Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery
Dear Oprah,
With 52,000 people sending letters to you daily, asking for a show on childhood cancer, I imagine that you must be Statistic-ed to a pulp by now. I have no doubt that our group has succeeded in informing you of how overlooked and underfunded childhood cancer really is. I have nothing left but to appeal to your heart.
I know a boy who battled cancer for years. He lost one of his legs. All of his teeth rotted out of his mouth from years of chemotherapy. By the time he turned eighteen, he could not take the pain any longer. He ended his own life.
I know a seven year-old boy who died on Thanksgiving Day in his mom and dad’s arms. He had fought brain cancer… and at the same time, he inspired thousands of others to give to pediatric cancer research.
These are real children with lives that matter.
Our society is ignoring these children. We look off to the horizon, rather than noticing the suffering at our very own feet. I love that our nation has money to send to far-off lands when there are global disasters. I would like to add that childhood cancer is a national and global crisis that requires our equal attention.
Please help bring attention to the global crisis of childhood cancer,
Melinda
16 Year-old Author of Grace: A Child’s Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery
Little Angels-- Lives That Matter
Melinda Marchiano 
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