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Hi everyone, and thank you for having me here today to talk to you. My name is Sim Scott,
and I am here to speak to you about supporting Children’s Miracle Network. I got a few
laughs at school when I told my friends that Sim’s going to Sam’s.
I’ll tell you a little about me first. Naturally people wonder what sent me to the hospital,
so let’s get that part out of the way now. In medical terms I was found to have a grade
two astrocytoma with grade three characteristics growing into the third ventricle out from
the brain stem. In people terms that means I have a brain tumor. I was diagnosed in June
2009 when I was still 6 years old after having an MRI when my Mommy saw that I was crossing
my eyes. 4 days after diagnosis I had my first surgery at Dallas Children’s for the tumor
biopsy and the ventriculostomy I needed to drain fluid and relieve pressure in my head.
In August 2009 my surgeon removed as much as he could. Considering what I went through
I have been medically lucky in terms of my recovery. I have not yet had to have chemotherapy
or radiation. I will always have to have regular MRI’s so the doctors can see if the tumor
that is still left is changing over time. So far it is not. I have some vision trouble
and a few other minor issues related to the tumor and the damage from the removal surgery,
but overall really I am okay. My mom and dad keep a very close eye on me too, so between
them and the doctors at Children’s I am very well taken care of.
Now I am 8 years old, I am in the Honors PACE program at my school and in the 3rd grade,
I just won 1st place in a poetry competition in Collin County, last month I was chosen
as artist of the month out of the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at my school so my winning
art hung on the wall at school for the month, I am in choir, I love to swim and go 4 wheeling
with my family, and I am trying to learn how to ice skate. I am able to do these things
and much more because everyone at the hospital worked so hard to make me well again.
It’s amazing how many jobs need to be done at a hospital every single day. Most people
only think of doctors and nurses when they think hospital, but it takes a lot of different
kinds of people to keep a hospital running, and of course all of that takes money. I saw
so many people at the hospital who did all kinds of things for me besides the regular
doctors and nurses. There were even volunteers who were there to help kids and families without
even being paid for what they were doing. A lot of the kids that go to Children’s
are really, really sick and need lots of care from even more people than who helped me.
Care costs money, but not every family has health insurance to pay the hospital for all
the things the kids need. I’ve talked to my Mom and I know that we have health insurance
and think I understand what all that means, but I also know it doesn’t pay for everything.
What’s special about Children’s Miracle Network is they help make sure that all the
sick kids that go to the hospital get what they need even if their families don’t have
the health insurance or money to pay for the medical care their kids need. Most people
plan and save a little for special things like family vacations and birthday parties
for their kids, but no one plans ahead for the need to care for a very sick son or daughter
in the hospital which gets expensive fast. Mommies and Daddies should spend their time
taking care of their kids when they are in the hospital without worrying about where
the money is going to come from. Not everyone can afford to pay for health insurance, but
that does not mean those parents are not working hard to take care of their families. Many
of them need help. Every donation helps no matter how big or how small. Many people might
say to themselves “Well, I only have two dollars to give, that won’t make a difference,
so it won’t matter if I don’t donate it .” That’s not true. What if a hundred
people all gave that two dollars they didn’t think was enough to bother to donate? It all
adds up, and every penny is just as valuable in the end regardless if the donation was
two dollars or two thousand dollars. I think it takes a special kind of person to work
in a hospital around sick kids all of the time, but I think it takes an even more special
person to raise money to help kids they have never even met. Thank you for what you are
doing with CMN to raise money to help keep hospitals able to treat every child like me
who walks through the door.