It is so easy to get so caught up in living day-to-day and never pause to truly recognize just how many blessings we have been given.  I am not talking about a huge house or a nice car. While those things are great, I am talking about the blessings of being alive and healthy. For when you interact with children who are braving cancer, and their parents, you are constantly reminded just how much of a blessing those two things really are.

I was recently speaking to a single mom (whose challenges I am not diminishing at all) about her son.  She was telling me how he was not wanting to do schoolwork, how he was being sassy for no reason, and how she was having difficulty balancing work and taking care of him.  All I could think was, you are so lucky he is alive and healthy.

A few days later Leslie Hutchinson called me.  Her daughter, Abi, had recently had a bone marrow transplant 183 miles away from the family’s home.  It had started to fail.  She had also gotten a virus which had caused her kidneys to fail.  So she was in the ICU and had been put on dialysis. Leslie’s 9-year-old daughter, Erin, was the bone marrow donor.  She was home with her other siblings, but needed to get to the hospital in Ohio for a medical procedure to help her sister. Leslie needed to find a way to get her there. She didn’t have a car.

Because of our AMAZING donors (for whom we are so grateful) we were able to help.  Yet even with our support, the trip was not an easy one. Leslie left Ohio on a bus at 2:55am on November 11th.  She arrived in West Virginia at 7:00am.  She did a few things at home that were needed.  Then she and Erin got on the bus at 10:30pm and arrived back in Ohio at 2:35am.

Exhausted, Leslie would soon have two daughters in the hospital. One trying to help save the life of the other.

I know that most of us cannot even imagine what it takes to fight for your child’s life or to endure what Abi and her family are facing.  But this Thanksgiving, please just say an extra prayer of gratitude that you never will.  And when your child gets up in the morning – hug them and kiss them and give gratitude that they woke up (even if they are a little cranky). When they talk back, amidst your frustration, say a little prayer of gratitude that they have the energy to be so sassy. When they come home late, after punishments are handed down, say a prayer or gratitude that they walked through the door.

And then please say a prayer for Abi, Leslie, Erin, and all the other families who are hoping that they too will soon have healthy children.

May you all have a safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving.