I consider myself agnostic (although my wife and kids are all semi-practicing Catholics), I really don't even think about religion or feel the need for it to tell me what is right and wrong. That said, I don't discount it either. It's a non-factor to me. However given this past week-and-a-half's occurences I'm pressed to think that if there is a God, why does he let stuff like this happen?

Last week, one of my wife's h.s. friends lost their 7yo daughter after a 2 yr. battle with Neuroblastoma. I never met these people in person, but thanks to the internet I was in contact and I got emotionally invested over the past couple years reading updates, watching my wife go through the ups and downs as the prognosis and treatments varied. Last month her parents, thanks to a lot of fundraising on their behalf, were able to take Sydney to Disney. She loved it even though she slept a lot of the time just because she was so worn out from the battle. She was relieved of her misery Thanksgiving morning. My wife attended the wake and the funeral.

This came after we got word that the 2.5yo son of some internet forum friends lost his battle with Leukemia, which he was diagnosed with at 19 months. The kid endured so many setbacks during treatment and nothing helped. The parents made the difficult decision to stop the treatments that were wreaking havoc on his poor little body on the 1st of November and just keep him comfortable and not suffer any more. While he was considered too young by Make A Wish, through lots of phone calls and emails they were able to make some concessions and got him down to Disney. Once again, I had never met these people in person but through mutual acquaintances we still got to be "friends". While there may be a face-to-face disconnect, emotionally there isn't.

This morning I got word that one of my son's 10yo friends, whom I also coached in Little League, has a rare form of Leukemia and that the prognosis isn't very good. I coached him over the summer, he played fall baseball with my son (Aug-Sept) and in mid-Oct he started feeling lousy. By late Oct he was diagnosed. Last week there was additional testing done to determine his subtype of High Risk ALL. Unfortunately he has one of the rarest subtypes called Extreme Hypodiplody. This type of Leukemia has a much different prognosis than additionally thought. With the normal course of treatment it is known that there is a very high incidence of recurrence (70-80%). His only chance for a full-recovery now is a bone marrow transplant and to this point no matches have been found (including my wife and I).


Sorry to be a downer, there is nothing worse than sick and suffering kids. I'm just so angered, frustrated, saddened and bummed out right now. If there is a God why does this happen? What good comes from children suffering? I shouldn't even make it a religious/philosophical discussion either. That's just part of my out-loud venting.

Hug your kids, shower them with love. You never know, within 6 months they might be gone.

WTF!

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)