It isn't fair

My friend Kate's niece, Peyton (welovepeyton.blogspot.com), who is suffering from a rare form of infant leukemia, now has a dangerous fungal infection. Definitely in her nose tissue, where her feeding tube has been, and possibly in her eye, brain, and lungs. I've never met Peyton or her father, Dru, and I've only met Kate's sister--Peyton's mother--a handful of times in my life, during our college years and again over the weekend of Kate's wedding, so why do I care so much? Well, because she's a mom and I'm a mom.

Those of you with kids will understand when I say that being a parent is like having your nerves and emotions living on the outside of your skin. Everything that goes wrong with your kid or someone else's kid is akin to having someone run a cheese grater over your body. It hurts. It just freaking hurts. You might cry at a news article about a child being abused by caregivers. Those commercials for children's charities overseas, where you see starving children in dirty villages, will make your heart cringe. Life becomes more precious when you're a parent and have someone else's life to watch over.

Babies are born with the expectation of so much potential, a lifetime of holiday memories, milestones achieved, photos in the ever-growing albums to be pored over at graduations, weddings, births of their own children. Birth should not bring about the horrifying experience that Peyton, her parents, and everyone who loves her is going through. And mostly what her parents are going through. Because although so many people love Peyton, the people who brought her into this world are the ones who are suffering most. Count on it.

It isn't fair. This little girl should be at home with her parents, enjoying the nursery they surely set up for her and getting to know her big cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors, friends. She shouldn't be in a children's oncology ward, fighting for her life.

I don't know if prayers will be enough. I really don't. But I hope that they are. I want Peyton to get the miracle that she needs. I want her parents to be able to smile and see their little girl grow up. If you're the type to pray, please do. If you deal with the universe in another way, keep Peyton and her family in your thoughts the way you feel is most appropriate. If you have money to donate, send it to St. Jude's or another charity that helps sick children, or reach out to a family in your own community that is staggering under the weight of medical bills for a child who shouldn't be sick but is. Please.