Here we are, the week before Thanksgiving. I can tell you what this week would normally look like for me. I would be knee deep in cleaning, decorating and staging my house for anywhere between 40 -60 people to come and share Thanksgiving dinner with us. I’d be crafting name tags and party favors, arranging …
A few weeks ago, I sat in a Zoom meeting with the leaders of several of the nonprofit organizations that help in the pediatric cancer world. Everyone was talking about the financial impact that the pandemic was having on their organizations and the challenges they were facing trying to serve their communities with only virtual …
Today was a very big day in the history of Lily’s Pad. The first official non-related board meeting took place in the future home of our play space. These board members did very important things today too. They approved bylaws and a conflict of interest policy. They reviewed financial plans and analyzed construction challenges. And …
As you can see from the bald little head under that hat in this picture, this was a pretty tough time for Lily. She had been undergoing chemo treatments for quite sometime as well as several surgeries. She was no longer going to preschool and spent most of her days at home. Her immunity didn’t …
When I was younger, I was a swimmer. I swam in summer leagues and then eventually for my high school team. Not much of a sprinter, I was always the one they signed up for the long distance swims. The worst one was the 500 meter swim and it was literally 10 Olympic pool laps …
Years ago, I started following a Facebook page for an organization called Smashing Walnuts. A friend of mine shared the story of Gabriella, a little girl diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and her family’s mission to change legislation and funding for childhood brain cancer research. It was an uplifting story when I first started …
“I believe most people are good”. One of my favorite lyrics in a song full of really great ones by Luke Bryan. I’m one of those people who has an endless array of song lyrics lined up in my head. They play silently through my mind when situations arise. “Even though we ain’t got money, …
This morning, I got a call from a good friend of mine. She’s a mom of two young kids and they are both still remote schooling. She has her hands full just keeping the balls all up in the air since she herself is home working remotely. My heart went out to her as she …
September is children’s cancer awareness month and my social media has been inundated with all kinds of posts about it. Many of them are inspiring…talking about little superheroes and the strong people taking care of them. Others are a little more painful to read, sighting long term side effects of treatments and statistics about survival …
The other day, I told a nice lady at the grocery store about Lily’s Pad. I explained that it was a place for kids with compromised immune systems who were living isolated and quarantined. She sagely nodded and said, “oh yes, you mean like we are all living right now” and then continued on her …
