How you can help fight pediatric cancer

Hi, my name is Sean Fredella. If you don’t know me, I hope you never meet somebody like me again. That’s because I’ve survived cancer four times. Four times over the course of seven and a half years. I’ve had Leukemia, a bone marrow transplant, chemo, radiation. I’ve had a craniotomy, which is basically a fancy term that doctors use for cutting my head open from this ear to this ear, pulling down my face, then use a drill to pull out the tumor the size of a golf ball. Yeah, fifth grade was not very fun. I had many memories of cancer. Some good, some bad. I remember my family visiting me, cousins, all my aunts and uncles, having good times, watching movies, pulling all-nighters, maybe being the most competitive bingo player ever. But some of my most memorable moments were with steroids. Now, when I say steroids, most people think of steroids like Barry Bonds, get ripped, muscular, or like Lance Armstrong, or every single biker ever. No, I had a different type, and to put it lightly, this steroid made me angry. I was mad all the time and I complained about just about everything. I had the temper of 1,000 Donald Trumps. Now, one time during Lent, after church, I was walking outside and an old lady started to approach me, and she was shaking. She was more nervous than me giving a speech right now. And she said, “Now Sean, what are you giving up for Lent this year?” I looked her straight in the eyes and I said, “Duh, my hair.” Now, all jokes aside, cancer was a challenge for me. I remember being held down by four to five nurses, getting needles in my chest, which is, by the way, way scarier than public speaking. And I met lots of friends. We fought with each other and most of my friends didn’t make it. One of my friend’s name was Tyler. One day, my dad took Tyler and me to go see a movie. Tyler was 14 years old and he just had a relapse. Tyler said to my dad, “Mr. Fredella, all I want to do is drive a car.” Tyler passed away on March 15, 2012. He was 14 years old. He was never able to drive a car. It’s moments like these and people like Tyler that make me wonder why. Why me? Out of all my friends, why did I survive? There has to be a reason. And I think I know an answer, and I’d like to share it with you. I believe it’s my purpose to raise awareness about the money allocated to pediatric cancer research. You know, out of all the money raised, the millions, billions of dollars raised to fight all cancers, pediatric cancer only gets 4%. Kids like you, kids like me, and kids like Tyler, and it’s only 4%. Children die every day from cancer, and they did nothing to deserve it. We need to fight. We need to make a change. We need to have more than four. And I think I can fix it, I think I have a solution. Well, here it goes. Ladies and gentlemen, sports! In America, we worship the athletes who walk the hardwood courts and awesome fields. We wear Jordans because they wear Jordans. We buy jerseys with their names on them because we want to be like them. Now, when you look at this picture, what do you notice? What stands out? Now does anyone know what pink stands for? When October rolls around, the whole sports world is painted pink. Everyone comes together for a great cause and a great message that helps breast cancer survivors and patients fight breast cancer. Now, just like breast cancer uses pink as their color, we could use gold, which is the color for pediatric cancer awareness. Gold on gloves, gold on cleats, gold on clothes. We can fight pediatric cancer. I can see it now. It’s the first Sunday of the NFL season. 100,000 fans chanting, anticipating a great kick-off. And out of the tunnels, out of the corners of the stadium, a blur of gold streaks across the field. Thousands of fans chanting, and the gold gloves and cleats glisten in the Sunday morning sun. All players from different places with different dreams and different homes come together for one cause and one color - gold. We need to fight pedatric cancer, and I believe that this is the way to do it. From peewee to professional, from kickers to coaches, from goalies to guards, everyone can wear gold in September. My goal is that by this time next year, everybody knows that September is the month for raising awareness for childhood cancer research, and that gold is the color for finding a cure for childhood cancer. Now, don’t take my word for it. Who am I? Just a random kid from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Why don’t you take the number three pick in the 2016 NFL draft Joey Bosa’s word for it. I’m Joey Bosa former defensive end at the Ohio State University and I believe our children deserve more than four. And why don’t you take defensive lineman from Iowa State University Mitchell Myers’s word for it. Hi, my name is Mitchell Myers. I play football at Iowa State University, and I’m a cancer survivor. Our kids deserve more than four. And, since we’re in New York, why don’t you take arguably the greatest New York Yankees’ pitcher ever, Andy Pettitte. Hi, this Andy Pettitte, former pitcher of the New York Yankees and Houston Astros. Our kids deserve more than four. Hi. My name is Sean Fredella. Our kids deserve more than four. Tyler deserves more than four. Sebastian deserves more than four. Andrew deserves more than four. We deserve more than four. Thank you.