Showing posts with label fight to defeat cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fight to defeat cancer. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Books, Horses and Camp: A Way to Give Thanks and Give Back


My niece, Emily, has been battling cancer for over two years now. But that's not all she's been doing. She's modeled in a show for Flashes of Hope, raised money for Rainbow Hospital and starred in a video for Flying Horse Farms.  I feel downright lazy next to her.

So here's what I'm doing:  starting a library of camp and horse related books for Flying Horse Farms.  Flying Horse Farms is a magical, transforming and fun camp for children with serious illnesses and their families. It's an Ohio based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and working to become a member of Hole in the Wall Camps, the world’s largest family of camps for children with serious illnesses.   

I talked with the director, and he said that rather than one central library, he would love to have books available at several spots around the camp---the stables, the craft room, the main activity hall, the cabins, maybe even the dining hall.

The books would be...

For kids to read while they wait for their turn on a horse.
For kids who suddenly discover they love pottery or archery or fishing and want to know everything about it. 
For kids to share and discuss a cool quote or an inspirational person during nightly reflection times.
For kids who need a fast idea for a drama skit, or a nature craft, or a easy recipe.
For kids who need to rest.
For kids who love to read.
For kids who are kids and want to be kids and must be kids even if a serious illness complicates their lives.

If you want to help, here are some suggestions:

  • I've set up a wish list on Amazon.  You can choose a book and donate it directly from there.  The list is small now, but it will grow as the campers and counselors and the director add new requests to it.
  • You can blog about your favorite camp or horse related book. I'll round up those posts here, plus forward them to the director and consult them in expanding the Wish List. (Little Willow already did this. Thanks, LW!) Feel free to copy this entire post or use the button I'm putting in my sidebar.
  • If you're an author or illustrator or publisher or blogger with a camp or horse related book, you can donate directly to the camp, but please remember that the camp serves kids ages 7-15  and your donation should reflect the needs of the camp. (Please, in all cases, only NEW books.)

    Questions?  Email me at:  email@saralewisholmes.com

Here's a list of activities at camp:

Arts & Crafts
Painting
Woodworking
Pottery
Boating
Fishing
Swimming
Horses
Cooking
Ropes
Adventure (teambuilding)
Nature
Sports & Games
Music
Drama

Fiction is also welcome, but at this time, we're concentrating on stories with horses in them. Once the camp is fully up and running, I'll add other fiction requests from the campers and counselors.   

The address for donations:

Flying Horse Farms
225 Green Meadows Drive South, Suite A
Lewis Center, Ohio 43035


Thank you! 

Edited to add: Many of you have emailed privately to say you're supporting FHF, and I thank you profoundly.  

Bloggers who've posted about Flying Horse Farms:











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Monday, October 13, 2008

30-40,000 Children

My niece, Emily, is battling cancer, and her mom sent this information about childhood cancer:

Every day 46 children in this country will be diagnosed with cancer. That is two classrooms full.

Every four hours a child will die from pediatric cancer. We have known several who fought bravely but did not survive.

The average age of a child being diagnosed is 6; the average age for an adult is 66. Emily was a few months shy of her 10th birthday.

Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease for our children. It kills more children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies and pediatric AIDS combined.

Pediatric cancer is cured about 75% of the time. That means one out of four children diagnosed will lose their battle.

It has been 20 years since any new pediatric cancer drug has been approved.

Currently there are between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer.

Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80% of children are diagnosed with advanced disease. Emily was one of them.

By 2010 one in every two hundred teens and adolescents will be a cancer survivor.

Most children are treated with smaller doses of adult drugs.

Due to the toll of the currently available therapies on their growing bodies, three out of every five children who survive cancer will be diagnosed with another cancer, a chronic illness or another life threatening illness before they are adults.

So I would love for everyone to stop and think of all the children who are courageously fighting this disease and the ones who earned their wings who fought so hard against this ugly beast.

God bless,
Debbie

My niece has come with her mom and dad to a hospital near us to begin a new drug trial this week. Please pray for her.
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Sunday, November 18, 2007

Fresh Snow

This week, you have the chance to taste fresh snow---original artwork by some of the best illustrators around---but you're going to have to do more than stick out your tongue. You have to speak up! You have to go bid! See below for all the details.

Thanks to Tricia, who pulled the following information together:




Auction 3 will begin accepting bids on Monday, Dec. 3 at 9:00 a.m. with a starting bid of $50 for each snowflake. All bids must be placed before the close of Auction 3 on Friday, Dec. 7 at 5:00 p.m. Don't forget that 100 percent of the proceeds from this online auction will benefit sarcoma research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and that all but $25 of the winning bid is tax deductible.


Auction 3 List

Read about all the illustrators who contributed to this auction at the sites linked below. (The order presented is the same as on the auction page.)


Auction 2 List (Bids are now closed)





Auction 1 List (Bids are closed)
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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Blizzard Forecast For This Week

Seven day outlook: 100% chance of snow! Every day!

If you don't know about Robert's Snow, here's the official press release from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. (Please see my sidebar for a list of links to all the blogs who are featuring a snowflake artist this week.)

Be bold! Make it snow!

Art galleries in New England will become a winter wonderland starting this October as Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure, a benefit for sarcoma research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass., gets underway. More than 200 well-known children's book illustrators from around the world, including Mo Willems (Knuffle Bunny series), Kevin Hawkes (The Library Lion) and Patricia Polacco (Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare), have been given a five-inch wooden snowflake to transform into an original piece of art to be auctioned off online. Like actual snowflakes, each design is unique.

The snowflakes will be on display at the Have a Heart gallery in Newburyport from Oct. 3 - 22, with an open house all day on Oct. 6. Then the snowflakes will be on exhibit at the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham from Oct. 30 - Dec. 2, with a kick-off reception on Nov. 4, at 4 p.m.

The snowflakes will be auctioned off to benefit Dana-Farber during three online auctions, on Nov. 19 - 23, Nov. 26 - 30 and Dec. 3 - 7. To preview the pieces online and to place a bid, go to www.robertssnow.com. The artwork is great for a holiday gift and bidding is open to everyone. Gallery hours and admission prices for the exhibits are online too.

The program was developed by children's book author and illustrator Grace Lin a few years ago. Just after getting married, her husband Robert Mercer was diagnosed with sarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue and bone. While Mercer was receiving treatment, Lin told him a bedside story about a mouse that couldn't go outside to play in the snow. The story grew into a children's book, titled "Robert's Snow." When Lin was finishing the artwork for the book, her husband had a relapse, so her colleagues rallied to create Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure to increase awareness about sarcoma and to raise research funding. Mercer passed away in August 2007, but Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure continues as a legacy to his life.

Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure is in its third year and has already raised more than $200,000 for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which is recognized by the National Cancer Institute as a world leader in cancer research and care. Dana-Farber is renowned for using its discoveries to improve cancer treatment for children and adults around the world.

Contact:

Elizabeth Chernack
Dana-Farber
(617) 632-4687
elizabeth_chernack@dfci.harvard.edu

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Robert's Snow

Please don't read my blog today.

Instead, I want you to go to 7-Impossible Things Before Breakfast, where Jules and Eisha are sounding the call for Robert's Snow, the uniquely beautiful fundraiser to defeat cancer founded by Grace Lin. It's going to be a major blogosphere event, and I don't want you to miss it.

Go on. I'll be here when you get back. Right now, we all need a little snow.
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