Just about a week and a half ago, Tattoo Tom Mitchell ran 100 miles in honor of one hundred children battling or who have lost their battle with cancer. Following his grueling journey via Facebook, we saw many times the fatigue and the mental exhaustion involved in such a physical challenge. But each mile, he stayed the course. As Tom posted to the Stillbrave Facebook page, “I wanted to quit many times, everything hurt so bad I could hardly take a painless breath,” yet he finished by thinking about the “100 children who carried me the entire way,” including his daughter Shayla who lost her several year battle with cancer.
Stillbrave’s mission is simple, yet powerful: “To provide non-medical, supportive care to children with cancer, and their families in the Washington, DC Metro area.” Many times when thinking of childhood cancer, the focus is only on funding research. Don’t get us wrong, research funding must be the primary focus. With a measly 4% of the federal cancer budget, we believe without a doubt that childhood cancer research needs more funding. However, there are many non-medical needs these families face. Parents miss work and often lose vital income needed to maintain the household. Siblings need babysitting while mom and dad are at the hospital. A faucet may start to leak in the house — the repair of which is the last thing any of these families need on any given week of treatments.
Tom Mitchell with Tara Sankner. Such a great photo of these two!!
This July, we are supporting Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation by donating $1 from every haircut we do this month. Additionally, you can choose to add $1, $3 or $5 to your ticket at checkout which will also be donated to Stillbrave. We encourage you to take time to read the cold hard facts about childhood cancers, sign the petition at The Truth 365 to ask Congress to increase federal funding for childhood cancer, and look at the many volunteer opportunities available. #StepUp for Childhood Cancer!
