Yesterday sucked.  Simon’s sixth birthday.  After six years, you’d think . . . . Nothing.  It doesn’t get easier.  The days in between the birthday get easier, but not the birthday.  After losing a kid, every holiday and life cycle event can’t just happen.  Even if there is some joy...

I’m sure that you’ve made so many decisions for your child . . . . what to eat . .  . when to go to bed . . . whether to play soccer or take piano lessons or both.  Hopefully, you’ll never have to make the decision that a friend of...

This is sad.  Do we really need to litigate for change?  The following article shows that of the 108 deaths of NCAA athletes from 1982 – 2008 (documented by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research), 65% of them were heart related.  This means that they could have been...

An old friend from college, Jerry Altman, reached out to me after Simon passed away.  He’s been very generous to the cause ever since.  He just sent me this photo of him on top of Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale wearing a Simon’s Fund shirt. The death of a child is...

Classic movie . . . Kevin Costner plays Elliot Ness . . . wait, that’s The Untouchables.  The intangibles are the things that happen but are hard to sense and even harder to quantify.  “Raising Awareness” is one of the big intangibles in our organization.  We want parents, school personnel, coaches, pediatricians...

I’ve got a feeling . . .   These four words lead most people to the same conclusion – Black Eyed Peas.  I know its a big hit – my kids love it.  I think it is one of the most annoying songs ever released. I only bring this up because I do have...

For five years, all of the celebrations in my life have been played against the backdrop of tragedy.   That doesn’t mean that all of the celebrations have been bad.  It just means that every celebration is somehow dampened by the loss of Simon. Today, was an exception.  Today, I saw the other side of life.  I left my...

  Yarzheit [yar-tzhight] is the Jewish practice of remembering the death of a loved one.  It is based on the Jewish calendar.  In our secular society, this anniverary takes a back seat to the “real” annivesary of Simon’s death, January 24, 2005.  Most people, have no idea that there is this other anniversary, the 15th day...

I’ve been to so many conferences.  They ranged in content from bankruptcy law to social marketing to small businesses.  At these conferences, I get the opportunity to meet lots of different people.  Most of the discussion occurs around the breakfast or lunch table.  Typically, they are strangers when we randomly sit down together, and...

When I was a little boy, I remember watching the show, That’s Incredible.  It featured all kinds of unbelieveable or freakish things.  I has very low expectations about the show’s credibility.  I just wanted to be entertained. Today, I am attending the Parent Heart Watch conference.  I sitting with about 30 other families that have...