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{Girl Sings} Children - they're our hope, our inspiration,
and our future. So how unfair is it that each year more than 12,000 innocent kids are stricken
with pediatric cancer and by the end of the year nearly 2500 of these courageous kids
will have their dreams and aspirations tragically cut short by this terrible disease.
{Girl Sings} Remi was just a typical second grader, turning
seven years old within a couple weeks. She was just complaining about having stomach
problems and leg pain and I was just thinking she just didn't like second grade and just
kept telling her don't eat those Doritos don't eat that ice cream - you can't do that combination.
And then it just got really bad. And then that next day, it was Monday, Patrick
was taking her to school along with Chloe and she was crying. She was hysterical in
the car in a lot of pain. And he called me on his cell phone and he
said honey, I have to take her to the emergency room.
They found that she had a mass in her abdomen. She went in for surgery and they were going
to remove that mass on her ovary, and they prepared us for her probably losing an ovary
and probably not being able to have children. We were devastated at that - I blacked out
so I don't know but I think it was like maybe 20 minutes in the operating room and he came
out and said that it was just something that he never thought - it was much bigger and
it was cancer. The role that the Pediatric Cancer Foundation
played with the family has really probably helped them find an at work - find people
with a similar cause, a similar motivation and a similar story. It gave them a venue,
an outlet, to try and make a difference - to give back.
I think they realize that Remi is alive today because of research that was done. And we
all want to make a difference. With the collaborative research with the Pediatric
Cancer Foundation we have a group of doctors that are actually getting together and sharing
their knowledge and getting these guys who are the smartest guys in the world to put
their minds together and come up with better research.
I think that is very important - with the Pediatric Cancer Foundation by them assembling
so to say a dream team of doctors - it's a fast track. These guys are going to figure
out a lot quicker is what's going to happen and that's what we need because we don't want
to lose, you know, another one of Remi's friends. I think the thing that is most unique with
our organization is that we purely fund research - we don't do quality of life, we're not aligned
with one institution. We've chosen to drive the process and kind of direct our own research.
Several years back, we'd been raising money for about 15 years and realized that the wheels
of progress in research turn way to slowly and we wanted to do something different. We
were tired of watching kids die and we wanted to change the game.
We all have children or know children who have been affected by pediatric cancer. It's
something that is dear to our heart because the children are our future and we want to
make sure that we give them every opportunity to be successful with their cancer treatment.
There's a lot of different charities, but we know this one touches people when we talk
about how to help children. Our corporate donors are really what make
this organization go - not only do they write a check to help us raise money, they get their
employees involved, they get creative with their marketing efforts.
Companies like Tires Plus have gotten their individual stores involved as well as donating
$100 every time one of the Rays players hits a home run so people at the Rays games are
aware of what we're trying to do and it kind of has a snowball effect.
To support the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, Tires Plus is partnered with them in many
different ways. We support the local charity events and fundraisers that they have here
in the community whether it be fishing tournaments or executive dinners - we know that the Pediatric
Cancer Foundation understand that as a company we support them because we have high level
visibility. I was at the fishing tournament and I had
the opportunity to speak about my story with my battle with cancer and there was this adorable
dog. We were just bidding and bidding and we just wanted the dog, you know.
We finally got the highest bid and we won the dog, and then Jeremy he came up to us
and said I'd like to purchase your dog for you.
So, now we have Elvis. I'm really thankful that Jeremy got the dog for me because I love
him and everything and I'm really thankful. What makes this cause even more dear to everyone
at Tires Plus is the fact that we've seen firsthand how some of our very own teammate's
children have fought for their lives against Pediatric Cancer.
We have a teammate, Rob, in Des Moines, his son Hunter, was diagnosed at three years of
age with ALL and that's a blood cancer. He went through treatments from three up to
six years old. At six, he was doing much better, the prognosis was looking good for him and
then he encountered a set back and at seven years old, Hunter passed away.
So he went three years, he was fine and eleven months after his three years, he relapsed.
There was something about his that they couldn't figure out so we said three weeks in Des Moines,
but they didn't really have the resources we needed so we went to Minneapolis for six
months. Probably the hardest hit, not only my wife
and I, we had a daughter, she was five at the time, so a lot of the focus goes, she
doesn't get any attention, everything goes to him for the whole time he's in the hospital
the whole family's kind of doesn't know what to do.
Since this has all happened, everyone's learned a lot from it.
It's so *** your family - financially, it's *** your marriage, turns your whole
life upside down, It's really hard to explain, but I think you
learn quite a bit from it, it can bring you even closer.
We understand that the loss of a child is something that no one want to endure, but
when you do have that loss, the fact that you know you have 5,000 teammates standing
behind you to support you and that your company also supports you by doing the right things.
For us to hear Rob's story, about how his family went through that, and how Hunter's
younger brother gave his own bone marrow as a transplant to help Hunter. Is just a story,
when we hear it, it makes us say, we've got to do something to help Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
That's what it's all about is making sure that we help our teammates.
This is what we've been wanting, to find people to do, to help local companies, but also national
companies to get onboard. It's not cheap to do the research with these drugs so we definitely
need - individual support is great - but yet to have large corporations step up to the
plate and donate for a wonderful cure. Remy - she might be the president of a Tires
Plus store, I don't know. It's her future. It's all of our future so, Tires Plus, we
really appreciate what you've done for us and what you're doing for all these children.
It makes me feel really thankful and excited that someone's trying to help find a cure
and research, it makes me ecstatic. I'm so happy.
I want to make sure that the people at Tires Plus understand how unique their organization
is, how amazing it is that they don't just write the check that they get their customers
involved, employees involved, they roll up their sleeves and they make their mission
our mission, and collectively, we can make a difference.
It was awesome that I could be a part of a company that's going to donate money to something
that I'm passionate about. Just for the simple fact that this disease is 86% cureable. How
much more money is it going to take so that another parent doesn't have to go through
what I went through? I mean this is awesome, this is fantastic.
Your donation goes strictly, 100% to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and if they support it,
they will feel better about themselves, and as a company, Tires Plus, we'll feel good
that we're supporting the right type of organizations and helping to cure Pediatric Cancer.
I would just love for them to find a cure for cancer, that is my dream so no one else
has to go through what I had to go through. It's horrible.
I can't wait til they find a cure. {Girl Sings}