The "Live. Work. Play. - Part I: Chris Millard & The Four Diamonds Fund'" Story

Chris Millard

It was an ordinary day.  Watching my grandson play in a 16 and under baseball tournament that was held at a place called "Off The Wall" which is located in Palmyra, Pennsylvania.  Part way through the game I needed a snack so I headed to an indoor snack bar.  While my order was being prepared, I noticed a display of magazines and brochures nearby.  Found a hardback booklet titled "Live. Work. Play."  It featured stories about just about everything in the south-eastern part of the state of Pennsylvania.  Stories about sports, local businesses, non-profits, local vendors, etc.  And, the close to 100 page hardbound book was free!  Later in the evening, after returning home from the baseball game, I opened the book once again and began to read a few interesting stories.  One page had a large black block with a white headline that read "DID YOU KNOW?"  Page featured 3 vignettes, one story telling about a young boy by the name of Chris Millard who had been a student at nearby Elizbethtown Middle School in 1972.  Chris and his accelerated English class was given an assignment by their eight-grade teacher, Shirley Deichert, to write their autobiographies.  But, Chris had been struggling with cancer and hesitated to rehash his most recent experiences.  He told his teacher that he couldn't get started, since he didn't want to write about his illness.  She told him to write about anything.  So, Chris penned an allegorical tale of a knight, Sir Millard, who completes difficult tasks to earn the diamonds of courage, wisdom, honesty and strength.  Soon after, Chris lost his battle with cancer.  Later that year, his parents, Charles and Irma Millard, sent a package of papers to Mr. Herb Kraybill of the Hershey Medical Center who was organizing a fund to help children with cancer.  Part of the packet of papers was the story titled "The Four Diamonds."  Because of young Chris Millard and his story he had written for his English class, "The Four Diamonds Fund" was founded and today is supported by students at Penn State University.  Students have raised more than $180 million to conquer childhood cancer.  And, it has now trickled down to the high school level and the school where I once taught sponsors their own THON and collects money which in turn is given to the "Four Diamonds Fund".  I searched for Chris' story and found a copy of his original story which was written in cursive for his English Class project.  It is about 20 pages in length, and too long to place here.  You may have to copy and paste the link, since I can't figure out how to link it to the page, but you can find it at:

https://www.fourdiamonds.org/_fourdiamonds/assets/File/Four%20Diaminds%20 Story%20Book.pdf  ...   and then click on   ...   by Chris Millard - Four Diamonds

After opening the link, scroll down to "Read Chris' story by clicking here.  And, if you are so inspired, Google "The Four Diamonds Fund" and make a contribution to help children with cancer.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.