Most of my readers are familiar with Hannah Garman, a beautiful 4-year-old girl from Lititz with a brain tumor—it’s a rare and aggressive type of cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. She is receiving radiation treatments at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, but her diagnosis gives her only eleven months to live.

Her mother died of cancer while Hannah was still an infant, leaving Hannah’s father, Darin, a single parent of three children. (Hannah has an older sister, Brittany, and an older brother, Jordan.) Imagine being in Darin’s shoes, having to acknowledge, as he did yesterday, “Without a miracle, we are only buying time.”

Hannah became a source of inspiration this Christmas, when she made a wish.

Hannah’s Christmas wish was simply for cards—and her plea touched the hearts of people near and far. The overwhelming response numbered in the tens of thousands and included a parade of more than 50 fire and other emergency-response vehicles in her honor. (Intell)

Her family wasn’t sure at first whether to make her situation and wish public, and so many of us are glad they did.

If you, like me, did not have the opportunity to send Hannah a Christmas card, I invite you to attend a benefit concert for her this Saturday evening. It’s being held at Bube’s Brewery (and yes, that rhymes with n00bs), 102 North Market Street in Mount Joy, in the Bottling Works. It will run from 9 p.m. – 12 midnight and feature as many as 20 musicians and bands, including a personal favorite (and fellow CHL-er) Hiram Ring.

A Facebook event has fuller details, and Ken Mueller explains on his blog why musically it’s going to be the place to be in Central PA.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hannah and her family. Watch with us over your child Hannah, and grant that she may be restored to that perfect health which it is yours alone to give.