i stand up for my dad & ronan

Top: Stand Up To Cancer, Jeans and Shoes: Old Navy, 

Bag: Marc Jacobs, Bracelets: Team Bemis, Rockstar Ronan, Free to Breathe

Let's get down to business.

A few months ago I dedicated a post to "5 bloggers I heart."

One of those bloggers was Maya.
Maya's blog isn't filled with fashion posts, or funny stories, or where she went on vacation, or what she did over the weekend.
She actually only blogs for a single purpose: to write to her three year old son, Ronan, who died of Neuroblastoma (a rare type of childhood cancer).

Maya & Ronan.

Ellen introduced me to Maya's blog, Rockstar Ronan, in May of 2011.
I started reading just days after Ronan passed away.
Once I started reading, I couldn't stop.
I spent hours a day reading it and was all caught up in about four days.
My heart just broke for this little guy who was taken far too soon. 
It broke for his parents who had to go through the grief of losing their baby boy.
It broke for his older twin brothers who had to go through such an awful ordeal at such a young age.
I couldn't imagine the pain of not only losing someone I loved so much, but literally watching them die.

Fast forward five months and that’s when I found out my dad had Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
I was so incredibly pissed off at the world and couldn’t understand why this healthy, non-smoking 44 year old man who was a father to four, including a 1 year old, could be diagnosed with such an evil disease.
And then I thought of Ronan.
Cancer had taken away an innocent 3 year old boy and now it was taking away my dad.

My dad and brothers one year before his death.

Around the time of my dad’s diagnosis Ellen texted me a photo of a Rockstar Ronan bracelet she’d bought and told me they were selling them at a local boutique.
When I saw what the bracelet said I just knew I had to have one. 
They looked like this (obviously I wanted the naughty one) :

One week after my dad’s cancer diagnosis, my sister and I went to the boutique to buy our bracelets.
We went straight to the register and asked the owner, who is a friend of Maya's, where we could find the Ronan bracelets.
She pointed them out and asked us how we found out about Ronan.
We started to tell her when someone walked over to us with tears in her eyes thanking us for keeping her son’s memory alive.
It was Maya.
We talked to her about our dad’s diagnosis and about Ronan and how all of this cancer business was so unfair.
She hugged us and cried with us and told us if we ever needed anything she’d be here.
And true to her word, she was there for us.
She checked in on us to see how we were handling things, she followed my dad’s story on Team Bemis, and she wrote about his passing on her blog.
She showed me that it’s okay to be pissed off at cancer.
It’s okay to complain about it, and hate it, and want to stomp all over it.
But she also showed me that just being pissed off at it wasn’t going to do a thing. 
I had to fight for my dad and Ronan and the millions of other people diagnosed.

About a month after my dad passed away, I saw that there was a Lung Cancer 5k Walk/Run coming to Phoenix.
I immediately contacted Team Bemis and told them that I wanted to create a team.
We started fundraising and worked hard at it until the day of the walk.
And guess what?
We got first place!
It felt so good knowing that 100% of the money we raised was going to the National Lung Cancer Partnership’s research, education and awareness programs.
(Sidenote: Do your research before donating to an organization!)

Thanks to Maya, I’ve realized how important it is to join the fight in curing cancer.
Oh, and do you want to know what she’s been up to these days?

Last week Maya announced that Rockstar Ronan would be building a world class Neuroblastoma Research/Care Center. 
And maybe you ladies have heard of a musician that just recently wrote and performed a song for Ronan at the Stand Up to Cancer telecast.
Her name is TAYLOR. freaking. SWIFT. .......!

Yeah, that happened.
The song is doing so amazing that it reached #1 on iTunes.
And guess what?
Taylor is donating the proceeds from the song to cancer charities.

Can you do me favor?
Download “Ronan” by Taylor Swift on iTunes.
Actually, no, do it for Ronan, and my dad, and all the millions of others who have died fighting.
Do it for the cancer survivors including Ellen’s mom.
And do it for the people battling at this very second.
I mean, why wouldn’t you?

a. It’s a really good song.

b. It’s only $1.29

c. The proceeds go to cancer charities.

*To learn more about Ronan and Maya, click here.

*To learn more about my dad, click here.

*To donate to The Ronan Thompson Foundation, click here.

*To buy a Rockstar Ronan bracelet (50% from the sale goes to The Ronan Thompson Foundation), click here.