You are invited to join our Light The Night team and be a part of an amazing group of compassionate and dedicated members who want to put an end to blood cancers!

Thank you to everyone who is participating in this years walks.

Team Matthew was officially added to our roster yesterday, which puts us at $996,787!!!! Only $3,213 away. We can do it! We are so close!

Thank you for stopping by day 5 of Blogging for Blood Cancer. Today’s prize is 5 sets of vinyl wall decals (value=$48.00) courtesy of Stakersensations. Yesterday’s winner was commenter # 25 – Nikki! She knew that FOH and its Affiliate teams have raised over $958,241 in four seasons!

To qualify to win, leave a comment with an answer to the question after reading the post.

Five years ago, we all started because of a blue eyed baby girl named Allie. Five years later we are still here and going strong, in fact each year we grow stronger. Friends of Heroes has become a big part of each of our lives, and we are still making a huge difference each year. Five years from now we all share the same hope that there will be no need for us, because we will have a cure.

Friends of Heroes, formerly Friends of Allie and Allie’s Angels, is the largest national Friends and Family Light The Night team in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s history. The team was originally created to honor Allie Scott, an 8 month old baby from Allen, TX who passed away from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in September 2004. You can read more about the inspiration for Friends of Heroes (here).

Since then, Friends of Heroes has grown dramatically in both size and focus. The team not only retains a core group of over 600 registered walkers, but also welcomes several affiliate teams across the country. In the 2007 Light The Night season, Friends of Heroes had a team presence at 60 walksites and raised a $114,000 dollars in the fight against blood cancers.

Friends of Heroes and affiliates actively fundraise for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, with a passion and focus towards eradicating pediatric blood cancers. We strive to incorporate honored children at each walksite – local children who are either currently undergoing treatment or in remission from any blood cancer.

The Friends of Heroes Light The Night team is overseen by national team leaders, volunteers who oversee fundraising and team organization, as well as a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Friends and Family national manager. We always welcome new volunteers, and encourage you to contact any of the team leaders for more information on how to get involved in our mission.

Our Mission Statement

As Friends of Heroes, we are a volunteer organization whose purpose is:

• To raise money toward pediatric blood cancer research and patient services through Light The Night walks.
• To make a positive difference in the lives of families affected by pediatric cancer.
• To invoke awareness in our local communities of the need for cancer research.
• To build an international network of individuals and teams who share our passion and goal to raise money for an awareness of pediatric blood cancer.

Five years later…………………

Reflecting back over my years with Friends of Heroes and doing the Light the Night walks my first thought goes to the children and their families. How their world must have been turned upside down to find out that someone they loved was diagnosed with Leukemia/Lymphoma. My second thought goes to what if that would happen to my son or daughter wouldn’t I hope that people would do the same as I’m doing which is VOLUNTEERING my time to make the difference in someone else’s life.
If you’ve never walked in the Light the Night before let me tell you it’s a wonderful experience and you should really consider doing one. It’s a night that people get together to honor and remember those who have or are battling this awful disease. Seeing the crowds of people and the balloons flickering as the sun goes down and at our walk in St. Louis we see the sidewalk towards of the end of the walk we see candles inside bags lining the walkway of the people we just walked in honor or in memory of. It’s an experience that keeps bringing me back year after year.
Kathie Team Captain relations

“Friends of Heroes is a part of my life. After meeting several cancer heroes, it makes me want to work HARDER to find a cure. I really hope that in 5 years, Friends of Heroes will not be here, BECAUSE there is a cure for blood cancers!”
Beck Social Networks Coordinator

Why am I still walking five years later…Because mother’s are still losing their children to this horrible disease. No child should have to fight for their lives. They should be enjoying being a child. No mother should have to watch as their child suffers from this devastating disease wondering if they will make it to their next birthday. Until every child is cured or even better blood cancer is preventable, I still have a job to do and my job is to help raise funds and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and their critical mission. I hope you will all join me in this important fight.
Lois National Co-Captain

Five years later, I am still involved with Friends Of Heroes and Light the Night because, I truly believe that we will find a cure in my life time. These children are our future, and I want no other child to loose their life to this horrible disease. I believe that Friends of Heroes can and is making a huge difference in the fight against cancer. We will keep making a difference and I will always be involved in that until we have no more cancer to raise funds and awareness about and for.
Christy Blog

Hope. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) provides hope to thousands of blood cancer patients each year because of research funded through events like Light The Night.

