Pat Pedraja's Blog

What I'm Most Thankkful For
- Posted on 12.05.08
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I can’t believe it is Thanksgiving already. This year seems to have gone by so fast. All of a sudden Thanksgiving crept up on me. I have been really wrapped up in the stuff that goes on everyday and I realized that I haven’t been spending as much time thinking about the things I am thankful for as I usually do. I have a lot to be thankful for, even when things aren’t going too good. I wanted to share my Most Thankful Things list with you.

The thing I am the MOST THANKFUL for is my health. I’m glad I am feeling good!

I’m also Thankful for:

My family
My friends
My doctors / nurses (except the Dr. that gave me Ketamine with my chemo the other day, I could have lived without that)
My bulldog Rinkles!! She’s the cutest
My PSP :)
Having a home and food to eat
Having hair again
Subway restaurants
The organizations that help me help other people
Finding 5 matching marrow donors for people
Being able to be on the Late Late Show again with Craig Ferguson
Spending time at the beach
The grant from Aetna
Having the chance to be in Los Angeles
My new baby half brother and sister
My grandparents cooking
www.theplanetus.com
baseball and hockey
my iphone!!
everyday that I wake up and feel good (and even when I wake up and don’t feel good I know that there are other people out there who feel worse than I do so I am still thankful)
Everyone that is helping me accomplish my dreams!

There are 2 kids who are not waking up feeling so good these days and I wish everyone would think good thoughts and prayers for them this Thanksgiving. Scott has T Cell Leukemia and is having a really rough time, feeling horrible and in and out of the hospital. Cody is 10 and was just diagnosed with AML and is getting chemo in Georgia and I know he isn’t feeling well. Please think of them!!!

I heard the other day that this awesome little boy named Siddarth who we met during our marrow drive in Australia, passed after after his transplant a few weeks ago. Siddarth was so happy and full of life in July that it is a real shock to me that he passed away. Siddarth was one of 3 people with Leukemia who passed away in just the past few weeks and it really scares me. Did you know that over 18 people I know died in the last 2 years? Now every time my mom says “Pat, I have some sad news”, I’m scared to hear what she is going to say! There shouldn’t be so many people dying and I want everyone to know that we still need help! If you are thankful for what you have and can share some of yourself with others, please email info@dkmsamericas.org to get a free marrow swab kit or www.marrow.org to find a drive.

One last thought for Thanksgiving! Check out this video of an 11 year old boy with Leukemia whose dying wish was to feed the homeless. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=10831031 It made me cry how people sprang into action to make his wish come true. If we just used a little bit of that kindness everyday and not just when someone was dying, the world would be a different place.

Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, and I am thankful for all of you that read my blog too! thanks for caring about me!

your friend
Pat

Tags: pat pedraja, driving for donors, thanksgiving, thankful