On behalf of my stepson Sam Callahan, we were rooting for Mark last night. Sam is struggling with Ewing’s Sarcoma but he was not as fortunate as Mark since Sam’s cancer had already spread to his lungs before he was diagnosed. Sam has been fighting his battle since Sept. of 2009. They have thrown every type of chemo known to man at Sam and hew has persevered. On December 15th, the doctors at M.D. Anderson took 79 tumors from Sam’s right lung, leaving him with just 1/3rd of that lung remaining. Though we live in the Bay Area, we were not able to make it to the game yesterday since Sam is still in the hospital in Houston but he wears Mark’s “Beat Cancer” t-shirt proudly and Mark continues to be an inspiration to Sam. Personally, I think what Mark has done is indeed amazing, but Sam continues to be my inspiration. 16 months of chemo, radiation, surgeries, nausea etc, while managing to keep up with his 8th grade class, graduate and gain acceptance into Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose . . . and managing to keep up with his freshman class up to now . . .
We reached out to Mark via the BC football coaching staff last year to try and make contact with Mark. We realize that Mark has probably been inundated with this type of request, but we were sad not to hear from him. Mark, we wish you well and hope that your star continues to shine beyond BC, whether in the NFL or not.
Childhood cancer is a terrible thing. It is the leading cause of death among young people yet it gets a fraction of the funding that other more popular cancers receive. We set up “The Sam Butler Callahan Foundation” to help fund research for Ewing’s Sarcoma. Mark, we hope you will continue to bring attention to this terrible disease as your star rises.
God Bless.
Leave your Comment