The WOGL Radiothon at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Two weeks ago Kevin and I were invited to be part of the 10^th Annual  98.1 WOGL Loves Our Kids Radiothon. I guess I should have written about it sooner. I tried. But I was torn between the exhilaration of being part of the event and the deep emotions that we felt being there at CHOP.

 Kevin sat with The Breakfast Club (Ross Britain, Valerie Knight, and Frank Lewis) and talked about Mr Stinkas on air from the new Ryan Seacrest Foundation radio studio. Wow! What an awesome experience!  If you missed it, you can listen to it on MrStinkas.com.

 Each and every person associated with WOGL is wonderful and genuinely care about the kids and their families at CHOP.  On more than one occasion they fought back tears to be able to speak on air about what these children and their families go through.

That segways into the emotional part. We saw children in wheelchairs watching the broadcast through the glass walls of the studio. We saw children wheeling their IV poles over to the magician in the lobby, we saw little ones in pajamas sitting at a table waiting to get their faces painted, or make tie dye socks with the volunteers.

Without the hospital paraphernalia you would just think you were at our local community day celebrations. Kids are kids, and they just want to laugh and have fun, no matter if they are sick or not. They NEED to laugh and have fun.

Which brings me to what happened the week after the raditohon. One morning I was checking on our book’s website and found a new post:

A message of love

My father gave us this book. He said "I think it will make us all feel better." You see all long story short, my son had been sick for awhile and though the future looks bright he hasn't smiled for anything. We played the C.D. and read along.(wonderful pictures) Well all I can say is bless you. The story and sounds made him smile and then laugh! Then after a few nights of reading and laughing together, my son said good night to me. He repeated the last four lines in the story. When I first heard and read the words at the end, It reached my heart! And when my son repeated the words to me, my soul!!! On the back of the book is a picture of I believe is the author. With the words,"care about, share about and love throughout." This book does.

That is exactly what Mr Stinkas is all about! Anyone who thinks it is just a silly book about “Cutting the Cheese” is missing the point. It is about bringing smiles and laughter to children and their families, sick or not. It is about sharing a special moment with the ones you love. Everyone needs to laugh and feel loved. You need to find these moments, grab onto them, and enjoy them! I guess in the end, we can mix the exhilaration with the emotion and have wonderful memories!