Wednesday, June 10, 2009

School Visit Day


The day was finally upon us. Karen Stormer, our nurse and chief educator from Children's, came out to Ally's school to talk about leukemia with the whole first grade. She is another one of those special people that makes me feel really at ease. I guess our whole team does really. To me, they are superheros..saving my little girls life. I put them up on the highest pedestal that there is. There were a few others in there...school nurses, her teacher for next year, principal, librarian, etc. She showed the Charlie Brown video. The kids would laugh hysterically at Snoopy but would then get pretty quiet when they talked about the disease. Ally was sitting in a chair and all the other kids were around her. I kept seeing them turn around to look at her, pat her, one girl was even resting her chin on Ally's leg. She sat there looking super strong. She never even flinches. The video can be a bit of a tearjerker, but luckily the lights were out and I tried to disguise my face.

She showed the kids a doll that had a port in it. She could peel back the skin on this doll and and show exactly what lies beneath Ally's chest. (Which reminds me that I still have more to post on our initial days.) The kids had a lot of questions. Most of them were very specific to Ally losing her hair. I think they also grasped the fact that Ally can get sick very easily right now, and if they are sick they should not play with her. Karen said one thing that pretty much felt like another stomach punch for me. She said "boys and girls, Ally will probably be the only person that you ever know that has leukemia because it is extremely rare." Well that just hit home. Jerad turned to me and said...Yea, it is like we won the reverse lottery. For the bad.

Ally got up and showed everyone her bead necklace. I will show this here on another day, but she earns beads for every procedure type thing that she has done. She stood in front of everyone and with her little voice said all the beads....these are my chemos beads, these are for pokes, these are for blood bags, this one is for surgery, etc. I looked back to the adults in the room and noticed a lot of tears. It is tough to hear a child talk about such adult-like and serious things. After this was done, the kids from her class did a play for her! I guess they had been "meeting" at the playground and writing the play in her honor. All on their own. About 10 kids got up and performed it right in front of the whole room. It didn't have anything to do with Ally...it was actually about Ninjas...but at the end they all said in unison "We hope you get better Ally"

They proceeded to give her a sunshine basket with all sorts of things the kids had brought in for her. Not gifts, per se, but things of their own that they wanted to give her. She got some special rocks, seashells, a handmade doll, a "be strong" bracelet, and one sweet boy wrote her an entire book with pictures. They also made a huge poster for her room...taller than her...with paper balloons. Each child wrote a note on a balloon and at the bottom it said "we lift you up". They also cut out little paper dolls of themselves. Then they were all taped together holding hands. They told her to put it by her bed and they would all be watching over her and hugging her. These kids are close knit, I tell ya. Karen, the nurse, told me that she has done this presentation over 100 times. She said she had NEVER seen a class so caring or do so many wonderful things at the end.

Then, to top it all off, all the kids from her class prayed for her. They each laid a hand on her and then as they said a prayer for her, they sat down. Until they all had said something. Mrs LeVesseur, Ally's teacher and my friend, brought a children's pastor in who helped too. She did specific prayers for Jerad, myself, and Ally. I was blown away by all of this. Who says you are not supposed to have prayer in public schools? I think when leukemia is there, that rule should be thrown out the window. And it was.
We rested during the afternoon, because we had another big event tonight. Evan had his first ever baseball game..on the Synergy team! This is something that Ally can go to, because it is outside we don't have to worry about germs. He got three hits, which was awesome for him. I think he is the youngest player on the team, too. Most kids are five or six, but we thought he could handle it. I was proud of my boy. He has taken a backseat lately, but tonight it was his turn to shine. It was fun for me too because quite honestly, I am getting very sick and tired of staying inside my house...MY BUBBLE, I call it. I get really cooped up and makes me crabby. My sweet friend Nicki came over and just hung out with me this afternoon. It makes the bubble so much more bearable to have someone in it with me!


First run!




10 comments:

  1. Such a great story about school. Sounds like she has some amazing friends. Ally helped me today in an odd way when I had to get a lot of blood drawn and shots (Which I cannot do well) for nursing. I thought to myself...if Ally can go through so much worse, I can do this. Even though we are all here to help her and support her and fight for her, she does things for me. Every day I think of her and appreciate that life is special. She helps me see the better things in life. She's a sweet and strong fighter and although I fight and pray for her every day, that sweet girl helps me in great ways.

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  2. When people say, "God has a plan", I think yeah, well, this plan stinks! But seeing things like this makes me think maybe there is one. Look at how she's affecting people and teaching people. And she's going to be that ambassador at Children's one day. And, like you said, maybe she'll go in the direction of being an oncology doctor or nurse someday, trying to help other people with this disease. I can see that happening. I guess what we saw with mom could have been a plan for this, although I'm not really a fan of that plan either.
    Like what Jackie said, when I wasn't feeling very good the other night I was telling myself this is NOTHING.
    I guess I will be in my own bubble tomorrow too as it's supposed to rain, AGAIN. Although my bubble doesn't bother me as much as yours bothers you!

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  3. Jackie is SO right. Ally helps us all in ways she is not even aware of. This situation makes small trivial problems seem like nothing!She makes me a better, stronger person!
    I am so sorry you won this "lottery" as Jerad put it. Just remember we are all here to share it with you.

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  4. You know I believe in the power of prayer and I love what her class did for her. What an incredible gesture. The room sounded like it was filled with love.

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  5. Wow - this brought tears to my eyes, too. Just amazing how caring the school and the kids are. I'm glad you all got to get out today and enjoy Evan's game. It looks like everyone had a good time!

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  6. Still thinking of you and praying for you every day.

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  7. The Bible says "God is love." What a tremendous illustration of God in that classroom! I am so thrilled that Ally is surrounded by some many caring and loving people. We continue to join with the many who are praying for Ally!

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  8. It is so wonderful to hear what her class did for her. It just shows us all what a tremendous difference Ally makes in all of our lives. Thank you all for allowing me to tag along with you yesterday! It was so nice to spend time with the kids, and to see Ally's bright smile. Also - Evan is quite the baseball All-Star! We look forward to seeing you all again soon - I can't wait for the Hannah Montana movie to be out on DVD so that we can have a movie day with Ally. Thinking of you all!

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  9. How BEAUTIFUL!...and touching. What a blessing to have such wonderful support from her classmates and school staff. Our prayers continue to be with you all. Thanks for sharing that wonderful experience and the adorable pictures.

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  10. We are so glad you are getting such wonderful support. It certainly helps through the tough times. Through the actions of her friends, I think it shows how special a girl Ally is. This story is very touching. Thank you for sharing it. If ever you want some company in your "bubble" let us know and we'd be glad to visit (or we can invite you to our bubble). We'll be thinking and praying for you and Ally tomorrow as she goes in for her next procedure. Take care-

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