On Your "Mark", Get Set, Go!

A great end to the weekend. Friday night turned out to be perfect and I really did need the night off.
I had taken Saturday night off too. It was the first annual Make Your Mark Foundation Fundraiser benefitting pediatric cancer research held at White Sox Park. I never knew Mark Staehley, the boy behind this fundraiser who died of nueroblastoma just over a year ago. However, I thought it was a good outlet for me to get involved with a children's fundraiser that mirrors Kerri's organization. The Fogltons (my second family), knew Mark personally and told me about his battle with cancer and what his did for Chicago Childrens Hospital. I will try to do his story justice, but forgive me if a skip something. He was a patient there for almost 5 years; even though he was just a kid when he was going through chemo, he wanted to make sure he got to help the other kids at the hospital. He started collecting donated toys to bring to the kids so that any time they were having a surgery, procedure, or just a bad day, they could choose a toy to have. Well in short, he collected thousands of toys for the kids o n his floor. This past Christmas, the first since he passed away, his family and friends helped collect over 25,000 toys in his honor. So many toys that they were able to expand their territory and send toys over to Northwestern, where some patients have procedures done. So the fundraiser last night helped raise money to continue the toy chest as well as a scholarship in Mark's honor and money towards pediatric cancer research. What I'm telling you is all in a nutshell of course and I am leaving so much out, but I wanted to give you an idea of what an amazing person this 17 year old was, and what a "mark" he left on everyone. There are so many things about his story that relate to my friend kerri, it's hard to ignore. I'm so happy I got to be part of this organization and help his family in anyway. I feel like by working with the Staehleys I am continuing Mark and Kerri's memory. Kerri passed away five years ago this week. If I can't be home being a bigger part of her foundation (which is having its big fundraiser next weekend) and I am so glad I can do what I can for Mark. The night was a huge success. Somewhere around 400 people were at the ball park. We watched a video about Mark on the score board and had the whole club house to ourselves. Open bar, lots of food, and most importantly, lots of money that went straight to Children Hospital!