My dear friend Kimi found out on Friday that her 15 year old son has an inoperable spinal tumor. Andrew is a great kid. He is friendly, the kind of guy who knows how to make eye contact and conversation with his mom's friends. The kind of kid who plays basketball and baseball and will babysit his four year old sister when his mom desperately needs a girls night at the movies. He seems to have an endless stream of friends and social events but still likes to join his family for an occasional houseboat day or get-together at the house even though he will be the oldest kid present. He is always good to all those younger kids too. Really, he is a nice likable guy at an age when it's easy to not be. So I'm sad for him. He has a lot to go through. He is going to be sick and he's always seemed robust. He will miss baseball season and snowboarding and a lot of school (he's a good student too). But I'm glad there is hope, glad he has good doctors, glad he comes from a GREAT family. And it's been a special thing to see his generation pull together to support him. Dozens of people have changed their Facebook photo to his baseball number (it's the pic I included here) and hundreds have posted encouraging words for him. His team is raising funds to buy gas cards to get him to treatments. People are calling to ask how they can help. His school is planning a spirit day for him. Cancer is so ugly, so horrible. But this kid is great, his family is wonderful, he seems to be bringing out the best in others, and my greatest prayer is that he will beat it.
