Dear Oprah,
Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery
My daily letters to you continue, and my appreciation for your consideration of my request grows with each message I send. By now, your producers have to be wondering how I can possibly feel this strongly about wanting you to do a show on childhood cancer. This does not have to be a show of despair; this can be a show of courage and hope.
Knowing how little attention and funding go toward childhood cancer research makes me want to leap on top of the Empire State Building and start squawking at the top of my lungs until throngs of people look up to notice! This may seem a bit extreme, but I need to illustrate an important point. Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. This means that nearly one child in each state on each school day hears the words, “You have cancer.”
For me, this means war. There is an Invisible Terrorist kidnapping and torturing children. The terrorist’s name is childhood cancer. We never know where or when this Invisible Terrorist will attack. I don’t understand why our country has billions of dollars to spend for the War on Terror, but not enough money to fund research so that we can end the evil reign of childhood cancer.
Please gather childhood cancer experts and members of The Giving Pledge. Let’s do this for the courageous children who are battling cancer as I type these words. Let’s do it for all of the families who have holes in their hearts. Let’s do this because it is the right thing to do for humanity.
Oprah, the children are so very precious.
Let’s help them,
Melinda
Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery
Karl Page 4 Years Old and Completing 3 Years of Chemo on Wednesday
Melinda Marchiano 
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