Why Joy For Kids With Cancer is important to me!

Hi, my name is Kelly and I am part of a group of people who helped form the Joy For Kids With Cancer Foundation. We are still in the process of getting everything going but we are all excited and hopeful to make this season the best holiday season we can for as many children as possible!

I am 29, a newlywed, and have Stage 1C Endometrial Cancer. The day my doctor referred me to an Oncologist scared me more than anything! When the Oncologist confirmed it was cancer I was devastated. I sat there in her office alone, crying with thoughts of my new husband and the fact that I would be unable to provide him with a family of our own. I thought I would never see a baby with my eyes or his smile. I wasn't sure what to do but I knew I would fight it, knew I had just started my life and I wasn't ready to just give in to it. I was strong and would survive what ever treatments or surgeries I had to. The one ray of sunlight in all of this was that I was Stage 1c so we had caught it early! At that moment, I felt like the luckiest person in the world. Lucky because there are thousands of families that have found out too late. I try to remember that every time I sit alone and feel like crying. I push that thought in my head every time I have to go to a treatment or everytime I want to think "Why ME?"

The day that I met Kaitlin, a 12 year old girl with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, was the day I really understood how lucky I was. I was going in for a chemo treatment and she was there. She was giggling and happy and waved at me and asked the nurse if I could have my treatment next to her. I thought this was weird since I had never met her before but told the nurse it was fine. She wore a mask over her face so it was hard for me to hear her at first. I had a magazine with Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart, the starts of the Twilight Saga, on the cover in my hands. She was so excited about the magazine and expressed how much she loved the books and the movie Twilight but was devastated because she would not be able to see New Moon in the theaters. Then she put her hand up and said "I hope you are Team Edward because we can't be friends if you are Team Jacob". We both started laughing loudly! Anyone who knows me would laugh too. I am a HUGE FAN of the Twilight Saga and have a small (if you can call it that) obsession with Robert Pattinson. Let's just say my husband is jealous of my admiration for him.

Anyway, we spent the next couple hours talking about all things "twilight". She said how she cried the day the movie New Moon was released because she had waited a year to see it but she was too sick to leave the hospital. I felt so bad for her. She told me that she has been kicking cancer's butt for over a year and she wasn't giving up anytime soon which made me tear up. Here was a 12 year old girl who had to deal with so much at a young age and I looked at her like one of the strongest women I had ever met. She truely had my heart that first day! Every week since then we have been "chemo buddies" and she brings a smile to my face every time I see her!

Her mother had called me and thanked me for being such a good friend to her daughter even though I had only known her a few weeks. She said that her daughter would light up anytime she knew we would have treatments on the same day which of course made me ball like a baby! Her mother told me that the Dr's had told her that the treatment they had her on wasn't working as well as it had in the past and that they fear it is starting to spread. She said she really wanted her daughter to see New Moon in theaters because it was important to her but because of medical bills, etc. they were unable to afford that type of expense for christmas.

After that, I was on a mission! I was going to make sure Kaitlin had her theater experience if it was the last thing I did! She deserves it! Myself, some of my friends and Kaitlins family started making phone calls. We talked to the Children's Cancer Association and were given more resources then we knew what to do with. We decided that we wanted to form a group to make sure that kids like Kaitlin who would be stuck in the hospital during christmas would have a special holiday. With that, Joy For Kids With Cancer was born.

Our mission is to raise money and volunteer our time in different childrens hospitals all over the world spreading holiday cheer with presents on Christmas Day! We also want to help families that are dealing with cancer have a special christmas, even if they can't afford to!

We hope that all of you are able to spread the love to these children and show them how special they are and how brave they are for fighting cancer by donating! Thank You to all who are able to help!

I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank Susan at the Childrens Cancer Association for helping us get started!

Take Care and Happy Holidays!

Kelly