Thanks from Saints for Sara

A "thank you" from a police wife and mother:

• To Our Police Friends and Family -
  My name is Erin Martorano. My husband, Joe Martorano has worked for the Chicago Police Department for ten years. This past November, our four year old daughter, Sara was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer has no boundaries. Cancer loves to invade every aspect of your life. It is the eternal support of family and friends that is keeping our family afloat in a cancerous sea of good and bad "moments."
  
  April 5th, our friends held the Saints for Sara benefit. I'm writing this letter in response to my emotions from this heart warming get together. The Chicago Police presence was overwhelming. I appreciate your smiles, your looks of concern, your well wishes, your nods, your hugs, your generosity, your jokes, your cheers, your personalities. That's one thing the Chicago Police Department is not short of......unique personalities!
  
  I'm a girl who was born and bred in the suburbs of Chicago. I am not from a police family. Marrying Joe and his job has been quite an experience. Being a Chicago Police officer is a lifestyle. It is not a job choice. It is a chosen life of leaving your family and going to work with a gun and bullet-proof vest. Every day you choose to put yourself in dangerous and unpredictable situations. Unlike other professions, even when you're off duty, you are still a police officer. You are still expected to "do the job." You are expected to keep the city and it's people safe, while having a smile on your face and only nice things to say. You are expected to use your gun at a moments notice to save your life or the life of someone else...and with those same hands, you hold your wife or husband and tuck your kid into bed at night. What is expected of you and your family is extreme. You still do it. If you are not one of us, you do not understand.
  
  You are Chicago Police officers. You do not let one of your own, walk alone. Since our daughter, Sara was diagnosed with cancer, you have not left our family's side. We know a lot of you personally, some...we know your name, some...we know what district you work in, some...we just know you are the police. Thank you for support, friendship, prayers and laughs throughout of family's cancer journey.
  
  Much gratitude and thanks,
  Erin Martorano

We just thought this deserved front page coverage rather than being buried in the comments.