Our annual St. Jude Radiothon is Back!  Click here to become a "Partner in Hope" now.  And thank you, from all of us here at GNA.

Late last week, the nerves started kicking in as we were making last-minute preparations in anticipation for WGNA's 17th Annual Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon presented by Dom's Pizza, Subs, and Wings.  Full disclosure, I get anxious in the hours leading up to the St. Jude Radiothon because I never know what to expect.

What if I don't inspire anyone to become a Partner in Hope?

What if my brain doesn't click properly and I screw up the phone number or miss an opportunity to make a connection with a new listener about the virtues of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital?

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One evening last week, it was getting late - approaching 11 - and I knew I had to get some sleep, but I couldn't settle down.   The house was quiet but my brain was working overtime while my girlfriend Samantha, 6-year-old son Brody and the two doggies had crashed hours ago.

Just as I shut off the TV and the lights and was getting ready to go to bed, I heard some noises and sounds coming from the area near Brody's room.

I turned around, and in the darkness, I saw the silhouette of a little boy just standing there - it took me by surprise. It's pretty unusual for Brody to wake up and get out of bed after he falls asleep, but I was thankful I was awake that late to help the little guy out.

"Hey, buddy, what's going on?" I asked him gently.  In his gravelly, cute little sleepyhead voice he says, "my (night) light is out, can you turn it back on?"

I walked him back into his bedroom, helped him climb back into bed, tucked him in, and then reached over to restart the spaceman night light that once again filled his ceiling with stars and planets and spaceships.  "You need anything else bub?" I asked.  "Nope Daddy, I'm good," he said as he laid his head back down for sleep.

Parents just want to protect their kids and comfort them.  We want them to know we love them, and that they can trust us.  But imagine for a moment, that your child was diagnosed with cancer.  Then what?

The reality is, that is exactly the world parents live in when a child is given a cancer diagnosis and why it's so important to become a Partner In Hope.

Don't wait- do it right now by clicking HERE.

Do it because your children are healthy, or because you know someone with a sick kid battling cancer, or because it just feels right.  Find your "why" and do it now.

As parents, we have enough things preventing us from sleeping at night.   Childhood cancer shouldn't be one of them.

PICTURES: See Darius Rucker & Friends Perform to Raise Money for St. Jude in 2021

Darius Rucker and some of his celebrity friends hit the stage in Nashville on Aug. 17 to raise money for St. Jude at his annual Darius & Friends charity concert. Rucker's 12th annual event featured Jason Aldean, Brothers Osborne, John Daly, Keb' Mo', Runaway June and Elvie Shane, raising more than $410,000 and bringing his career total to more than $2.5 million raised for St. Jude.

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