Five years ago, the five-year survival rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, was only 55%. Today the five-year survival rate is 90.5%. Patients are living longer, better lives!

I am extremely hopeful that in another five years we will see incredible advancements toward a cure, but there is still so much work to be done! Acute myeloid leukemia is still around 50% survival. Those odds need to improve! Families shouldn’t have to lose their precious ones to this devastating disease.

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” – Denis Waitley

Please join us to make a difference!
Jenn National Co-Captain

Enter to win today’s prize
5 sets of vinyl wall decals (value=$48.00) courtesy of Stakersensations
How many registered walkers did FOH have in 2007? Hint: You will find the answer is in this post. Wink, wink.]
You’ll also be entered for our grand prize to be drawn Monday for a $900 Timberland and Lacoste product assortment, courtesy of Samsonite. (Comments are moderated.)
Make sure to stop back all week for more information and even more chances to win!

Total Walkers 561
Team Captains 75
Affiliate Teams 21

Amount Raised YTD $84,646

Total Amount Raised $928,967

(This total does not include offline money or Light The Night walks from this weekend.)

Thank you to our dedicated team members and affiliate teams!

Current Affiliate Teams
AL Dothan Wesley’s Journey
AZ Phoenix The Shrinking Violets
AZ Phoenix Team Matthew
AZ Tucson PAC Attack
CA Fresno For The Love of Caleb
CA Fresno Karah’s Angels
CA Fresno Glowing Girls
CA Fresno Gustafson’s Gang
CA Los Angeles Courtney’s Angels
CA Santa Rosa Jackson’s All-Stars
CA Santa Rosa Ladies in Pink
CA Santa Rosa Yokayo Biofuels
FL Seminole Raymond James
FL Tampa Team Logan
IN Chesterton Tyler’s Tigers
NV Reno St. Mary’s Reno
NY Bear Mountain Team Clark
TX Corinth Ethan’s our Hero
WI Milwaukee Team Baby Vaughn
WI Milwaukee Marco Galicia
WI Delavan Team Reyes

To find out how to become an affiliate and help us with a pediatric cancer research grant naming, visit www.friendsofheroes.org/affiliates.shtml or email Kim at affiliates@friendsofheroes.org.

We would love to include you in this incredible opportunity to honor a cancer hero and to one day, save lives!

Alison B., Chester County Team Captain, organized a “100 Mile Dash” with a Team in Training runner and together they raised $220 (22 entrants at a $10 joiner fee each) and a lot of awareness for Friends of Heroes and LLS. Entrants, members of an online parenting forum, were encouraged to move themselves 100 miles in 100 days using their own personal steam. Participants were eligible for prizes and a drawing for a $30 Target gift card.

Jen C., Team Captain of Santa Rosa, CA, set up an Awareness Booth at SolFest, a 2-day festival promoting sustainable living through inspirational environmental education. She encouraged people to participate in Light The Night and raised $80 with her corporate affiliate team Yokayo Biofuels. As a fundraiser, Yokayo Biofuels will also raffle 50 gallons of biofuel. If all 200 tickets sell, it will raise $2,000 to be split between Yokayo Biofuels and Friends of Heroes.

Kathie E. is at it again! The St. Charles County Team Captain is scheduled to do an Awareness Booth at a local grocery store in hopes to surpass their last-year total of $300. She also has a second Awareness Booth scheduled at a community fair to help share the LLS and FOH mission. Plans for a potential bowling fundraiser is also in the works.

Reno and Sacramento Team Captain Beck M. shares these tips and words of encouragement:

“Friends of Heroes has earned the title as the LARGEST friends and family team, so we have our names on ALL of the Light the Night walk “Taking Steps Towards Cures” handouts with Cynthia Nixon on it. Use the fact that our team name IS in there to promote the Friends of Heroes name to get people to join.

Try your hardest to push the Friends of Heroes name as much as you can. A few tips are to carry a few of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society information handouts with you. Also, wear a relentless bracelet. I have been stopped countless times over it. Sadly, once you start a conversation about blood cancer, chances are, almost everyone you talk to will have a story to share.

