Amazing Stories

Our Chick-fil-A Birthday Dinner

As you know, we marked Charlotte's 7th birthday on Monday.  The day included laughter, tears, hugs, an honorary mention on WCVE, dinner at Chick-Fil-A, a chocolate milk toast, and a showing of Finding Nemo. Roger and I were touched by the sweet messages we received as well as the generous donations made to the foundation in her honor that day. 


On Friday morning, I turned to Roger and said, "Wow! It sure has been a long week. Monday seems like a long time ago."  He agreed.  Between the emotional exhaustion at the beginning of the week, the Wine Down event on Wednesday in which we raised $1000 for CJSTUF (hurrah!), and the normal business of our jobs, it had proven to be a very long week, indeed.  


Then came Friday.  I ventured off to my job at the Dominion School and Roger had the opportunity to participate in the Moriah McNeil Celebrity Golf Classic to benefit ReeseStrong.  One of the generous patrons of the organization had bought an extra foursome and donated it for use by dads of pediatric cancer patients.  Roger joined Reese's dad and a few other guys for a beautiful day on the links.  

Roger, Walter Klauer, & Emanuel McNeil

Moriah's dad, Emanuel McNeil, is a former NFL football player. He lost his daughter Moriah to cancer in 2004 and organizes this charity golf tournament every year in her honor.  The proceeds benefit a different children's charity annually.  With these connections, it made sense that quite a few NFL players would be hitting the links.  It wasn't until Roger reached the tournament, however, that he realized some of these guys were the same football players who came and sang Frosty the Snowman to Charlotte on a hot summer day when we were holed up in the ASK clinic for a treatment in 2009.  The visit had been a huge hit with Charlotte and had even been featured on the CBS news (briefly).  As Roger talked about this with the football players, many of them mentioned remembering Charlotte.  Then one guy pulled out his phone and showed us this video.  

He has had this video on his phone since 2009.  Roger was floored! 

In the meantime, among my many meetings of the day, I was scheduled to interview a potential instructional assistant for the Dominion School.  The young lady arrived at the scheduled time and we began to talk about her work history and why she was seeking employment with us.  I asked her to say a little bit about why she liked her job and she told me this story. She works at Build-a-Bear. 


"I really love being able to see the happy faces on the children.  A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a family that came into our store.  The little girl was about 3 or 4 years old and she was sick.  She came into the store after hours with her best friend and together they made creations for her, her parents, and her best friend. We were so touched by this little girl and found out a few weeks later that she had passed away.  I still think about her a lot and how we were able to make her happy."

Our creations from Build-a-Bear,
including Frosty the Bad-Ass

As I sat there listening to her story, I realized where this was going.  I was near tears as I listened to her accounting of our very own Build-a-Bear visit.  I was thinking, "Should I say something? Is that appropriate?" Finally, I realized I needed to tell her.  I said, "I hope this doesn't upset you, but I need to let you know, that's my daughter you're talking about." I pointed towards the picture of Charlotte on my desk and the girl's jaw dropped to the floor.  She said, "Oh my goodness! That's her! We have her picture in our office at the store and I still think about her and talk about her all the time!"  We both started crying.  


Eventually, we composed ourselves and carried on with the rest of the interview.  On my way home from work, I got a message from Roger that he had something interesting to tell me.  I told him that I had a great story for him as well.  We met up and recounted these stories to each other in disbelief and amazement.  


I don't always believe in "signs" or messages, but perhaps these simple, touching stories delivered to both Roger and myself on the same day are a way of showing us that Charlotte continues to touch people's lives as much in death as she did in life. Of course, I think of our girl every single day. But it warms my heart in unimaginable ways to realize that she had such a profound impact on people who are virtual strangers.  


That, my friends, is the best birthday present anyone could ask for.  Don't you agree?

A Great Day

I can't figure Charlotte out. She starts to look zombiesque and then turns around and has a great day.

