Community Blood Center

I mentioned a while back that the Community Blood Center used Ally's story in their annual report. I have scanned in the article for you to see. You might have to double click on it and make it bigger to be able to read it. We love blood donors and I believe Ally has surpassed 20 blood transfusions.

BIG NEWS: Ally and Dad are supposed to be in the USA Today on Monday September 13th. TODAY. You should be able to get a paper anywhere in the US! So check it out if you can....

The weekend flew by fast. We were a busy....but it was a good busy doing things like going to festivals, church, sports, and rooting for our favorite football teams. It is such a luxury to do simple things. Everywhere I go, people ask me about Ally and how she is doing. People keep remarking about how good she looks. I was looking out the window tonight and I saw her out in the front yard with the neighbor girls...they were peeking under her hat and she was showing them her hair. They were all smiling. It was super cute.

We are still doing chemo. Every. Single. Day. It is engrained in our routine now. People look at her and forget she is still doing chemo. Well she is. But she is still strong. We were going through the schedule tonight and I told her she has to miss school on Thursday. That doesn't make her very happy, but she takes it stride. I told her she had to get a spinal tap. We will be at the hospital all day on Thursday. We have done tons of spinal taps in our days, but now that it has been three months, well it stings a little more. The worry ramps up a little extra and I really don't want her to have to go through it. I HATE watching them.....I HATE what the drugs do to her when she is in conscious sedation, but it is also saving her life. So we will keep marching forward, trying never to look back, except to appreciate how far that we have come.

That being said, I keep thinking about a family that I don't even know. A little girl from our town, Beavercreek, was diagnosed with ALL just about a month ago. I think she is just slightly older than Ally. Within a day or two, I had four people contact me/tell me about it. Asking if I could help. And yes I can. I am more than willing. I know the family is probably reeling from the diagnosis, the hard levels of chemo, the fear, the hair loss, etc I have yet to speak to them, but I think about them every single day. WHY does this have to keep happening?? I get so mad. So sad. Why do other little girls have to learn to be so strong? Why do other mothers have to watch their children suffer? We will never know why....we just have to keep raising awareness that it is happening. Very little research money is given to pediatric cancer.

September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month. You won't see the pink ribbons everywhere, like we do for breast cancer. You won't see public service announcements. You probably wouldn't even know there was such a thing unless your child had cancer or if you heard it from me!!! Thank you all so much for following our story and being aware of all that cancer can do to a family. I will post the link again to sign up for the Light the NIght Walk and Ally's Army team...we will be walking for all those who have battled a blood cancer.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/soh/Dayton10/AllysArmy