This is why I bought a Nerf football

This originally appeared on the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation Facebook page:

 

Sometimes, the greatest stress in childhood cancer is not the cancer itself. You see, beyond the heart-breaking reality of diagnosis and treatment, there are still many demands in the daily life of the rest of the family.

 

Imagine, if you would, for just a moment, that you’re a parent or caregiver in this kind of scenario. You are working hard to meet all of the family needs: you’re in the hospital and talking with the doctors. But you’re also making sure siblings have meals, clean clothes, and get their homework done. Perhaps you’re even working through the medical bills, the mortgage payment and the myriad other things that might keep you up at night.

 

But then you realize that it’s almost the holiday season and you’re out of everything: energy, time, and money. You're out of all of the things that a parent or caregiver needs to make the holidays different from all of the rest of the year. And oh, do your children need something to be different this year of all years! Your family (and you) need a deep breath of hope in the midst of chaos. But you have nothing left to give. 

 

Can you imagine it? I’m sure you can.

 

You see, this is a part of my story. I am a mom of four children, one of whom has had two different cancers and dozens of complications over a span of many years. And Chase, my fighter boy, had just made it through treatment for his second cancer, was struggling with troubling side effects, and was facing a scan that showed there was still cancer in his body when we turned the corner into the 2021 holiday season. We were still quarantined, completely overwhelmed, and with nothing left to give when we found out that our family was going to be given a holiday season by the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. I remember that I started to cry. 

 

On the wall of Chase’s oncology clinic is a quote of Anthony’s. In huge, block letters, it reads: “Stay Strong. Dream Big.” But sometimes, as a parent, I struggle to stay strong and need somebody else to dream for me because I’m just trying to hold everything together. This is where the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation meets me as a mom and hundreds of others like me too: not only do they encourage us to keep dreaming, but they help fulfill those dreams when we grow too weary to do so for ourselves. 

 

Walking through cancer and all its complications with Chase left our family surrounded by impossible things, but the Foundation did what my husband and I could not find a way to do - they spoke possibility and promise into our family that holiday season. Not only did they take the financial burden of purchasing gifts off our shoulders, but they also wrapped and delivered the gifts to us, so we didn’t have to go out into stores (with an immunosuppressed child in the house) and then find the time to wrap and prepare everything ourselves. 

 

When you donate to the Rizzo Grant-A-Wish-Spectacular, you’re giving a sick child the gift of a wonderful holiday with extra special presents, but you’re also affirming to siblings that they’re seen and remembered (as they get to open their own gifts alongside their warrior brother or sister), and you’re holding up weary parents who could not have put the holiday together themselves. 

 

I could absolutely tell you that the look on Chase’s face when he opened his new video game console that 2021 holiday was the best thing I had seen all year. (It was) But it’s so much more than that moment. Because when you donate to the Rizzo Grant-A-Wish Spectacular, you’re finding a unique and precious way to let a family know they don’t fight alone… and dear friends, that is priceless.

 

HELP US BRING THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT TO MORE FAMILIES LIKE CHASE'S THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/6UZN8JJFGYLW...

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Gal's note: I know that this holiday season, everyone has plenty of options for giving. It just meant a great deal to me to learn that the Nerf football I bought for the toy drive not only will help make the cancer patient's holiday a little brighter, it will bring relief to his or her parents. I never thought of it that way before I read this. So I hope that wherever you donate this season, it brings you the heart happiness my Nerf football brought me. 

This is Chase. Read more about him here.

PS Dear Baseball Gods, you bastards! All Rizz wanted was a second World Series ring and you just couldn't let him have it, could you? I'll let you know if this ever stops hurting. Just so fucking unfair!