Lets do it for those Heroes, LETS GET THE BEAST~
As the door shuts behind my husband at his parents house, his dad with a low voice just said “mom’s best friend just got diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma” The first thought in my head was “The beast has hit again!” So let’s make 2007 Friends of Heros be one of the best years and be one step closer to getting that beast.”

National Co-Captain Beth F. did a Google search for Friends of Heroes and was delighted to see her event press release printed in her local paper and circulating on the web.

Press release templates are pre-written and available for you to customize. Download press releases at http://www.friendsofheroes.org/pressroom.shtml and distribute to your local media outlets to publicize your event and spread the word about Friends of Heroes.

Chesterton IN – August 25, 2007

Career Development: Scholar in Clinical Research

Joseph Wiemels, PhD – 2004 (Active) – 2634-04

The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, CA US

Etiology and Natural History of Pediatric Leukemias with t(12;21) TEL-AML1 Translocations

Leukemia is the most common cancer in childhood. Despite many advances in the treatment of childhood leukemia, the disease remains a tragic circumstance in suffering and mortality. The advances in treatment are not matched by advances in discovering the cause or means to prevent the disease.

Leukemia is associated with genetic changes in certain types of blood cells, and we have discovered that one type of change, chromosomal translocations, very often occur before the child is born. These translocations are quite common among children, most of who never get leukemia. However, we have very little information about the genetic changes that occur after birth and how these changes ultimately cause leukemia.

We currently propose to apply new techniques in the field of cancer genetics to identify the identity and exact sequences of these secondary genetic events in the most common type of leukemia, those with the translocation t(12;21).

These techniques, termed “array comparative genomic hybridization” and “inverse polymerase chain reaction” will be used within a comprehensive epidemiology study of childhood leukemia in Northern California. We will use our “molecular forensic” techniques in concert with traditional epidemiologic methods to discover the causes of leukemia for the purposes of developing preventative strategies.

From: lls.org

Walkers: 220

Captains: 54

Affiliate Teams -

Friends & Family: 12

Corporate: 3

Amount Raised YTD: $10,420

Gross Amount Raised: $854,420

FOH Team Message Board Update

We’ve had 89 members register on the FOH Team Message Board this month. In the last 30 days, we’ve had 23,828 page loads from 5,679 unique visitors. If you haven’t joined yet, come meet us there and start posting! http://friendsofheroes.proboards80.com/

Fundraising and Corporate Sponsorships for Light The Night
Submitted by Beck

Fund raising does not have to be a chore….REALLY! It can be a lot of fun. I always get “Beck is at it again!” from my whole family. My almost four year old is taking after her mama, she likes to help me raise money to help her two best friends who have A.L.L. feel better. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has become a part of our family.

For fund raising I try to think of fun ways to earn money and not “over do it”. Three years ago, I hosted a “Mother and Daughter Prom”. We charged $25 for each couple and we got our local kids gym to donate a few hours. We also got pizza and pastries donated as well.

This year, I am working on getting corporate sponsorships. Three years ago, I would have run away at the word corporate, but really, it is easier then I thought. A great place to start is your local WalMart stores. Each store has their own budget and can choose on how to spend it. If you are planning an awareness day this year at WalMart, ask if they will match you dollar for dollar. They will almost always say yes, UP TO $500. Letters asking for the match must be submitted 8 weeks ahead of time.

Another great way to get the sponsorship is to go to the “mom and papa” stores in your area. Ask for smaller amounts. Offer to add them to your banner, or put their logo on your active.com page.

If you plan on taking the step to large companies, do it soon. Most of them get many requests for donations. You may even consider asking them to donate in 2008. Most of them will not do a rushed donation, however, once you get your foot in the door, you are more likely to get it from there in the future, even it is not this year.

If they do turn you down for this year, be sure to send a thank you letter stating something similar to “Thank you very much for your consideration this year. I would love for your company to be a part of our team next year, so please add us to you next years budget agenda.” Then a few weeks later, send off the 2008 proposal.

I have a great feeling about 2007 and I know that it is going to be worth every second of fund raising! My one bit of advice is, PLEASE DON’T FEEL DISCOURAGED, every dollar made is a dollar closer to the cure. Don’t be scared to ask for help. If it was not for this team, I doubt that I would be at where I am today.

