. That would be awesome. However, I know it's not possible. Life is expensive. It's the small donations that add up. If you can't donate, pass the link along to friends and family and maybe they can. We even have cool t-shirts now that we're selling for $20. The pic of the shirts is on the bottom along with info on ordering. This is important to me and I'm going to do what I can to become an advocate for research. This is step one. It's a baby step...I know. But it's a step.
If you are interested in purchasing a shirt, go to my facebook page. Here's the link.
https://www.facebook.com/ThePsychoShanon
Send me a private message with your name, email address, size, and let me know what city you're in. If you are on my team, you will have to purchase a shirt still. You can get it the day of the race to save on shipping. I still need to know your size.
I will either send you a PayPay invoice and mail you the shirt or we will do a mass pickup to save on fees so that more is donated to the Brain Tumor Association. What I will do is pay the cost of the shirt and donate the remainder to the Brain Tumor Fund. None is going to me personally or anyone else.
If you are in the DFW area and want to walk on my team on Saturday, November 8, you can join at this link.
www.braintumor.org/KISSFM
I want to say a special thanks to a few organizations who are showing extra support in my first step to becoming an advocate. Thank you to Dr. Rob Dickerman, Dr. Brent Morgan, Ashley, and everyone else at the North Texas Brain & Spine Institute for getting my brain all cleared up and for helping me out with this walk. And, of course, thank you to our flagship station, 106.1 KISS FM in Dallas for showing me love since I started in radio in 1999. I'm still here because of continued support from my KISS FM family, so thank you all very much.
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