Dear ESPN,
I write mainly for Mr Olbermann. The cute, little girl throwing up her diamonds is my daughter, Noelle. She is a Four Diamonds child, a Penn State Hershey Medical Center patient, and a stage 4 kidney cancer survivor. She was four years old when she was diagnosed with a massive tumor that not only grew through her kidney but also spread to her lungs. She has had a total nephrectomy, mediport placement and removal surgeries, biopsies, seven months of chemotherapy, eight straight days of radiation while under sedation; countless scans, blood work and more Propofol than one should ever have. Instead of playing with her friends, her friends became the doctors and nurses. Her mediport line "Mr Smiley Face" was more than just a port, it became a part of HER.
Two days after Noelle was discharged from being diagnosed with cancer, we lost our home due to a massive home heating fuel leak that contaminated our well. Noelle had to fight cancer from a hotel room instead of being comfortable at home. I then had our youngest daughter in January 2014 and then suffered a massive heart attack four days later. Noelle had a scare at one of her routine scans when a spot was found in her lung.
Fast forward to last Thursday night- our very first THON. We were so excited to celebrate Noelle being cancer free and to support all of her fellow fighters. We arrived at our hotel to find our room had been decorated by the organizations that "adopted" Noelle and our family, Alpha Sigma Phi and Volé. Tears streamed down my face as I watched my daughters eyes light up with pure joy and happiness. For so long we waited to do "normal" things and be a "normal" family. This was a very special moment for us. We arrived at THON eager to meet Noelle's dancers, Bethany Shirilla and Andy Stoof, and the feeling was mutual. The pure love that Andy, Bethany, Volé, Alpha Sig, The Lionettes, football players, etc showed us made us forget the absolute hell we've been through in the last two years. The smiles on my daughters faces said it all. We danced, shared stories, got to know those incredible PSU students, we laughed and we cried. It was a magical experience. We walked in there as strangers and left as family.
On our ride home Sunday night, our truck broke down twice. After a friend came to rescue us, we arrived home to another disaster. A water pipe had burst and caused extensive damage. Our landlords have put us out on the streets. My husband, three daughters (1,5,6) and I are now homeless for the second time in two years to no fault of our own. I've called the Red Cross, United Way....just about every organization to help us but to no avail. If programs do exist, we either don't qualify or they aren't available because funds have been depleted.
I posted our situation on Facebook to let our loved ones know of our situation. Not only have we received a lot of support from friends and family, Volé and Alpha Sig called immediately asking what they could do.
They got together and decided they would help in anyway and they have. I received a phone call that they have taken care of reservations at a hotel for us and they have started a Go Fund Me page. What they have done and continue to do for our family is the most selfless acts any person could give. Our own landlords put us out but the PSU students have given us a place to stay.
Mr Olbermann, I read your "apology" and it seems fake. It does not seem at all genuine and that is very disappointing. To say such awful things about these students not only hurts them, but it hurts every Four Diamonds family at PSHMC. 708 dancers were on their feet for 46 hours for our children. Countless students are out canning during the year in horrible weather but you'll never see anything but a smile. They support our fighters and our families during the hell that pediatric cancer is.
Did you know that every child under the age if twenty has a 1/283 chance of having cancer? That 46 kids are diagnosed every day in the US and 7 die every day? Did you know our children are given 3.8% of the budget? No new chemotherapy drug has been released for kids in over twenty years. Our baby was given watered down adult chemo and radiation. We have cars that park themselves but our kids get squat. Mr Olbermann, I ask you to go to your local hospital and speak with the families that have children on the oncology floor. Ask them what their bills look like.
As a Four Diamonds family, anything our insurance won't cover, the Four Diamonds pays for. They also make sure we are fed while we are stuck in the hospital, give us gas vouchers to get to and from, and we never leave there with a bill. That's all because of THON and the Four Diamonds. When you call these incredible students names, you really have no idea what they've done for our families...especially ours. We don't know where we are going to live, we cannot go home, and our worlds have been flipped upside down again but those students are doing everything in their power to help ease the stress and burden.
If you want to make things right, volunteer at the hospital with pediatric onco kids, support THON....heck even come to THON next year so you can fully appreciate what these kids sacrifice and do for complete strangers. I guarantee you'll change your mind.
WE ARE...PENN STATE!!!!!