Gratitude That Lasts a Lifetime

She's now a published author: Her book, "I Never Signed Up for This: An Upfront Guide to Dealing With Cancer at a Young Age," came out last month. It's a been-there-done-that survival guide, something to explain cancer and hair loss and, yes, the sinking realization that Mom and Dad can't fix everything.

Luckily, the doctors at Children's could fix Katie, and she's now cancer-free. Maybe she didn't appreciate them so much at the time -- what 10-year-old wants to be in a hospital, after all? -- but "looking back now, I owe them my life," she says.

She's taken a pay-it-forward approach by helping kids with cancer, believing, she says, that "I got to stay on this Earth just to do that."

Helping Children's

I'm enormously grateful for the contributions we've received so far in our drive to raise $500,000 for Children's Hospital. This campaign is like few others. We don't get hefty corporate checks that end in lots of zeroes. We get lots of little checks that end in one zero, maybe two.

They're handwritten and drawn from personal accounts, and they include notes that say things such as "Get well, little ones" and "Please extend our heartfelt thanks for all the good Children's does."

Add them all together and the result is both an outpouring of support for this most important of institutions and, I'm glad to say, real money. That money is used to pay the hospital bills of kids who don't have health insurance, ensuring that no child is ever turned away.

To donate, make a check or money order payable to "Children's Hospital" and mail it to Washington Post Campaign, P.O. Box 17390, Baltimore, Md. 21297-1390.

To donate online using a credit card, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/childrenshospital.

To contribute by phone using Visa or MasterCard, call 202-334-5100.

We're also able to convert foreign currency -- including coins -- into U.S. funds. Package it carefully and send it to me: John Kelly, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

Thank you.