This month is Caemon’s birthday month. On the fifth of this month, he would have been five years old. Five. It is hard to imagine Caemon at five, heartbreaking to even try. As coincidence would have it, my son was also born during Childhood Cancer Awareness month and Blood Cancer Awareness month. What better month, then, to launch some endeavors to keep Caemon’s legacy alive?
Therefore, as I take a little break from my usual writing, I wanted to share a couple of ways you can help keep Caemon’s memory going.
2nd Annual C is for Crocodile Children’s Book Drive
Last year’s book drive proved incredibly successful. We were able to bring hundreds of books to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, where Caemon was treated. Many, many patients were able to enjoy the gift of reading thanks to your generosity.
Caemon so loved reading, and so do we. This is, therefore, the project closest to our hearts, and we want to keep it going–to grow it even–so that we can continue giving books to children undergoing cancer treatments in area hospitals.
If you would like to donate books or gift cards for books, we welcome them for the next couple of months. Books need to be new. Children in the hospital, especially those undergoing cancer treatments, often have compromised immune systems, so we need to make sure books are purchased new so that they don’t have potentially dangerous dusts, bacteria, and fungi that can accumulate in pages over time.
You can send books to our post office box at the address below:
C is for Crocodile
c/o Timaree Marston
P.O. Box 9214
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
You can also email us at cisforcrocodile@gmail.com for information or if you want to send bookstore gift cards.
Additionally, should you be interested in putting up a flyer and a collection box, you can download and print a flyer here: Book Drive Flyer.
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk
We are participating again this year in the LLS Light the Night Walk. This walk is in just a couple of weeks here in Santa Rosa, and we would love those who are local to come join us on our team. If you are unable to join us, we are looking for donations of all sizes. LLS is particularly important to us because they helped us in so many ways during Caemon’s treatment, from financial assistance, advocate phone calls, bedside visits, and useful information. Beyond this, though, LLS has provided significant grants to Caemon’s doctors for their groundbreaking research on JMML, and because of this continued financial support, they are making huge strides, and many of those findings have come with the use of Caemon’s cells.
If you would like to join our team or make a donation, we would love the help in making this year’s time a success. We are especially encouraging five dollar donations in honor of Caemon’s fifth birthday. You can find and donate to Team Caemon here: http://pages.lightthenight.org/gba/NorthBay14/teamcaemon.
Jodi and I thank you for continuing to help us spread the Croc love. These activities really do he
lp us continue on, even as we miss our sweet boy so very much.
C is for Crocodile 