Tonight, Simon’s Fund received the Great Friend to Kids Award presented by Please Touch Museum. It was a very special evening. Our remarks are below . . .
We are so honored to receive this award tonight and to be in the company of so many other great organizations.
We want to thank Please Touch Museum for having an award like this and for choosing us to receive it this year. By recognizing us, you have done so much to raise awareness for our cause and we really appreciate that.
We want to thank our friends, family, board members, medical advisory board, volunteers and supporters. They have been the driving force behind Simon’s Fund and the reason that we are here tonight.
We want to give a special thanks to Hallee Adelman – for what she’s done for us and what she does for Please Touch Museum.
We want to thank the Cardiac Team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Pediatric Team at Abington Memorial Hospital. They have given us channels to direct our energy and make differences in the lives of children.
Since Simon died almost six years ago, thousands of children have died from sudden cardiac arrest. Since we were nominated for this award, we’ve read articles about nine student athletes that dropped dead – Devonte Bundley, Akhir Frazier, Reggie Garrett, Jesus Cruz, Jospin Milandu, Patrick Dinsmore, Jorden T. Pond, Dillon Menard, Larsan Korvili.
We still have lots of hearts to check. We still have lots of work to do. We know that 1 or 2 out of every 100 children have a potentially fatal heart condition. It is cheap to check a child’s heart – about $50. We think that checking hearts should be a standard of care, like eye exams, hearing exams and dental exams.
On a very personal note, Simon’s sixth birthday is two weeks from tonight. We won’t be having a party. We know that we will never be able to attend an assembly, concert, game, event or ceremony for Simon. So, thank you for giving us the next best thing here tonight – this award to honor his memory.
