What two causes are the most heavy on my heart? 1. Enough blood donations to bless those who need transfusions and 2. Money towards finding a CURE for all childhood cancer. Jennifer Bussies and Greg Mikelson of Mattawan have strategized a way to make BOTH happen at once. I know. Too much goodness to process, so I'll slow myself waaaaay down. I sometimes forget you are reading this and I'm not just talking to you. My speech pattern goes feverishly quick when I am beyond excited. This would all read like a high-pitched tongue twister if it was my actual voice. I guess that makes you lucky. No deranged chipmunk chatter for you! Back to the miraculous facts...
On Thursday, August 25, there will be a Michigan Blood Drive at the Mattawan High School Cafeteria from 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eventually there will be a link to click on to schedule an appointment on this site by scrolling to August 25 and Mattawan High School. Here's the sweet-sweet-sweet topping on top of this perfect event: for every person who donates blood, $5 will be donated to CureSearch and $5 will be donated to the Mattawan Student Council. This is HUGE. I can't tell you how beautiful this is to us all. And yes, there will be a fish there for you to fill out for Gideon.
If there are any summer plans to make, I'm really hoping this event will be a part of them. Gideon has spinal chemo that morning, but I'm thinking once he is lucid, I will bring him in and he can watch mommy get a turn with a needle injected by a white labcoat-wearing person. It'll be his turn to offer the words of encouragement.
Please join us! You will give lifesaving blood AND bring in well needed funds.
THANK YOU, Jenn and Greg! Thank you Mattawan Student Council for so lovingly sharing your profit with such a worthy cause. TWO worthy causes... Oh. Again, I love humanity.
I thought of you when I read this and had to share. I'm praying for you, Amanda!!
ReplyDeleteI belong to a special group of women
My friends and I have an amazing bond.
We never wanted to be in this group,
Yet we are in, for life.
Maybe we have met, maybe we haven’t,
Yet our love for each other is boundless.
We know the pain the other one feels,
And we share our victories small or huge.
Words like chemo, IV, Zofran , bald heads
Are always parts of our conversations,
As well as roidrage, tears, and meltdowns…
We always know where the closest puke bucket is ,
We can hold it in one hand and if necessary,
Swallow the sandwich the other hand was holding.
We can drive to the hospital ,
Park in the dark parking garage
Make our way thru the halls of the hospital
And to the appropriate floor,
Settle in a room, turn the TV on,
Give instructions to the head nurse,
Silence loud beeping IV pumps,
Direct a wagon AND an IV pole
To the playroom without hitting anything
Make our way back to the correct room
And all this, mind you, With our eyes closed at any given time.
We know how to draw blood from lines
Sticking out of little kids chests.
We can hold them down with one hand ,
While a nasogastric tube is inserted in their little nose,
And be on the phone with their dads at the same time.
We can live for days on hospital food,
And on maybe only one meal a day .
We know the names of up to 20 different drugs ,
Their purpose, dosage and time to be taken.
We are always on call, 24 hours a day ,
Seven days a week.
We are used to not always looking our best,
Hard to do with only a few hours of sleep .
Make up , hair styling, skirts are words of the past .
We have become addicted to texting ,
hospital, clinic, home, wherever…
We talk sometimes at all hours of the night ,
We know we can count on someone to be up.
Then for one of us , the world stops .
She has to walk away, broken.
This job is over .
The job is over, but the fight is on.
Remember , I said we were in this forever.
We are friends, sisters, temporary nurses,
We are each others rock, each others punching bag,
We listen , we vent , we cry , we laugh together .
We share our lives and our deaths
We share our pain and our victories.
We are strong, but not by choice ,
Sometimes we win , sometimes we lose,
But never are we defeated .
We are not nurses
We are not doctors,
We are cancer moms…
From one cancer mommy to another! Sarah