Today was the Rex E. Lee Run for cancer at BYU. This is the second time Becky and Audrey have made the 5k run. This was also the second time Audrey carried her cousin Natalie Burraston's name on her back as a show of support for her struggle with leukemia. Becky ran with the name of Natalie's friend, Alexa, who passed away from neuroblastoma last summer. Cancer sucks. Becky has posted a note on Facebook describing her experience and letting people know about the Princess Alexa Foundation which collects donations of dress up clothes, costumes and money (what's in your wallet?) for children undergoing treatment at hospitals.


So much progress has been made in so many areas like cancer and other diseases. The kind of leukemia that Natalie had has a high cure rate these days, but 15 years ago it was much lower. The future (and the present!) looks very promising for even more astounding medical progress with diseases that are so frustrating and heart breaking today. It is the hard work and dedication from people like Alexa's parents, who founded and run the Princess Alexa Foundation, and Natalie's doctors, nurses etc... (see the post for FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009 09:35 AM at the link for Natalie Burraston above) that have made this progress possible. I may not be as hard working and dedicated like those others, but my credit card still works and monthly donations to these excellent charities are much less painful than for those who directly experience the disease and its effects.


This brings me to what I really wanted to say here today. While cancer research and treatment are working miracles every day, there is one "disease" that is so easy to cure, nearly trivial, yet goes untreated far too often. That is poverty and hunger. So many children and families suffer so greatly from hunger and even starvation which is a condition that is hard to believe even exists in this age. I can't imagine how expensive it must be to treat cancer and other diseases, but I figure a child's life could be saved from hunger and easily preventable disease just from the equivalent cost of postage to mail insurance claims etc... to a cancer patient's home. I saw the stack of mail at Natalie's house. Wow! So while I'm plugging charities, my favorite is Children's International. We've been donating for a few years now. It's so easy to set up automatic charges to the credit card and I hardly even notice. I was looking at a picture on the fridge of our sponsored child, Sindy, the other day and realized that she's starting to get big. I'm not the kind to get too involved personally in the struggle of others, but my credit card still works...

Here are more pictures of the Rex E Lee Run for Cancer