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'Do What You Got To Do' Motto Drives Reporter Charley Belcher, Ailing Daughter

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 18, 2008

It was an emotional moment for WTVT's Charley Belcher.
The usually chipper, outgoing Channel 13 reporter, who covers all the fun things happening in the Tampa Bay area, was on the verge of tears Thursday morning when he revealed to viewers that his 7-year-old daughter, Lindsey Rose, has leukemia.
"I was going back and forth on whether to say anything, but I was doing a report on a fundraiser for St. Jude's Children's Hospital and I wanted to be totally honest about why I felt it was an important event," he says.
He adds that she was diagnosed on Christmas Eve and has been receiving treatment at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
"She has the most common leukemia in children, affecting one in 29,000 kids," Charley says. "I used to run away from cancer or leukemia or anything like that, but now I've learned a lot about it."
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections.
"The good news is there is a high recovery rate, especially among the youngest patients," he adds.
Lindsey Rose is the only child of Charley and his ex-wife Laurel Ballinger, of Palm Harbor.
He says Lindsey Rose has kept a positive attitude.
"She's been great," he says. "She's home now, but when she was in the hospital and I had to leave for work one night, she said, 'Daddy, do what you got to do,' and that became our motto. She's got to 'do what you got to do' to get through her chemo treatments."
He says she faces more than two years of treatment and expects to get back to school by the end of August.
"She's braver than I would be," he says, noting that she has accepted the hair loss that comes with chemotherapy.
Charley says he wants to get involved somehow with fundraising or helping spread public awareness about leukemia.
"Maybe some good will come out of this," he says.
He adds that Lindsey Rose has a camera and is keeping a journal and may one day write a book about her experiences.
Charley is one of the most popular television personalities in the Tampa Bay area. And I share a special connection with him because he has a great name.
People often think that he is my son. But we're not related. We do cover some of the same territory. For example, Charley has to report on everything that happens on "American Idol."

VIDBITS: "Saturday Night Live" returns with a new episode this week, and Tina Fey of "30 Rock" is a guest host. Fey is a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer.
NBC announced last week that now that the writers strike has ended, "30 Rock" will come back with new episodes on April 10, along with new episodes of "The Office," "Scrubs" and "ER."
"My Name Is Earl" returns April 3. New episodes of "Law & Oder" begin April 23.
Geico has wasted no time in returning the disgruntled "cavemen" to their former jobs as pitchmen for the insurance company. ABC hasn't officially canceled the "Cavemen" series, but obviously it is not coming back.
One of the new Geico commercials has two cavemen sitting on a couch grousing about the "Cavemen" show they are watching:
"What was the deal with that makeup?" says one.
"Exactly," his hairy friend replies. "Why not just use real cavemen?"
A new "American Experience" at 9 tonight on PBS (WEDU, Channel 3) profiles the life and career of the legendary Kit Carson, a frontiersman and Indian fighter who helped map the Oregon Trail.
Later he helped the government enforce a cruel punishment on the Navajo tribe in New Mexico.

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