It was a year ago this morning that The Oldest's dear friend Sean passed from this life. He is still so terribly missed; and his family and tender, loving soul remain in my daily prayers. I can't describe how sweet and funny and beautiful Sean was. His friends flew in and gathered last night in Wilmington, NC, where many of them went to college, to remember him.
This picture is of The Oldest (his NC friends call him Tommy) and Mike (left and right) with Sean standing behind them. It was taken on the UNCW Ad Club's trip to New York in the fall of 2005, a month before Sean's graduation, two before his diagnosis. On January 28th, I received the letter copied and pasted below in an email broadcast by one of Sean's brothers from his family. In the letter, those of us who received it were asked to share it with as many others as possible. I have no better place to do this than here. |  |
Family and Friends:
In honor of my brother Sean’s birthday (he would have been 25 today), I’m again requesting your help in the fight against blood cancers. To put what we're up against into perspective:
- Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with blood cancer.
- Every ten minutes, someone loses their fight.
- Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children.
- Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers.
- The myeloma survival rate is only 32 percent.
You can become a potential bone marrow donor with only a small blood sample or a quick swab of cheek cells!
Although Sean lost his courageous 13-month and 13-day fight with leukemia, nearly 1,000 donors (Sean’s personal goal) have registered as a result of the bone marrow donor registration drives that Sean started. However, Sean's personal goal doesn't take into account the over 300 donors per week that are now registering at the US Marine Corps' "School of Infantry" (SOI). Since April of 2007, SOI's medical clinic has registered over 10,000 new donors.
If you're interested in participating, please go to the National Marrow Donor Program website at: Marrow.org (help).
Additional info, including some general guidelines for bone marrow donation, may be found at: marrow.org (join the registry).
To request a testing kit: marrow.org (join now / test).
Please pass this on to everyone and anyone...the registry needs A LOT more potential donors. Thanks so much for your support!
Sincerely,
The Williams Family
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Peace, out, y'all.
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