It is a beautiful day in Sydney. A busy week is drawing to a close and I am looking forward to a weekend with family and friends. Next week, I will be in New York meeting up with some of the brightest and most talented people I know — the Blogger Socialites. Really, life is good.
But not everyone has the luxury of my rosy view of the next few days. An email this afternoon from my friend, Todd Andrlik shows how very different his weekend will be. You see, Todd’s sister, Tricia, was diagnosed last week with the same aggressive form of breast cancer as Susan Reynolds — invasive lobular carcinoma. That means that Tricia will spend the weekend in hospital undergoing a double mastectomy.
Todd has setup a website to keep family and friends up-to-date. You can share your support for Todd and for Tricia and her family by visiting the site — 4tricia.com. And as you can imagine, there will be additional stresses and worries associated with medical costs — with years of treatment and associated costs ahead. For those who can, you can support Tricia’s family in three different ways directly from the site. Even the smallest donation helps.
Please keep Tricia in your thoughts over the next few days. And hold your loved ones close.
Thanks, Gavin. You’re a great blogger and an even better friend. I can’t tell you how much your post means to me and my family. I haven’t slept much this week, but late last night I posted the message and sent an email. Then – after seeing the outpouring of social media support from twitter in just 15 minutes – I actually got some sleep. How strange is that… Twitter helped me get some sleep! 🙂