The thing about cancer is that it doesn’t give a shit who you are or how old you are or who you know or how much money your folks left you in that trust fund or how many jobs you’re working to keep food on the table or how many hours you spent studying for the class spelling bee or how many Lyle Lovett CDs you’ve got in your collection. The f@#king thing just shows up one day–unannounced, like a loutish uncle–and you have to deal. But, ghastly as it sounds, it’s one thing that we all have in common: it can happen to any of us. Tomorrow, it could be you. Or your dad. Or your mom. Or your kids. Or your butcher. You just don’t know.
Scary shit, yes. That’s why it’s particularly reassuring to know that the folks at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund Clinic are working around the clock to help us deal. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to never need their services. But if you ever do, it’s good to know they’re there.
With the government too busy buying missiles and Mars probes to donate money to such worthy causes, the Jimmy Fund looks to people like us to help fund research. And if you need any motivation to help you break out the checkbook or credit card, let it be this: you’ll be helping sick kids. F@#k, when I was a kid, the toughest thing I had to worry about was where my next wedgie was coming from (a concern that, interestingly, follows me to this day). The kids who file into the Jimmy Fund clinic every day are literally fighting for their lives. And I can only imagine the special hell their parents and loved ones are going through while I have the balls to stammer around my office, complaining about the traffic and the recently-released Brad Penny and how the coffee machine doesn’t get my brew quite as warm as I like it.
That’s why Denton and I will be doing our part, collecting donations for the NESN/WEEI Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon tonight at Crossroads Ale House at the corner of Mass Ave and Beacon, from around 7:00pm ’til then end of the game. It’s informal, no rented space, no tuxedos, no chaps. Just a couple nerds sitting at the upstairs bar, cheering on the Sox, with a Jimmy Fund donation tin.
If tonight’s not good for you, then check out the event our pal Bottom Line Rob has got going on tomorrow night at the Fours in Norwell.
If you can’t make either of these events, you can still do your part by clicking here.
Anything–anything–you can spare to this worthy cause will help make a difference in someone’s life. That’s the stuff that matters, Billy.
