How does this even happen?

Depending on where you guys are in the country most 10 year olds have already been in school almost a month now. I know of one 5th grader however who is not, and won't be for some time. Before we go any farther the child in question is my cousin and they did not ask me to post this but I had to share his story.

Heather and Haley are two of only a handful of cousins that I have on my mother's side. Though I feel I was close at times to Heather growing up for some reason me and Haley never connected, I'm not sure its any fault of our own I moved a lot and I wasn't around as much as I wanted to be. Now that I am back home it seems I am always busy. Its not that I don't think of them often, you see Heather and Haley had a brother.. Tyler who was the youngest of our group and we lost him to a drunk driver while he was still in High School. When I think of Tyler I think of my favorite rocking horse which was of course my pride and joy growing up as I was a horse nut. My mom decided one week that it would be a fabulous idea to give that rocking horse to Tyler and I remember being SO angry with him for taking it. It seems so petty now and to be honest with you I wasn't playing with that horse so much anymore, but it was the fact that It had been my favorite toy for so long I just didn't want to give it up. I regret it now as we moved not long after that and I don't think I saw Tyler more than a handful of times after that. That stupid rocking horse seems so petty now knowing what I know and even more so as I think about what Haley is going through at the moment.

That brings me to Haley, I got some of the worst news I can imagine a few weeks ago. Haley's son Chandler was diagnosed with a large brain tumor, called a juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, extending onto his brain stem and they had to go in to do immediate surgery. Though they did get all of the tumor on his brain the portion on the brain stem cannot be removed surgically so the next option will be chemotherapy. Chandler is recovering from his operation but will need extensive therapy before he can get back to his normal life. Before this happened he enjoyed basketball, music, most notably his violin, and he desperately wanted a trumpet. I've been trying to get him one through the PR contacts that I have but with no luck.

Chandler would have started the fifth grade by now and through all of this his biggest concern is "When can I go back to school?" Mind you he is still healing and is having some mobility and speech issues from the surgery. No one knows exactly when he will go back but in the meantime the current mission is healing and getting him back on his feet.

His family is in desperate need of help to pay for the therapy and medical bills not to mention the immense amount of time they will have to take off work to care for Chandler. If anyone would like to donate or come up with ideas for a fund raiser they would be eternally grateful.

You can read more about Chandler here. This family has been through so much already I'm sure they would appreciate it if you just stopped by and gave them some love.

Donations can be made in his name at :

Banktrust
16234 U.S. Hwy. 331 South
Attention Carla
Freeport, Florida 32439
Account # 104000104
You can also contact Carla Tompkins at Banktrust : 850-835-3335

I'll update on Chandler later... the two pictures by the way... the top one is Chandler's basketball picture from 07 and the second is him in the hospital after his surgery.