The heartbreaking friendship between two tiny girls with

Grab a kleenex! Suddenly my problems don't seem quite as big.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...ews.html?in_article_id=564192&in_page_id=1797

Hannah Forrester had put up with endless testing and prodding while doctors tried to work out what was wrong with her.

Throughout, she'd remained a happy and contented little girl. But when she was told she had cancer and that the medicine would make her long brown hair fall out, she stopped talking and refused to eat or drink. Then into her room one day walked Molly, a five-year-old on the same ward.

She, too, had cancer - a rare form called Wilms.
"She just walked into Hannah's room and introduced herself," recalls Cathy. "She explained to Hannah: 'You need to take your medicine to make you better. Your hair will fall out like mine, but it doesn't matter. 'My mummy says it'll grow back as long as Rapunzel's.' "To my astonishment, Hannah listened. Following Molly's lead, she snapped out of her depression and began co-operating with the doctors and nurses. "It was the start of an incredible friendship for the girls."

Childhood cancer needs to be in the forefront of research. It is entirely too often overlooked. Folks seem to believe it's very rare, but the truth is the statistics are staggering.

The Facts and Faces of Childhood Cancer

• Cancer remains the number one disease that claims the lives of our children. Each year cancer kills more children under the age of 20 than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.
• Each year in the U.S., approximately 12,500 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer. That’s the equivalent of two average size classrooms diagnosed each school day.
• Today, nearly 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer become long-term survivors and the majority of them are considered cured. In the early 1950s, less than 10 percent of childhood cancer patients could be cured.
• Leukemias, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles are the most common childhood cancers.
• In the U.S., cancer remains responsible for more deaths from one year through adolescence than any other disease; more deaths than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.
• Combined, the cancers of children, adolescents and young adults to age 20 are the sixth most common cancer in the U.S.
• Breakthroughs in pediatric oncology will undoubtedly continue to progress the diagnosis and treatment of adult cancers. Many of the principles in therapy used today in treating adults were first developed and tested for children.

What these children go through is horrible. They are true warriors and inspirations. The friendships they form during treatment is often the only friends they can have constant and continued contact with due to their often compromised immune systems. These two girls are a perfect example of how true friendship is healing.

KatK said:

Tangent: You guys have heard of Locks of Love, right? If/when I ever cut my hair short again, I'm going to first have all the silvers plucked, then donate to them.

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Yes, I've heard of them. A friend of mine's dd had hair past her rear and had it cut and sent to them for cancer victims.

Very moving story.
Lynie can add a lot to this topic.

I had a stepson diagnosed at 2 and died at 8. What that boy went through should be illegal.

I have a good 18 or 19 inch pony tail and have always planned on giving to locks of love. I know there is some controversy surrounding the organization right now but I don't care!

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

browneyes said:

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

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(((Noah))) and (((brownie))):blowkiss:

That's such a sweet story!

browneyes said:

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

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Oh browneyes, I'm so sorry you lost your precious Noah at such a young and tender age of three. I do remember now that you had him in your signature. He was such an adorable little guy and I'm sure he has all of the angels fighting over him.

browneyes said:

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

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I still think of him every time I see your hat. His little picture at the bottom of your siggy won my heart the first time I saw it. He was a little cute thing for sure.:blowkiss:

browneyes said:

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

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:blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss:

those are for you and Beaner....babies are for squeezin....

Thanks everyone....cancer is horrible for everyone. I lost my Dad to lung/brain cancer. But, when it is a child...it is even more heartbreaking. I can hardly watch the commercials for St. Jude's hospital..it makes me cry.

:blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss:

browneyes said:

Thanks everyone....cancer is horrible for everyone. I lost my Dad to lung/brain cancer. But, when it is a child...it is even more heartbreaking. I can hardly watch the commercials for St. Jude's hospital..it makes me cry.

:blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss:

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Those angels at St. Jude's Hospital are something special aren't they!?!? :blowkiss: I think if Danny Thomas ever did something worth while...it was to promote this worthy cause.

http://stjude.org/stjude/v/index.js...nnel=5e5c13c016118010VgnVCM1000000e2015acRCRD

All About Danny Thomas

Danny Thomas and the Founding of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

It was more than 50 years ago that Danny Thomas, then a struggling young entertainer with seven dollars in his pocket, got down on his knees in a Detroit church before a statue of St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Thomas asked the saint to "show me my way in life."

