In May of 2008 my sister ran across a craigslist post by a mother of a 4 year old child who had lost all of his hair. He attended school a few hours a day and the children made fun of him. The post was asking people to donate money so she could by him a wig. The wig was going to cost $800. My sister told her husband about it because she wanted to help the mother raise the money. My sisters husband told a guy at work and he actually wrote him an $800 check. My sister delivered the check to the mother. This is when my life changed.

My sister came home and told me all about this gorgeous little boy that she met. I decided that I just HAD to meet him. I called up his mother, Michelle and asked her how I could help. I coordinated a fundraiser with 5 live bands, door prizes, a live silent auction and local TV stations in less than a month. All I did was ask for help from the community, we didn't pay for one thing. The fundraiser was a huge success, we raised thousands of dollars for the Edmondson family; and Michelle's son, Joshua, became a very good friend of mine.

It turned out that he has an autoimmune disease and an extremely rare tumor disease. Tumors infect his entire little body and he ends up getting a lot of them biopsied. He recently started chemotherapy with hopes of controlling the tumor disease. He has had numerous surgeries, lost all of the hair on his entire body and has spent entirely too much time in Dell Children's Hospital. Every time he was in the hospital I would take him toys, blankets and pajamas. After a while every time he had to stay he would tell his mom "Call Miss Amanda. I need to see her." I would always drop what I was doing and head straight to the hospital with gifts. I would stay and play with him in the play room on most days. He was on the special floor...the oncology floor, because he couldn't be around too many germs.

By having such a small friend that frequented the special floor in the hospital so much, I got to know a lot of children there with cancer. I decided that I wanted to start something where we would deliver toys to these kids. It meant so much to Joshua that he could call someone and they would drop everything to bring him Batman pajama pants. So, that's what I did. I came up with Battle4aCure and Hope Baskets because these kids are in the battle of a lifetime and they just need someone who cares. I started researching childhood cancer and I didn't like what I found. 11 Children die from cancer every single day. I started following a blog of a little girl named Samantha Hughes. She was the same age as my niece. She passed away shortly after her 5th birthday. I will never forget how I felt the day I read that post, I just sat and cried. Since I started, our group lost a little boy named William who was 2; a little girl named Katie that was 4; a little girl named Reagan that was 5 and many others that we weren't extremely close to but it was still heartbreaking. We are usually introduced to the kids when they have first been diagnosed. We see them go from good to bad to worse to unresponsive in some cases. It is the most heartbreaking thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life.

We have also seen a lot of children beat cancer, which is like winning the lotto. The excitement we share with those families is unmatchable! It has been a roller coaster of fun and sorrow and everything in between.

As for my friend Joshua, he is still undergoing chemo treatments. His doctors are hoping for a miracle and so am I. Joshua and I have spent A LOT of time together over the past 3 years. I've had him on his birthdays, during Christmas and Summer vacations and I've taken him just about anywhere he asked to go, whether it was the ice cream place or Sea World. He has been the most amazing little blessing and I love him like he was my own.

Battle4aCure started as a dream to make a difference and touch a life, and I truly believe it has done just what God intended it to. :)