just one boy with a big, big heart

I have an amazing story to share with you.

Over the last week and half or so Eddie's Fund began receiving donations from people I didn't know. They had one thing in common: They all live in Hingham, MA.

Here's the thing: I only know one person who lives in Hingham who knows of Eddie's Fund. Maybe two months ago a woman I hadn't even met (but to whom I'm connected through our Down syndrome networks) saw Eddie and Kori in Jimmy Fund (her own son is going through chemo), recognized them from my Facebook posts about Eddie, contacted me for their address, and did something really kind for them.

Amazing. Especially because her family is going through their own cancer awfulness.

Apparently, this person (I tell Kori it's her personal angel, as Kori still to this day has not met her) told her friends about Eddie's fund and about our little website here. And apparently (if someone wants to fill me in on this story, I'd love to hear it) one of those friends has a son. And the son had a birthday (I think it may even be today), and was turning 10 (I think?), and asked all his friends NOT to give him gifts.

Instead, he asked, would they donate to this boy Eddie he had heard about?

And so, for about 2 weeks, Eddie's Fund has been receiving donations from about a dozen families or so. And they have given as they could. And they have been so very generous.

In fact, as of today, this boy's birthday idea has raised $925 for Eddie's Fund.

Managing Eddie's Fund is a tricky thing. On the one hand, I really want to pay the family car off as soon as we can. On the other, if we send in extra money for the car, but then have a month when there's not enough in the Fund to make the usual payment, we put Eddie's family in a really hard spot.

So mostly, we've been making the usual car payments lately.

But I want to tell our new Hingham friends, and our new friend Danny, that ALL of the money you guys have raised is going to the principal of that car. Through you, we are going to cut MONTHS and MONTHS off of that car loan. You are literally making it possible for Kori to do what she does as a single mom--to be with Eddie in Boston and to go back and forth each day to be with her other son at home, too. Thank you, thank you for that.

And to our new friend--and Eddie's Fund Hero--Danny: May you have the best birthday ever. You have a huge heart for a not-so-old guy. Happy birthday to a boy we think personifies all the kindness and goodness Eddie's Fund hopes to represent in this world. Happy birthday, and thank you.