Thank you, Jimmy!

Dear Jimmy Kimmel,

Thank you for taking the time to invite our friend #SuperMax to be on your show. I met Max and his Momma Audra in 2012. Audra and I are part of the 46 Mommas. We’re moms to kids with cancer, shaving our heads to raise money and awareness for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. As I am sure you know from meeting them, Max and his family are forces of nature. They are not like other people. They DO things to make others better. They DO things to make the world better. They have ideas and then they make them happen.

Children with cancer go through so much. Too much. And Max has been through more than most. Our children endure so much that most of the popular media has turned a blind eye to them. I don’t understand why children getting cancer is not newsworthy. I don’t understand why our children dying from cancer is not newsworthy. It’s not though.

But you wearing a rainbow #SuitoftheLoom and then auctioning it off for charity has gone viral. Thank you for doing this. Maybe it was for ratings. Maybe you needed the publicity to make yourself feel better. I don’t know. I don’t care. I care that you did it and now the world is watching.

I bet that after meeting Max and his family, you are feeling some things: Awe. Amazement. Wonder. Gratitude. Disbelief. I keep watching this clip of you and Max. I see you getting choked up. I am moved by watching you be moved by this small, brave, strong, kind boy. Please don’t stop. Please continue to be moved by him. Please don’t turn away.

Please lean in to those feelings and keep supporting him and the 1,000s of kids like him. 1,000s. Children with cancer need people to stand up for them and be their voice. To raise awareness and desperately needed money for research. You are doing a good thing. People are watching.  And many #childhoodcancer parents like me are grateful.

Love from your new fan,