GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com) – She would have blown out 53 candles on her birthday cake this past Sunday. Instead, Bonnie Freeman died in 1982 at age 12 from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
Even as she faced her own mortality, young Bonnie wasn’t thinking about herself.
“Shortly after her diagnosis, she went to her parents and said, ‘What can we do? What can we do?'” recounted Christy Gibbons. “They brainstormed and talked and she came up with wanting to raise money and wanting to do something to help other families. So that’s how it launched.”
“It” is Stop Children’s Cancer (SCC), a Gainesville-based charity that raises money to fund research and clinical trials aimed at curing childhood cancers. Gibbons has been the nonprofit’s Executive Director for the last four years.
“Her parents and other friends of the family got together and started doing bake sales and fundraisers and selling plants, just little things they could do to start raising money,” said Gibbons.
In perfect penmanship, Bonnie wrote a letter detailing her wish to raise more than a million dollars. “I feel that since the money from this fund is for all the kids in the world, everyone should help!” asserted Bonnie.
She died one week later.
Bonnie bravely battled cancer for two and a half years. In 1983, with the effects of chemotherapy evident, Bonnie interviewed with a Gainesville television station for a story about her bold goal. The reporter asked, “How would it make you feel if somebody gave a million dollars?” Bonnie flashed a smile and responded without hesitation, “It would make me feel real good ’cause I’d know then more people are going to be working on it and then we could get this thing really going to help kids with cancer.”
But Bonnie realized not everyone has the same capacity to give. To her, donations of time and talent were just as important as treasure. “We need people to make things to sell, work on paper stuff and spread the word of the fund to others,” she wrote in her letter.
Gibbons upholds that value to this day. “You don’t have to give money. You can volunteer. You can attend our events. Come and do things. Hold a fundraiser,” she said.
In the four decades since Bonnie’s passing, legions have rallied behind the cause.
“Her wish of raising a million dollars, we have donated and have been responsible for UF receiving over $19 million in funding,” said Gibbons. “It’s amazing how big the 352 community’s hearts are.”
All this month, Stop Children’s Cancer is hosting the 5th annual birthday bash in Bonnie’s honor. Posts on the charity’s Facebook page reveal the realities about childhood cancer today.
While progress has been made and cure rates have increased, Bonnie wouldn’t be satisfied.
“There are two statistics I like to share that I think are really powerful,” Gibbons said. “One is four percent of the federal funding allocated towards cancer research goes to children nationwide. Two is 60% of the children enrolled in treatment for cancer are on a clinical trial. There’s not enough money to fund research and there’s not enough proven cures for childhood cancer if 60% of our kids have to be enrolled in a trial to get help.”
This year, SCC has set a goal to raise $10,000 during Bonnie’s Birthday Bash month.
You can help her legacy live on by making a tax-deductible, donation today.
“We have to help our kids. We have to help our future. We have to find cures for cancer,” implored Gibbons.
And, channel the spirit of Bonnie who in her final days was still filled with optimism.
“You could just give up… or you could keep going and take it day by day and do different fun things. That’s what we do. Every day we do something fun. We just keep doing it. We don’t think about it [cancer] much unless it’s the day we’re going into the hospital. We just take [it] day by day.”