12/21/10

Late to the party, as usual, I am only now getting around to doing something suggested I do last week: ask you all for a good deed.

Jess told me about Matthew, who is dying, whose brother has already died, who is eleven years old. He has a rare neurological disease called Leigh's disease. My daughter, as you might know, has her own neurological condition, epilepsy. So my heart is in my throat. Here's what I want you to know: this is hard for this boy, but think for a minute about how hard it is for his parents. Know this: it's harder than what you imagined.

Matthew, like several other children with terminal diseases before him, would love it if you sent him a Christmas card.

Here's his address.

Matthew Mickelson Butman
PO Box 1865
Wylie, TX, 75089

And here is more about his story.

Count your blessings, people. Count them. (And don't blame him for that last name. It's not his fault.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You warm and break my heart at the same time. Yes, yes, of course. I'm writing the card tonight and mailing it tomorrow.

Jean Spitzer said...

Oh, Margaret.

Petrea Burchard said...

Tears in my eyes, Margaret. And I know this is only one story.

Joanne said...

Life takes such sad, sad turns sometimes. Kudos to you for shining a light on his life here ...

Cafe Observer said...

Holidays should be a time to reflect on our lives and life.

I was just reminding myself earlier tonite about counting our blessings. Putting on an attitude of gratitude is something we often fail to clothed ourselves with.

Ditto the above comments...and I still believe in Christmas cards.

Susan Campisi said...

Heartbreaking, unfathomable.

Sherry said...

Thank you for posting this, after reading/watching it I dug through my pile of cards and sent him one. What a sweet little boy.

Margaret said...

Thanks everyone, and I want to give all the credit to Jess, who suggested I do this post and ran across the story first.

Olga said...

Another card is in the mail.