Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2003. Mattie was 15 months old. This was his first trip to the beach. We weren't sure how Mattie was going to react to the sand and surf, but looking back on this moment in time, his reaction makes perfect sense to me. Mattie did not like it at all! He was afraid of the water and did not like the feeling of the sand. Over the years, this changed and Mattie developed an affection for sand castle building. He could spend hours creating and digging on the beach and many times he and Peter would design structures that were so elaborate that other kids would want to join in on the fun. Which of course made parents very happy, because we were like an instant play zone for kids on the beach. 



Quote of the day: It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done. ~ Vincent van Gogh

In March, at the Institute of Medicine Conference on Comprehensive Cancer Care for Children and Their Families, I had the opportunity to hear Melinda Marchiano speak as well as meet her and her mom, Lee. Melinda (far right in the photo) is a Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor. Melinda has a wonderful website that shares her story and the advocacy work that she is involved in throughout the year. What captured my attention about Melinda, besides the fact that she is a beautiful person on the outside, is that she has a very compassionate, inspiring, and endearing way of capturing her audience's attention. She was able to explain the psychosocial issues she experiences as a cancer survivor in an absolutely stirring manner. She did not sugar coat her message, but made it real and meaningful. In fact, here is the actual video (click on video) from the conference, if you wish to see what she had to say. 

In addition to being a survivor and an advocate. Melinda has also published her own book, Grace, a child's intimate journey through cancer and recovery. As you can learn from her website, "Melinda established her business, Happy Quail Publishing, in 2009 at the age of fifteen. Her reasons for starting her business were not usual. Melinda became CEO of Happy Quail so that she would be able to publish the story she had written while she was recovering from cancer– without the harsh editing of a big publishing house. Believing her story needed to remain intact in order to truly help others with cancer, Melinda’s Happy Quail published Grace in October 2009. This first edition won two 2010 International Book Awards."

Yesterday, Lee sent me an email because she is working on a project about "momcologists!" I have to admit I had never heard this title before, but apparently I am deemed one, and I wear the title proudly. A Momcologist is "a mom in the fight of her life, also posing as a doctor looking for treatments for her child with cancer. Warning: Do not get in her way." Lee is reaching out to moms who inspire her and the community. Specifically to tell our story about our child's diagnosis and from that experience what we have done to impact the world of childhood cancer. Each of us will be given ten pages to express ourselves and the goal is to bring awareness to childhood cancer and in a way to celebrate what a group of women have been able to endure and accomplish. I am very honored to be invited to be a part of this project. 

So I now have a new title....... I am a MOMCOLOGIST!