Standing Up to Cancer and How MasterCard is Helping #DoGood #MC

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric community.  I have been compensated to share my experience with you by Collective Bias and their client, MasterCard®.  I am thrilled to be part of this very important campaign to help MasterCard raise $4 million for Stand Up To Cancer because cancer has touched my life in so many ways.

I will never forget the night my grandma died. I was at work even though I did not want to be there. I had watched my grandma fight a long and tumultuous battle with cancer for over a year, and I knew she was near the end of that battle. I had seen the violent reactions to chemotherapy, waited in hospitals during her surgeries, and witnessed the loss of her thick hair. Her hair. She always kept her hair short during my lifetime but she loved to have it combed. Some of my fondest memories of her are me sitting on the back of the couch combing Grandma’s hair with her black comb while we watched TV together. Yet on the night that she died, she didn’t have much hair at all.

On that night I took a quick break at work and called my grandparents’ home to see how Grandma was doing. A small part of me was still holding out hope that she would miraculously recover. I did not know at the time that she had just left this life at the age of 56. My grandpa got choked up at my inquiry and could not answer so he passed the phone to my mom who broke the news.

I was only 16 at the time and I felt that the grief my family was experiencing was unique and that no one else could possibly understand. But more than 20 years later I know all too well just how common this experience is. I lost two more family members to cancer while others fought it and won. My other Grandma was also taken too soon by colon cancer, my amazing father-in-law by melanoma, and several have been affected by other cancers.  I even got cancer myself, but lucky for me it was a type of skin cancer that is easily dealt with.

Chances are that your family has been affected by cancer as well. Maybe you have felt the grief that I first felt all those years ago.  Has cancer run you through the emotional wringer like it has done to me? I have felt hope, fear, anger, confusion, and regret and sometimes hopelessness. But today I only feel determination.  I am determined to make a difference. I am determined to stand up to cancer.

I am so excited about MasterCard’s Dig In & Do Good campaign and I know you will be, too because it is an easy way for you to help stand up to cancer. When you use your MasterCard card to pay for a meal $10 or more MasterCard will make a donation, one precious cent at a time, to Stand Up To Cancer up to $4,000,000. Easy and tasty, right?

I recently took my kiddos out to one of our favorite places to eat so that we could take part in the program. They never got to meet the first grandma I lost to cancer, and they really do not remember my other grandma who died of cancer a few years ago. My children were also robbed of a loving grandpa when my father-in-law lost his ugly battle with cancer. When I told my kiddos about my participation in MasterCard’s Dig In & Do Good campaign, they wanted to be a part of it, too. So we headed out for breakfast at a place I wish I could have taken my grandma. On the way in we took a moment to wish and pray cancer away.

Because I was only 16 when my grandma died, I never got to have an adult relationship with her. I would give anything to sit and talk with her over coffee. She loved coffee even though she was English.  I love tea. Maybe we would have argued over which was better.

In honor of all the moments that will never come to pass because of cancer, will you join me standing up to cancer? All you have to do is dine out, spend more than $10, and pay with your MasterCard. There is a lot more information over on MasterCard’s #DoGood site. As you can see in the image below, there is even a tally of how much money this campaign has raised so far.

The #DoGood site is not only useful, it is also fun. Once you get to the page, simply scroll down a little and you will see the latest social media shares for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign and links to more information. My daughter loved seeing her face in the middle when we checked the site out!

I am so happy that I got to participate in MasterCard’s Dig In and Do Good campaign. You can make a difference, too. You can stand up to cancer by using your MasterCard at your favorite restaurant so you can help raise money for cancer research.