Template:2011FR/appeal-judy-4/en

When your child gets cancer, there’s no one to blame. You can’t sue God.

18 years ago my daughter was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was almost two years old. I had no idea what neuroblastoma was, I just knew that my child kept falling down. I’d go into hospital libraries to look stuff up but all the information I found seemed like it was written in a different language. I’d have these stacks of books and I’d take notes, but trying to discern what was going on with my little girl was so frustrating. I just wanted to have a little control.

Eventually, after surgery and chemotherapy, my toddler was free from her neuroblastoma.

In 2005, when my daughter was a teenager, it happened all over again. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and was having chemotherapy within three days. I quit sleeping and I started researching: what are the surgical options, what’s the survival rate, what are the side effects? That’s when I really discovered Wikipedia.

Please don’t think there was a self-diagnosis going on, I wasn’t going to replace her doctor.

But no doctor has the time to sit there and fill in such an inquiring mind. A lot of medical stuff you don’t understand, you just need a quick reference. Wikipedia is my reference. I love Wikipedia - it’s like continuing education. It’s something you use every day to get smarter.

Until last year, I thought it was run by advertisements that I mentally blocked out. I had no idea that it was a non-profit. I was like, shoot yeah! Of course I would give to something like that!

Please donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can afford to keep Wikipedia alive and free for everyone.

Thank you,

Judy Mollica

Juno Beach, Florida.

P.S. As for my daughter, she won her second round against cancer. She walks fine, she dances, she goes to shows all the time and you’d never know by looking at her that anything was up. When I told her I was going to be involved with this appeal she said, “Oh my God, I want to get involved, I love Wikipedia.”