Giving Grayson a Fighting Chance

His mother, Lesly Guevara, said that the first two weeks after surgery, Grayson was a little tentative. "Now, he's jumping," she said. "He's a little boy. He likes to play. He has good energy."

Best of all, his right kidney is working like a champ. And that means Grayson won't need dialysis.

Grayson continues to visit Children's regularly for chemotherapy but, says his mother, "He's doing well." He's back in school, back playing with his brothers and sisters, back devouring the Honduran food his mother makes.

Children are incredibly resilient, bouncing back from ailments that would defeat their parents or grandparents. Maybe that's why it's so unfair when a child is sick. It turns the natural order on its head.

But children do get sick. They get cancer, they get HIV. They get in car accidents, and they get caught in crossfire. And when that happens, the people at Children's Hospital work to save their lives. Thanks in part to readers such as you, no child is ever turned away because his or her parents can't pay the bill. Please keep this so by taking part in our annual campaign.

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.

As of yesterday, we'd raised $424,612.58. With your help, we can reach our goal of $500,000 by tomorrow. Next week I'll report back with our final numbers.

Join me tomorrow at 1 p.m. for my online chat:http://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.