Well, Liam's at it again.
 

For those of you who haven't met him: Liam is 6. He has a mischievous smile, a cute little sister and an impressive sense of balance.
 

In November 2010 he was diagnosed with a kind of leukemia called T-cell ALL. Since then, he has received lots of chemo and radiation, a stem cell transplant, an NK-cell treatment, and is now recovering from his second stem cell transplant. Transplant is hard, and second transplant is harder, but Liam is always Liam: stoic, brave and polite when he's feeling bad; silly, sweet and clever when he's feeling even a little bit better.
 

For a few months, Liam was in remission, but he relapsed in July 2011. After his relapse, in an attempt to make each day as meaningful as it could be, we decided that every day in the hospital should include three important things: learning something, making something and loving someone. After one conversation about how to love people, we ended up at the Water Project's website, and Liam started raising money to dig wells for people who have no clean water. In just a few weeks, more than 200 people had contributed over $16,000, and in October two wells were completed, both in Kenya.
 

But people are still excited about Liam's wells and want to know how they can help. Grownups have offered to publicize his project in a variety of ways. And Liam's sweet friends have been finding all sorts of creative ways to love him, making dozens of drawings and paintings and selling them to raise money, even though the original wells are already complete. Liam's little bit of love has developed a life of its own.
 

So we figured we needed to do something. While we could take these donations and transfer them to The Water Project, we think it's a lot more fun and communal for people to get to come to this one place, make their donations, and watch as the money is raised and the wells are built. A few days ago, I asked Liam if he wanted to start another well. His answer was an emphatic yes.
 

Liam's Dad
12 November 2011
 

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Update: Liam relapsed again in mid-December. We brought him home to Abilene, where we played with him and loved on him until he died on January 17. His memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 28, at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX; everyone is invited to come and remember him with us.
 

This page will be left open indefinitely, and new wells will be built as projects become available. While our sweet boy may be gone, there are still millions of people whose lives could be saved with clean water.
 

Liam's Dad
22 January 2012