His prayer was answered and soon he moved his family to Chicago to pursue career offers. A few years later, at another turning point in his life, Thomas again prayed to St. Jude and pledged to someday build a shrine to the saint.

Throughout the next years, Thomas' career prospered through films and television, and he became a nationally known entertainer. And he remembered his pledge to build a shrine to St. Jude.

In the early 1950s Thomas began discussing with friends what concrete form his vow might take. Gradually, the idea of a children's hospital, possibly in Memphis, took shape. In 1955, Thomas and a group of Memphis businessmen who had agreed to help in supporting his dream seized on the idea of creating a unique research hospital devoted to curing catastrophic diseases in children. More than just a treatment facility, this would be a research center for the children of the world.

Thomas had started raising money for his vision of St. Jude in the early 1950s. By 1955, the local business leaders who had joined his cause began area fund-raising efforts, supplementing Thomas' benefits that brought scores of major entertainment stars to Memphis. Often accompanied by his wife, Rose Marie, Thomas crisscrossed the United States by car talking about his dream and raising funds at meetings and benefits. The pace was so hectic that Thomas and his wife once visited 28 cities in 32 days. Although Thomas and his friends raised the money to build the hospital, they now faced the daunting task of funding its annual operation.

To solve this problem, Thomas turned to his fellow Americans of Arabic-speaking heritage. Believing deeply that Arabic-speaking Americans should, as a group, thank the United States for the gifts of freedom given their parents, Thomas also felt the support of St. Jude would be a noble way of honoring his immigrant forefathers who had come to America.

More at link....... it is an interesting read.

KatK said:

Tangent: You guys have heard of Locks of Love, right? If/when I ever cut my hair short again, I'm going to first have all the silvers plucked, then donate to them.

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I have to show this to my daughter's boyfriend. His hair is very long and although I don't mind what his hair looks like, I talked him into going to a place that cuts your hair for free for Locks of Love. He needs it short for a summer job interview, anyway, and I knew I couldn't talk him into a hair cut for "just" a job.

This story will make him feel better about the hair! (I wonder if they will take the "locks" in front that I dyed blue for him? Bet so.

So sad.... I can't imagine watching a child go through all of that... Heartbreaking.

browneyes said:

What a moving story! I am so glad these girls found each other.

My Noah died at age 3 of liver cancer....and like JBean said...what was done to him was horrible. I could tell you things that would make you weep for him.

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:blowkiss: I have a 3 year old right now and I cannot imagine what you and your family went through or what the family of these two little girls indured. I am not sure if I could watch my child suffer through the treatments. A friend at work son's best friend had testicular cancer at 15. He had to have his testicle removed and chemo. He has post traumatic stress disorder from the treatment and severe anxiety. I wish they could make it less painful for these little ones. God Bless you and your family and all the others who have suffered from the evil known as cancer.

<I wish they could make it less painful for these little ones.>

i agree,, but how about for everyone.....???

This is an organization put together by Pantene and Hilary Swank donated her hair:
http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp

It's just that Locks of Love has been reported to throw hair out because they get more than they can process, and rather than waste it, why not find another organization that promises not too?

I am growing my hair right now for it , and it ain't a pretty site, but I only need to achieve 8 inches for Beautiful Lengths and they do not care if you have gray in your hair...I have a friend who is a hairdresser who has promised to get me through the growing out stage and will cut it for me....lol...4 more inches to go....

believe09 said:

This is an organization put together by Pantene and Hilary Swank donated her hair:
http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp

It's just that Locks of Love has been reported to throw hair out because they get more than they can process, and rather than waste it, why not find another organization that promises not too?

I am growing my hair right now for it , and it ain't a pretty site, but I only need to achieve 8 inches for Beautiful Lengths and they do not care if you have gray in your hair...I have a friend who is a hairdresser who has promised to get me through the growing out stage and will cut it for me....lol...4 more inches to go....

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The Locks of Love website says it sells the shorter hair to make money for making the wigs. I hadn't heard the reports about them throwing hair out unless it's sweepings off the floor of the salon, but I guess anything is possible.