PINK IT TO THE LIMIT

Writing a Fundraising Letter may not always be easy BUT when you make your donation ask as personal as possible, it helps! Below is a sample letter from one of our PITTL runners:

December 13, 2006

"Four years ago I became, for the third time, the luckiest woman alive. I became, for the third time, the mother of a healthy child. Her name is Elizabeth, and she changed my life forever.

On one level, the change is obvious. My house still resembles a locker room as it is cluttered with sports equipment and evidence of the two boys who live there. But among the pile of baseball cleats, one pair is pink now. The mound of laundry in the basket is still just as huge (and still just as filthy), but some of the denim is sparkly, and there are sequined leotards and some cheetah print among the athletic jerseys and khaki pants. "I don't like plain," she says, so our lives have been infused with fancy touches of glitter and sprinkles and fringe and feathers. But on a much deeper level, the change she has made in my life has been more blinding than all of that playful glitter and glow. She has made me think about how to live. As I watch her tear through her day - that wild hair flying and that determined look on her face- I see a passion, a spirit, and a courage that I wish I had.

I know of another little girl who was, I think, a lot like my daughter. Emily Ransom was fashionable and bright, particular and opinionated, and she was adored. She was the little sister of two older brothers, and she was known as the Pink Power Ranger Princess. In October of 2005, at the tender age of 2, she was diagnosed with stage IV Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. She bravely completed 5 rounds of Chemotherapy, had 3 surgeries, 4 blood transfusions, and made 2 trips to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where her stem cells were harvested. On February 20, 2006, during her 4 th surgery, she won her battle with cancer and, as her family says, "went to swim in Heaven and dance with Jesus." All of this in less than 5 months.

Emily and Elizabeth would have been fast friends, I believe. They would have been at the same school this year. I am saddened when I think of their friendship that will never be. I am devastated when I think of her absence that looms so obviously in her house. I could not bear to lose my daughter. I don't know how the Ransoms - or any family who loses a child- survive such a terrible loss. But each year 600-700 children are diagnosed with Neuroblastoma; there are currently 5 children in Chattanooga who are fighting this disease. For high-risk patients, there is only a 30% survival rate, and that statistic has remained the same for 30 years.

Emily's Power for a Cure is a foundation established by her family to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for Neuroblastoma while supporting families and children who are currently in treatment for the disease. I am following my Elizabeth's lead and I am going to run a half marathon with other Power for a Cure members in Nashville on April 28 th . I hope to raise $1,000 in memory of Emily Ransom and in honor of all of the other children who are fighting to live. I am getting my courage and nerve from Emily and Elizabeth!

Any donation you can make to help me achieve my goal is tax deductible, greatly appreciated, and greatly needed. By February 20 th , I hope to have reached my monetary goal. Emily won her battle with cancer one year ago on this day. It seems fitting to have this as my "due date."

Checks may be made out to Emily's Power for a Cure.

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond."   

-Fred Rogers