46 Moms Shave for the Brave

I haven't posted since September. Because every time I sat down to post, I knew I would have to update about sweet Jessica Easley, the 10 year old who battled cancer, lost her hair and her leg, and picked out special good bye gifts for her parents and sister.

The 10 year old who passed away the day before she turned 11.

I just didn't want to have to type that. Ugh. I don't even know what to say, because everything I think of sounds wrong. She was YOUNG. She was full of SPIRIT. So, it doesn't make sense that she's gone.

At Jessica's funeral, she wore a pink tie-dyed shirt with a peace sign on it and took a final ride on a motorcycle. Her last word was her request for the kind of cake she wanted for her birthday: 'Chocolate.'

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So I've dreaded this post, not wanting to have to type that. I've been in a 'slump' over posting to the site, but last week, two positive events gave me some hope again.

Sweet Evan went through his quarterly scans, and the results were STABLE!! No progression of disease! Every 12 weeks, he goes through scans--which are painful and tiring, bless his heart--and we pray for good results. The best results would be that the cancer has shrunk! Or disappeared, even! But at the very least, we just pray that the cancer is STABLE, not growing. As long as he gets stable results, he can continue on the chemotherapy protocol he is on, and life can get back to 'normal' at least until the next scans. Evan has lived with cancer for 3 1/2 years, and each stable scan is a blessing. As Melissa says, we keep Beli'evan'!

And a few days ago, I read the Caringbridge site for Jessica Randall, the first Jessica I 'met'. She, like Jessica Easley, passed away near her birthday, and I've been incredibly inspired by her writings and photography--her life, really, as short as it was. Well, her fabulous mother Heide announced that she and 45 cancer moms are going to SHAVE THEIR HEADS! :) You know me, I'm a big fan of that. haha.

They're calling the event "46 Mommas Shave for the Brave" to recognize that on average, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every day. EVERY DAY! So they represent just one DAY's worth of mothers who are told "Your child has cancer." Heide and the 45 other mommas will 'go bald' in September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To help Heide raise money for childhood cancer research, you can donate directly at https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/heiderandall

You know, I heard Melissa refer to St. Jude as "The Jude." I told her it sounded like a club. she laughed and said, "Yeah, a club you don't want to be a member of."

Three children. Three momma's. And just today, 43 other momma's joined their club.