Help Riley See the Ocean

A couple of months ago, my 21-year-old daughter, who has autism, came home from school one day and told me she was very worried about a boy at her school. His name was Riley, and she said she hadn't seen him at school for a while. Not knowing the situation, I tried to ease her fears as best I could. He's probably got a bad cold, I said. Or maybe the flu. Or maybe he's on a trip. Periodically, she would come home and tell me that she still hadn't seen Riley, and was really worried. By now I figured he wasn't on a trip, so I told her maybe he transferred to a different school. No, she said one day, the teachers told her he was sick. Then one day she came home and said she had bad news. Riley had cancer. I said that IS bad news. She said she was worried he was going to die from it like her grandpa had, and I told her that although cancer is a very serious disease and lots of people DO die from it, not everyone does, and maybe Riley would be one of the lucky ones. We would just have to hope for the best for him. Almost every day I would get an update on Riley - that she had seen him at school, that they made him cards in art class, or that he was absent again and she was worried again.

Then today, I read this morning's paper about a boy with autism who has terminal cancer, who was able to graduate early from our district's special needs transition school so they could make sure he got his diploma before he succumbed to that awful disease. The article said that the boy had anywhere from a few months to a year left to live, and had a quote from his mom about making each day the best that she could for him. The boy also said he didn't want to be buried when he died; he wanted his ashes scattered over the waves of the ocean - even though he has never even seen an ocean. His mom was trying to save up enough money to take him to see it before he dies - she originally thought in April, but the doctors told her to move the time table up to March due to the boy's fragile health. The boy's name? Riley.

Of all the times I've wished I was a millionaire, I think I wished it most then. But if wishes were all it took, not only would Riley and his mom get to see the ocean, Riley would be cancer-free, too.

We can't cure Riley's cancer. But we CAN make sure Riley gets to see the ocean before cancer claims him! Please donate whatever you can to help - no amount is too small!
http://www.standard.net/stories/2014/02/11/autistic-davis-student-terminal-cancer-gets-early-graduation-hopes-see-ocean#disqus_thread