Anyone who knows me knows I don't ever ask for anything. I had to learn to swallow my pride and just ask. The worse that people
could tell me was no. I went on ebay and went to listings and asked if I could get fabric discounted or if they were willing to donate.
Surprisingly 2 out of 3 people said yes they would donate the materials. I was shocked. It takes a trusting person to say yes to something so new. So I told these people I would ask for pictures so they see where their donations went.
could tell me was no. I went on ebay and went to listings and asked if I could get fabric discounted or if they were willing to donate.
Surprisingly 2 out of 3 people said yes they would donate the materials. I was shocked. It takes a trusting person to say yes to something so new. So I told these people I would ask for pictures so they see where their donations went.
March 6, 2010
On March 6th 2010 I tweeted McKenna's mom to ask if I could stop by. McKenna at the time was in a coma and was in PICU. I also saw in Kates update that she was in the hospital, she had just had a transplant and
was in isoloation. So I found someone to watch my two kiddos so I could do this. I was so nervous. I had two gigantic bags of stuff I had made
for the other children on the oncology floor. I also stopped by Target
on the way down and purchased all of the stickers, crayons, markers and coloring books they had. I also purchased some food items for McKenna's parents.
While I was in line waiting to pay the person behind me saw my cart and asked if I took everything off the shelves and I replied yes. I told her what the items were for. She got tears in her eyes reached into her wallet and gave me $20 to help me pay for all of the items. I could not believe that a perfect stranger had just done this. I made one more stop on the way to get gas in my car and also picked up a gas card for McKenna's parents. I knew that they did alot of driving back and forth going to school etc.
was in isoloation. So I found someone to watch my two kiddos so I could do this. I was so nervous. I had two gigantic bags of stuff I had made
for the other children on the oncology floor. I also stopped by Target
on the way down and purchased all of the stickers, crayons, markers and coloring books they had. I also purchased some food items for McKenna's parents.
While I was in line waiting to pay the person behind me saw my cart and asked if I took everything off the shelves and I replied yes. I told her what the items were for. She got tears in her eyes reached into her wallet and gave me $20 to help me pay for all of the items. I could not believe that a perfect stranger had just done this. I made one more stop on the way to get gas in my car and also picked up a gas card for McKenna's parents. I knew that they did alot of driving back and forth going to school etc.
As I pulled into the hospital I sat in my car for a few moments realizing what I was about to do. Would I be able to handle seeing these kids like this? I had never done anything like this in my life. I was so nervous. I grabbed everything in my car and had to make the long walk from the garage to the lobby of the hospital. I was getting some stares, probably in disbelief because I was lugging 2 HUGE bags of handmade items and 10 bags of items from target all in one load. (they need to put some luggage carts in those parking garages). I found 2 wagons in the lobby so I put my bags in there.
As I am walking my bags are falling out of these wagons, I was so embarassed. McKenna's mom met me in the lobby and bought me back to the family waiting room where I met McKenna's dad and their family. I gave them the items I had purchased for them. I could tell they very much appreciated the food items and the blanket I made for McKenna. Her mom asked if I wanted to take a peak at McKenna, I could not go in the room but could look thru the glass doors in ICU. I said sure. We walked around to her room and I was in shock to see how many different lines they had running in her. I had never seen anything like this in my life. My father has had colon cancer twice and had nothing like this attached to him after his surgery. We sat in front of McKennas room and I was asking questions about what the IV's were for etc. Mom took the time to explain alot of things to me. I sat there in awe of what these parents were going thru. McKenna was a brand new diagnosis. They took her into the ER thinking she just had a little something just to find out that their baby girl had cancer. She had a tumor in her abdomen making it difficult for her to breathe. Her stomach was huge when I saw it. Before we left the room I remembered to give mom the gas card. She had tears in her eyes because she told me they were just talking about not having money to put gas in their car. I was so glad that I thought about this when I had stopped to put gas in. The experience was very eye opening for me. I then proceeded from there to the oncology floor to go visit Kate. Kate's mom Holly came out to greet me. (sorry mom for mentioning this but I think it is important for people to know what the parents go thru.) The first thing that caught my eyes was under her eyes. She looked so tired and exhausted. I felt so bad for her. Mom explained to me that Kate was in isolation and I could not go in the room to give her the blanket but if I wanted I could peak into the window and say hi. Of course I said I would love to meet this beautiful little girl that I had seen many pictures of. We walked into this tiny little room that had a sink. There were two doors, one lead to another patients room. They do this to keep the germs out of the room after transplant. Holly knocked on the window to get Kates attention. I remember looking at her face and she looked so sad, it broke my heart. Kate was in the room with her dad. Mom tapped on the window again to get her attention to show Kate the blanket that she had picked the colors for. |
That moment is forever etched in my heart.
Kate turned that frown upside down and was beaming. My heart melted thinking that something as simple as a blanket could do this.
Kate then proceeded to say something to her daddy.
She wanted her daddy to help her up so she can show me how high she could jump on her bed. The joy on her face lets just say I had to choke back the tears, I did not want to cry in front of her or her mother. I just wanted to sit there and watch her do this. This was her moment that she was happy and I was glad that I was able to bring a smile to her face while she was going thru this horrific thing.
After Kates visit I rolled my 2 wagons down to the playroom. I had noticed all of the children had masks on their face. I was waiting for someone to come to me to let me know what to do but all of a sudden I was surrounded by these children. I let them take anything they
wanted out of the wagons.
You could see the smiles in their eyes.
Something so simple as a handmade item to cuddle with, some coloring books and stickers. This is all that it took to bring a smile. I walked out of the hospital and got into my car and that is when the waterworks started. I felt so guilty because I thought my life was bad.
