Family of Boy with Cancer Bids on Hope

[Southpaw Bookworm]

Tiffini Dingman-Grover said it began with a grilled cheese sandwich -- not just any sandwich, but one that bore a likeness of the Virgin Mary and brought in $28,000 at auction online. The final, galling straw, she said, was a "haunted" walking cane that last month fetched $65,000 on eBay. "I thought if people are going to spend that kind of money for crap, then maybe they'd put it toward a good cause," said Dingman-Grover, who has spent two years facing the emotional and financial cataclysm of a critically ill son, David, 9.

A fist-sized tumor that grew at the base of his skull and pressed against his throat was diagnosed in 2003. The child teetered on the edge of death so many times after starting chemotherapy and radiation that Dingman-Grover and her husband, Bryn Grover, were advised to buy a coffin.

Much of the $1 million cost of his care since then has been covered by insurance, but the myriad extra expenses -- the prescriptions, the equipment -- are not. So, sitting Sunday at her home computer, the Sterling mother of four crafted her own brand of eBay auction.

Subject line: "Help Kill My Son's Cancer Tumor."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48374-2005Jan4.html

It's disgusting that in the wealthiest country in the world, people have to resort to such measures.

[imenja]

1. prayer is shown to help healing

as is laughter and other kinds of positive thinking. It's unfortunate they feel purchasing something for an absurd amount of money will further their hope for their son's recovery. This is fundamentally about the gross exploitation of the capitalist system.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

2. Huh?

They're not asking for prayer, they're asking for contributions so the kid can have surgery.

As for the power of prayer and it's role in medicine, that's HIGHLY debatable. And what if they're atheists?

[imenja]

3. misread

I thought they were trying to get the grilled cheese sand which. My understanding is that scientists have demonstrated a mind-body connection in healing from serious illness. As my post pointed out, it need not be prayer but can take the form of some other form of positive thinking. Hope is crucial in healing, whatever form it comes in.