ajflutie Posted May 23, 2008 Report Posted May 23, 2008 You know for the last two years, my right shoulder has really ached. I called it my torn rotor cuff. It came from throwing untold thousands of footballs to my 14 year old son, Alex John, or as we called him, AJ. Trying to lead him just right on deep post patterns, trying hard to keep up with his speed. And, after the last one every time, you see, he would only let it end after he made a great catch, from catching the big lug and hugging him as he came running and jumped into my arms, yelling "the Bills win the Super Bowl, the Bills win the Super Bowl!". Just us dreaming. It came from me trying to pitch to him as fast as I could so he wouldn't hit me, but he always did. It honestly hurt enough so that I only slept on my left side and if I rolled over on it, it would wake me up in the night. But I didn't care, how could I stop doing those things? I loved it. My new problem is that over the past month or so, my shoulder has slowly but surely stopped aching. Now what keeps me awake at night is my broken heart. You see, I have no one to throw those passes to, no one to brush back anymore. Because AJ left us on January 5, 2008, a victim of childhood cancer. That's the introduction to a speech I had the honor of giving to the Advisory Board of the Texas Children's Cancer Center and a major fundraising group for pediatric cancer research, the Curing Children's Cancer Fund. The entire speech can be viewed at http://curechildhoodcancer.blogspot.com. If nothing else, go to the paragraph describing the kids on the 9th floor at TCH, especially if you've never been there (and I hope you haven't). It's just a blog site I created so we can post these long, windy ramblings of mine. If you want to comment, please use AJsspace, the Care Page, at www.carepages.com. The support is picking up. Thanks to all the fellow CarePagers, CaringBridgers and so many others for spreading the word. These kids need our help. Let's remember them all this Memorial Day, they are brave little warriors too. It has been a tough couple days, and I will leave you all this weekend with two final thoughts. #1 - it's 1 in 300, are you will to bet? Do you like your odds? #2 - if YOU don't do it, who will? Love you and miss you Age..... AJs Dad Cure Childhood Cancer
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