The Mangia Meatball Challenge
O U R S T O R Y
In the past twenty five years that I have been friends with Blair Peters’s family, I have often described Blair as a boy with a heart of gold who could make us laugh even in very dark moments. During Blair’s painful battle with Ewing’s sarcoma, friends and family frequently sat beside his bed and laughed with him. Blair had a way of describing his mom’s nursing care and his experiences with nurses that were actually so funny that we now realize Blair probably cheered us up far more often than we were able to cheer him.
As a young adult, Blair was older than most children diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, so when the more typical chemotherapies for younger children failed to help Blair, his doctors had no choice but to seek more “experimental” treatments. When the insurance company refused or delayed covering the cost of these prescribed medications, Penn State’s Four Diamonds Fund stepped right up and paid for everything so there would be no delay in Blair receiving the treatments and surgeries he needed. Many of us believe that the immediate action and services provided by The Four Diamonds Fund extended Blair’s life by one year.
At the end of that priceless year, Blair often said if he won a million dollars he would use it to help children with cancer. He wanted to make a difference; he wanted to defeat cancer. Those of us organizing the Friends of Blair: Mangia Meatball Challenge are dedicated to realizing Blair’s dream, one meatball challenge at a time. Every dollar raised by the Friends of Blair: Mangia Meatball Challenge is a donation to The Four Diamonds Fund in Memory of Blair.
We are forever grateful for the tireless efforts of Penn State students, alumni and friends whose annual fundraising for the Four Diamonds Fund culminates in THON, a forty six hour dance “maraTHON” . THON/Four Diamonds was there for Blair; now it’s our turn to give back to The Four Diamonds Fund in memory of our young hero, Blair Lawrence Peters. Please join us, Saturday, April 12, 2014.
Sincerely,
Cecilia McCartney Hofmann,
Friends of Blair: Mangia Meatball Challenge, Co-Chair