Kathie, FOH Team Captain in St. Louis MO, has been busy! Over the winter ‘hiatus’, her son and his school had a balloon selling competition. For eight days in December, the elementary students sold balloons during the mornings and at lunch and raised $550! Great job!

This summer, she’s still busy, but with her annual fundraising event. She writes, “We’re having our 2nd annual BBQ fundraiser on July 14th. I did A LOT of letter writing to local business and we now have lots of baskets to raffle off that include lots of things such as hotel night stays, $50.00 gift certificates to some nice restaurants, Six Flags, year membership to the Science Center, baseball game tickets, and much much more. Cross your fingers more people come than last year.”

Sounds exciting, Kathie! We’re crossing our fingers and look forward to hearing how it goes!

(Originally from the July Newsletter)

Team Friends of Heroes had the complete pleasure of having Sean Haines share the story about his precious son, Matthew’s journey with cancer on their LTN Kick-off conference call. If you were on that call, there is no doubt that you were as touched, moved and inspired as much as I was. So you will most certainly understand why we feel the need to share this story again with those that were unable to participate in the call.

This story is so powerful we feel that its message embodies our mission so very strongly. Also with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day having just passed, not only does this message speak to us the importance of FOH’s purpose but it speaks volumes to us as parents and the importance of what these days truly mean. So in place of our “normal” affiliate team interview we would like to share with you this transcript from Sean Haines, Team Captain to affiliate Team Matthew, and more importantly Matthew’s father.

I was graciously asked to share my story with all of you tonight, the story of my son Matthew David Haines. I was truly honored to accept since sharing memories of Matthew and the incredible life lessons he taught me, is one of my greatest pleasures and blessedly helps me cope with my own grief on a very personal level.

We all recently celebrated Mother’s Day a couple weeks ago, which means Father’s Day is just around the corner. I have always treasured Father’s Day since I have always treasured being a father. But when you lose a child, it’s hard for Father’s Day to not take on a somber tone since the person who enabled you to be a Father is no longer with you physically. Last year’s Father’s Day was exceptionally difficult for me. Last year, Father’s Day fell on my son’s birthday…. Matthew would have turned 10 years old that day….but, in 2005, my son lost his battle with cancer…

Matthew courageously fought his cancer from the time he was barely four years old….He endured incredible pain and suffering through a multitude of surgeries, sickening chemotherapy and radiation. He was at death’s door on many occasions. He experienced horrors no adult, let alone a child should ever have to face. But, despite all the pain, suffering and sickness, despite all he sacrificed in order to fight his cancer, Matthew never lost the essence of who he was: the most kind, compassionate, empathetic, and loving person I have ever been blessed with knowing…

But, I have to admit….during Matthew’s five year battle with cancer, I found myself moving farther and farther away from God. Each time Matthew relapsed, I felt further abandoned. Part of my brain was furious at God for allowing this to happen to my family and allowing my son to suffer in such a horrendous way. I felt more and more isolated from Our Heavenly Father…I stopped attending church. I felt betrayed…I felt lost…I felt alone…I felt like God either didn’t care or wasn’t there…

On November 18th, 2004, after my son had been hospitalized for 40 days, the doctors informed us that Matthew’s cancer had come back once again and there was nothing more that could be done…I emember the horror I felt as I wrote the following entry within my journal:

November 18th, 2004 – Day 40:

Cancer Has Won Cancer….the destroyer of hope….the killer of dreams….
Matthew’s cancer has come back…
The only thing growing in his bone marrow are cancer cells…
We are taking our little boy home with us…
Matthew’s cancer is incurable…
He has been given a ‘life sentence’ of 2 to 8 weeks…
I’m numb with horror and grief………….
My sadness is all-encompassing………
God help my family…..
God help my family…..
God help my family…..
God help my family…..