Kate turned that frown upside down and was beaming. My heart melted thinking that something as simple as a blanket could do this.
Kate then proceeded to say something to her daddy.
She wanted her daddy to help her up so she can show me how high she could jump on her bed. The joy on her face lets just say I had to choke back the tears, I did not want to cry in front of her or her mother. I just wanted to sit there and watch her do this. This was her moment that she was happy and I was glad that I was able to bring a smile to her face while she was going thru this horrific thing.
After Kates visit I rolled my 2 wagons down to the playroom. I had noticed all of the children had masks on their face. I was waiting for someone to come to me to let me know what to do but all of a sudden I was surrounded by these children. I let them take anything they
wanted out of the wagons.
You could see the smiles in their eyes.
Something so simple as a handmade item to cuddle with, some coloring books and stickers. This is all that it took to bring a smile. I walked out of the hospital and got into my car and that is when the waterworks started. I felt so guilty because I thought my life was bad.
3 Years Before
I was in this very same hospital 3 years before with my son. I had to experince something that all parents should not have to experence, your child going limp in your arms when getting a sedated MRI. My son was having issues with collapsing.
We were seeing a Neurologist at the time, this had been going on for months the insurance company approved us seeing a Neurologist after several months of going to the ER.
He would basically go from walking nearly 2 years of age to crawling and he would have these episodes every two weeks. He would try to walk holding himself up on the walk, it was if he lost feeling on his right side of the body. This would happen every two weeks. It was last from 20 minutes and the longest it lasted was about 5 hours.
The ER doctors never did a thing. They would see him start walking again and just send us home. That day we had the brain MRI, I was
told they were looking for Cerebral Palsy. The day I got the results back was the day he had his last episode. The Neurologist told me that he had the most beautiful brain he had ever seen. I thought nothing of this comment. I just wanted to know what was going on with him, I was told if he had another one they would test him for seizures.
He never had another episode, but over the 6 months of him dealing with this he regressed. He was no longer almost potty trained, he could not talk, he could not communicate at all. I had to have him enrolled in speech therapy, OT etc. It was a really
long road with him. The first time I heard him call me mama was when he was 4 1/2 years old. He called his daddy AE, when he wanted more of something he would say 8 9. He had codes. Now he is 6 years old and he has come a long way. He still has some issues but nothing compared to when he was younger.
When I came across these kids and especially after I met Kate on my way home I had a revalation. That could have been my son. He could have been one of the 46 kids that was dianosed with cancer. Looking back that is probably one of the things they were looking for a tumor in his brain. They never mentioned that to me, but most doctors probably don't when they are doing MRI's.
So this whole experience has opened my eyes and I am now AWARE of what these children are going thru. I do this because it is my way of thanking those parents that share those journey's with us.
Thank you for opening my eyes to this. Thank you for showing me that my life is not so bad especially compared to what these families go thru when having a child with cancer.
Cancer affects not just the child but their siblings and especially their parents. These parents are told all the time that they are strong,
but they are only doing what any parent would do for a child going thru
this. They have no choice.
I follow several hundred blogs now. I wake up each morning before the kids wake up and read updates, I read updates throughout the day and before I go to sleep I read some more. I get around 1000 emails per month. It is alot of work but so worth it. When I see a child is having an especially hard time I know they need something to lift their spirits, this is when I invite them to pick out something from my treasure chest.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey this past year. Thank you to all of the volunteers that have helped me to bring a smile to a child's face while going thru the fight of their life.
We were seeing a Neurologist at the time, this had been going on for months the insurance company approved us seeing a Neurologist after several months of going to the ER.
He would basically go from walking nearly 2 years of age to crawling and he would have these episodes every two weeks. He would try to walk holding himself up on the walk, it was if he lost feeling on his right side of the body. This would happen every two weeks. It was last from 20 minutes and the longest it lasted was about 5 hours.
The ER doctors never did a thing. They would see him start walking again and just send us home. That day we had the brain MRI, I was
told they were looking for Cerebral Palsy. The day I got the results back was the day he had his last episode. The Neurologist told me that he had the most beautiful brain he had ever seen. I thought nothing of this comment. I just wanted to know what was going on with him, I was told if he had another one they would test him for seizures.
He never had another episode, but over the 6 months of him dealing with this he regressed. He was no longer almost potty trained, he could not talk, he could not communicate at all. I had to have him enrolled in speech therapy, OT etc. It was a really
long road with him. The first time I heard him call me mama was when he was 4 1/2 years old. He called his daddy AE, when he wanted more of something he would say 8 9. He had codes. Now he is 6 years old and he has come a long way. He still has some issues but nothing compared to when he was younger.
When I came across these kids and especially after I met Kate on my way home I had a revalation. That could have been my son. He could have been one of the 46 kids that was dianosed with cancer. Looking back that is probably one of the things they were looking for a tumor in his brain. They never mentioned that to me, but most doctors probably don't when they are doing MRI's.
So this whole experience has opened my eyes and I am now AWARE of what these children are going thru. I do this because it is my way of thanking those parents that share those journey's with us.
Thank you for opening my eyes to this. Thank you for showing me that my life is not so bad especially compared to what these families go thru when having a child with cancer.
Cancer affects not just the child but their siblings and especially their parents. These parents are told all the time that they are strong,
but they are only doing what any parent would do for a child going thru
this. They have no choice.
I follow several hundred blogs now. I wake up each morning before the kids wake up and read updates, I read updates throughout the day and before I go to sleep I read some more. I get around 1000 emails per month. It is alot of work but so worth it. When I see a child is having an especially hard time I know they need something to lift their spirits, this is when I invite them to pick out something from my treasure chest.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey this past year. Thank you to all of the volunteers that have helped me to bring a smile to a child's face while going thru the fight of their life.