Youth in Philanthropy

My niece, Emily, passed away this weekend. She was twelve years old, and in each of those years, she was dearly loved.

She also gave love joyfully and so freely that about a month ago, the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital paid her a visit to issue a special proclamation, which read:

University Hospitals
Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital
Official Proclamation

Whereas, Emily Lewis and her Family have been energetic and passionate supporters of Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital;
Whereas, Emily Lewis has been an inspiration to us all;
Whereas, it is appropriate to celebrate Emily with an award named in her honor;
It is with great pleasure that we hereby announce the creation of the

Emily Lewis Youth in Philanthropy Award At Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital

This award is to be given annually to a youth who demonstrates Emily’s awesome qualities of enthusiasm, spirit and zest for life in philanthropic support of Rainbow’s Children.

In witness whereof, this Proclamation is memorialized at Cleveland, Ohio this first day of July 2009.

Signed by Michael J Farrell President of Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Kim Pesses President of Rainbow Babies & Children’s Foundation.

Emily loved animals, reading, horseback riding, skiing, music, dance, school, going to camp, volunteering at church and having lots of friends. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to Flying Horse Farms, 225 Green Meadows Drive South, Suite A, Lewis Center, Ohio, 43035 www.flyinghorsefarms.org

Flying Horse Farms

I love this Public Service Announcement, and not just because my niece stars in it. Look for her snatching the hat, jumping into the pool, and dancing. She's a natural actress. You ROCK, Emily!!!


:60 PSA for Flying Horse Farms from Donna Raque on Vimeo.

For more information on how to help go to: Flying Horse Farms.

Flying Horse Farms is a provisional member of the Paul Newman "Hole in the Wall Gang" network of camps for kids with serious illnesses. They hope to open in 2009.

From their website:

Camp is not only a place for children who are terminally ill, but also a place where children who will survive their illnesses can grow and develop the skills necessary to thrive for the rest of their lives.

At Flying Horse Farms, these same children learn what they can do, not what they cannot do. Camp is a place where we focus on the possible, a place where kids can just be kids. Campers serve as role models for one another and begin to see themselves, often for the first time, not as victims, but as strong and capable leaders.

Amen to that.

30-40,000 Children

My niece, Emily, is battling cancer, and her mom sent this information about childhood cancer:

Every day 46 children in this country will be diagnosed with cancer. That is two classrooms full.

Every four hours a child will die from pediatric cancer. We have known several who fought bravely but did not survive.

The average age of a child being diagnosed is 6; the average age for an adult is 66. Emily was a few months shy of her 10th birthday.

Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease for our children. It kills more children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies and pediatric AIDS combined.

Pediatric cancer is cured about 75% of the time. That means one out of four children diagnosed will lose their battle.

It has been 20 years since any new pediatric cancer drug has been approved.

Currently there are between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer.

Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80% of children are diagnosed with advanced disease. Emily was one of them.

By 2010 one in every two hundred teens and adolescents will be a cancer survivor.

Most children are treated with smaller doses of adult drugs.

Due to the toll of the currently available therapies on their growing bodies, three out of every five children who survive cancer will be diagnosed with another cancer, a chronic illness or another life threatening illness before they are adults.

So I would love for everyone to stop and think of all the children who are courageously fighting this disease and the ones who earned their wings who fought so hard against this ugly beast.

God bless,
Debbie

My niece has come with her mom and dad to a hospital near us to begin a new drug trial this week. Please pray for her.

"A new way of looking at themselves"

These may be the most beautiful portraits I've ever seen: joyful photographs of young cancer patients, taken by the volunteer group, Flashes of Hope. Read the article, Changing the Face of Cancer, then click on the links to the side to see the portraits. The mission of Flashes of Hope is to "to change the image of childhood cancer, to give young people battling the disease a new way of looking at themselves." I think they've succeeded.

This is my sister-in-law and my niece. My niece is ten, and just completed a year of cancer treatments. She's so beautiful, isn't she?