We went to the Home-based Business Bazaar and she didn't seem to do that well. We made the rounds and saw a few friends and RNR members like the Flanagans, Bridget, Evan, Malia, Xavier. We ended up in the nursery where we stayed for a while. There were some very nice things for sale and I know Granny did her share to make it a successful event.

Then we made our exit and I promptly pulled something in my back somewhere between the front door and the end of the sidewalk. I have no idea what I did but it started really bothering me by the time we got to the car.

When we got home, I fed Charlotte lunch and took some Vitamine "I." Granny was merciful and took CJ over the Uncle Kolbey's house so I could get the ice going in best Dr. Anna style, "20 minutes on, 20 minutes off."

While I sat on the couch trying to find a comfortable position, I found myself watching, Farrah's Story. This is not a show to watch if you're emotionally fragile but if you want a real look into the life of a cancer patient, with all the ups and down, the side effects, the hopes, the impact on families, etc...then watch it.

It really ran me down though and I found myself slipping into Seriously Bummedsville a few times. Kinda ruined my day. I told Rachel tonight that it's my every 6-month funk which is actually happening once or twice a month these days.

Rachel went in to teach a class and lead Brithday Bashes today and I went in to help with the first ever Awesome Adventure Party! I was pretty much useless with my back/shoulder so I worked front desk and the regular crew wowed them. It was a pretty successful party from what I saw/heard.

When we got home, Charlotte was already saying she wanted to go to bed so we brought her back home and got her ready. She ended up having a great day, pooping, eating, drinking, and having lots of educational fun with Granny. She was just pooped.

Update:

Some of you have asked me to repeat Deb Harper's contact information. If you haven't seen yet, Deb did a photo shoot with us last week and took some FABULOUS pics of Charlotte (me and Roger too). She is doing a "Pictures for Charlotte" fundraiser where she will take pics of your family (wherever you wish) and give you an edited CD of the prints in exchange for a donation of your choice for Charlotte.

If you are on Facebook, you can take a look at the pics on either mine or Roger's sites. We should have some posted to the Caring Bridge site soon.

Her contact info is: Deb Harper (804) 273-0064
Harper3902@aol.com

Update:

Aunt B and Uncle Not-So-Hairy headed off to the Hawaiian Islands this morning and Reesestrong (the doll) went with them. Can't wait to hear the stories and see the pics.

Extra positive thoughts should go out to the Reilly family as their son, Liam, who we met at the Neslon Clinic, passed away on Monday the 22nd. I say again, cancer really, really sucks!

On a more positive note, Nile, the boy with sickle cell anemia I met in the MRI room, has had a good go of things lately as he got to meet the Super Bowl Champ Steelers and received a bunch of stuff from his favorite team, the Washington Redskins. He even got a call from Santanna Moss (wide receiver). The absolute BEST thing is that he will be receiving his bone marrow transplant next week (I think)!

Here's his CB site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nileprice The Redskins visit (Howiette the Hoggett actually) was caught on film and his expression when he realized what was going on was priceless (no pun intended). It's part of Channel 12 About Town. I've asked Nile to forward a link to the video.

Just got notice that Rachel posted another new update to CJ's journal. Hope you don't mind the multiple posts. Don't forget to read Rachel's last post about Deb Harper's photo shoots!

CJ has had two "walks" around the neighbourhood today and is currently next door with Granny working on some of those cookies. She watched "Mary Poppins" again today and when I asked her if she would like Mary Poppins to visit again and bring her tea set, she said "Yes!"

Everything depends on her numbers but hopefully we can get it planned soon.

Tomorrow is a very long day because we're starting a new drug in the mix and they have to do some extra tests and such. Heard from the Klauers that they will be having a long day of it too. It'll be a Dad's day by the looks of it. The two families are conspiring to open a Tiki Bar at the Nelson Clinic as part of our new "Adult Life" department! :-)

So here's to everyone fighting the good fight past, present, and future. I raise a toast to you all.

Now on to an ice cream party!