I poured out my heart and soul to God…I so desperately needed to believe in him once again. I so desperately needed to have him back in my life. I so desperately needed to know he would take care of my little boy…

God heard my plea….But I soon came to realize he ALWAYS heard my pleas….During the remainder of Matthew’s life, my eyes were opened and I was fully able to see the beauty that is Our God…I was able to see that through all of these years, God had never abandoned us. He had not left our side for even an instant. I was able to look back and see the miracles he put in place to help us THROUGH our pain and sadness. I realized that during the times I felt alone in the past, I wasn’t alone at all. The beautiful story entitled “Footprints in the Sand” is exactly what had been happening in my life…As you remember from the story of the man’s dream: He was walking along the beach with the Lord. The man questioned why, during the lowest and most difficult times in his life, there was only one set of footprints in the sand. He wanted to know why the Lord would leave him at the times he needed him the most. The Lord replied that he NEVER left him, and that during those times of trial and suffering, when there was only one set of footprints, it was then that the Lord carried him…

I was able to witness first hand God’s powerful grace as his loving arms wrapped around my family during the latter part of Matthew’s life… God blessed Matthew and his family with nine full weeks of love, laughter and togetherness. We didn’t waste precious time thinking about death. We lov-ingly embraced every single day as a true gift from God, living each one to the fullest. The fact that Matthew outlived the ‘life sentence’ handed down to him in the hospital is an example of just one of the multitude of miracles God provided during the time my family needed each other the most…

I remember writing in my journal about God’s “direct intervention” and how it did more to ease my pain than anything else EVER could since it helped put my son’s heart at ease with his inevitable outcome: “Matthew told Debbie and me God came to him in a dream this past week. He said a man in a white cloak appeared before him in a dream. Matthew said he knew this man was God. God told him he would be ‘OK’……that he would be taken care of. Matthew felt an overwhelming feeling of comfort and love surrounding him. He holds that dream very close to his heart…..but will not talk about it to anyone except us (and that is sparingly)…….It meant the world to me to hear about this dream……it truly did….”

I also remember writing about Matthew’s Angelic visits as well: “Matthew has told us Angels have appeared before him. They appear as children to him. They are all dressed up in white with halos and wings. They also tell him he is loved and will be taken care of. He has drawn me a picture of one of the Angels, but feels he just can’t do it justice…I thought the Angel looked pretty beautiful to me…”

For the remainder of Matthew’s life, he continued to amaze us in his understanding and acceptance of what was going on. He would tell us he was being visited by angels on a regular basis and that he was not scared to die when his time came. He even told us he was kind of excited about the idea of becoming an angel. Thank you, God, for helping put his mind to rest…as well as ours.

I remember Matthew telling us he would like us to have more children…He knew how incredibly devastated we would be as a family, and how pain-fully empty the house would be without his physical presence…He knew how far the pure love, beauty and joy, which comes from the arrival of new lives, would go in helping to heal our wounds…heal our hearts…heal our souls….

Matthew requested we use two names for the children: Michael Jacob and Jennifer Michelle…

Matthew and his mother were having an emotional heartfelt talk about two weeks before he passed away…Debbie was not able to hold back her tears of grief…Matthew looked into her eyes and said for her not to be sad….that she would be blessed with a pregnancy in seven months….

How much more proof do you need that Matthew was truly privy to God’s master plan than to learn Debbie and I were blessed with a pregnancy seven months to the day Matthew passed away….and that this was a twin blessing….one boy and one girl…whom we lovingly named Michael Jacob and Jennifer Michelle…honoring Matthew’s last request…

At 11:20pm on the night of January 21st, 2005…Debbie and I lovingly held Matthew as he drew his last remaining breaths on this Earth…We told him about all of the beauty he had brought into this world during his lifetime and that he would never be forgotten… he passed very peacefully within our arms as we comforted him…cancer couldn’t hurt him anymore…

Throughout Matthew’s cancer treatments, I continually prayed for a miracle for my son. A miracle that would save him from his cancer….

I came to realize that Matthew was the miracle….and that our miracle was here all along…Matthew was sent to teach us all a very important lesson…a lesson about what pure unconditional love and pure unconditional FAITH truly is…Through the example he set by the way he lived and loved his life, he has literally saved my life.

The bond between a father and his child is one of the most special, loving and spiri-tual connections that can exist in this world…..and the next….

So the advice I would like to pass along to all Fathers for this upcoming Father’s Day is to please remember…

Father’s Day is not about getting breakfast in bed, or being allowed quiet time to watch a sporting event on TV. It’s not about the store bought cards you receive or the pretend ‘Father’s Day’ crown your kids may make for you at school. It’s not about being ‘let off’ chore duty for one weekend. It’s not about the gaudy neckties and argyle socks you may receive that somehow find their way to the back of the closet, never to be seen again. It’s not about the kids promise to ‘play nice’ with each other during your big day….

