Eddie's mom chose to share Eddie's story in support of Jimmy Fund's Radio Telethon; the story captured the interest (and also, as you'll read, a keen sense of injustice) of a Herald reporter, Gerry Callahan, who wrote a heartbreakingly true article about Eddie's fight for today's paper.
You can read the article--use the right sidebar's "Eddie in the News" to link to today's story.
Somehow, reading an "outsider's" perspective on a family we've come to know so well, and love so much, made both Jason and I cry today.
It didn't help that we read the article while standing in the lobby of Children's Hospital this morning, waiting for our own daughter's cardiology appointment, anticipating a big sigh of relief about her progress since her open heart surgery nearly 3 years ago (and that sigh of relief did come).
Somehow, to see our friends still suffer so much, when our son has gone on to such great post-bone marrow transplant health, seems cruelly unfair. And to have "escaped" the medical fires again with our daughter, while Eddie still suffers...it makes us angry, and sad, and wishing we could do more.
So we came home today to do what we could to get the word out about Eddie's Fund. There are just 10 days left to our Rockin' August Giveaway--for every $10 you donate to the Fund, you'll receive 1 entry into our Giveaway for an iPod Touch. But more importantly, we've made it our goal--after so many years of raising funds for this family--to pay off their car, and as soon as we can. Maybe August can be the month for that.
Please join us. Eddie's family shouldn't have to worry about their bills--they've got enough on their plates. Tonight most of us will tuck our healthy kids into bed. Kori, Eddie's mom, will tuck Eddie in and sleep fitfully, waking throughout the night to feed him through a GI tube and to worry about his labored breathing. The world shouldn't be this way. It sucks. But it is. And we can do something to help alleviate the suffering, to bring hope, to help a family know they are not walking alone.
Join us this month in donating to Eddie's Fund.
As always, we appreciate your support and love for a boy you've never met.
With love,
The Winchell family
