Yesterday, my wife and I attended the funeral of a 8 year-old girl who recently lost her battle to brain cancer.
During the service, a nurse practitioner from St. Jude read this quote:
Children with cancer are like candles in the wind who accept the possibility that they are in danger of being extinguished by a gust of wind from nowhere. Yet, as they flicker and dance to remain alive, their brilliance challenges the darkness and dazzles those of us who watch their light.
While I can’t find the source of the quote online, the writer got it exactly right. I’ve never met a kid in the halls of St. Jude that’s isn’t special. They often touch more lives than anyone else. They inspire hope when most would succumb and crumble.
In a few weeks, we will be celebrating the five year anniversary of Josiah’s diagnosis. This sweet little girl was diagnosed about the same time. With her parents, we watched our kids grow up having MRIs and undergoing chemotherapy — doing things that would terrify most adults.
After the service, we spoke to Rick Shadyac, the CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude. After we caught him up on Josiah (who he’s met several times over the years) and chatted for a few minutes, he looked me in the eye and said:
We’re going to get back to the work of beating this thing.
I would march a million miles with that as my anthem. Our kids should flicker and dance, without fear. No more candles should be extinguished.