You see…it’s NOT about the store bought presents or pleasantries you RECEIVE from your children…It is about the children themselves…THEY are the presents…THEY are the gifts…from GOD.

But unfortunately…too many fathers lose sight of this or tend to take their kids for granted ….Too many fathers don’t fully appreciate what incredible blessings they have right in front of them…Too many fathers don’t see their children as the beautiful gifts they truly are…

So please….please….take some advice from a father who fully understands the absolute preciousness of time….Please cherish every single moment you are blessed to spend with your children….since you never know how long you will have to hold them in your arms…to kiss them goodnight…to tell them… “I love you”…Please don’t waste precious time which should be spent laughing and loving because you will never get that back…. Please fully realize that every single additional second you have with your children is yet another true gift from God…

So you see…The largest life lessons can be learned from the tinniest teachers…My tiny teacher was Matthew. He taught me some very key life lessons that we all can take into our hearts and lives:

Value the moments: Include yourselves fully within your children’s lives. Make the most of the time you have together. Strengthen that father/son bond. Help each other to grow stronger empathetically and spiritually…

God will never leave you: No matter what trials you face or how bleak your outlook may seem, God will ALWAYS be there to help guide you through…even if he has to carry you…and be the only footprints in the sand…

It’s not the length of the life that matters…it’s what you DO with that life: None of us know when we will be called back home to our Heav-enly Father. We need to use the beautiful gift of life God has granted us to make a positive difference in this world…to touch as many lives as we can with compassion, love and the blessing of unconditional faith…

God bless you Matthew…You have been, and will continue to always be a very important teacher in my life…

My life’s goal is to now do whatever I can to help fight cancer and help ease the lives of those suffering with this disease.

I personally started walking and raising money for Light the Night six years ago. Last year, my team joined FOH and became one of your affili-ates…In the past; I was walking in support of my son Matthew and his fight for life. Now, since his passing, I walk in honor of my little man as well as all the precious angels that are currently fighting their cancer, or who have joined my sweet son in Heaven…

We all desperately need to keep up the fight…we desperately need to continue raising funds to sponsor cancer research. Medical research HAS come a tremendously long way toward finding a cure for pediatric cancer. Blessedly gone are the days when being diagnosed with cancer, in essence, meant an automatic death sentence for your child. Through all of the funding that has flowed in to expand upon and support on-going cancer research, whether it be via corporate grants or hard-earned public donations from the heart, the survival rates have dramatically in-creased for all pediatric cancers. The chance of your child outliving their cancer is becoming the dominant percentage, while the possibility of losing your child to this disease is slowly becoming more the exception than the norm…

But…when you are the parent of a child who has lost his life to cancer…when you are the parent who has watched incurable cancer ravage your child…when you are the parent who has tenderly held your child while they slowly died in your arms…along with all your hopes and dreams…dashed amongst the jagged rocks of overwhelming grief…all the pediatric research success is still…not…nearly enough. Not enough to stop the gut-wrenching pain…not enough to dry the heart-rending tears…not enough to fill the empty, gaping hole in your soul…not enough to bring your beautiful child back into your yearning, loving arms…to have and to hold once again…

Until every parent doesn’t ever have to experience the absolute worst pain imaginable…Until every single precious, innocent child can be saved from his or her cancer…

Research MUST continue to be funded…
Research MUST continue to progress…
Research MUST…NEVER…STOP…until a cure is found for every pediatric cancer…
…A parent should never have to bury their child…

The Friends of Hero’s organization, in coordination with Light the Night, has done amazing life saving work thus far. The money all of you have raised has helped bring a cure that much closer to reality. I encour-age…I PLEAD for all of you to please keep it up! Strive to do more every year…increase those goals, raise that bar, extend your abilities…Do whatever it takes to fund cancer research…We must all work together to help save these precious lives…

For all the hard but beautiful work you do, I thank you…the children and their families fighting this disease thank you…and my beautiful little Matthew thanks you…

And thank you all for letting me share with you…

Take care everyone…and God Bless….

Sean Haines

http://matthewhaines.info
Matthew’s Video Tribute

For more information, visit http://www.friendsofheroes.org or contact teamleaders@friendsofheroes.org