Anna's Angel Update: June 2007

It's been four years this month since Anna's diagnosis and surgery for her brain tumor. I think if anyone had asked any of us if we could have made it through what we have in these four years, we all would have had serious doubts. We have grown so much stronger as a family and for that I am so thankful. There are many days, however, when life just seems to throw more our way than we are equipped to handle. But I have to admit that when I reach my weakest points, that's when my relationship with God becomes the sweetest. When I absolutely can't take any more heartache or stress, and it feels like there really is nothing left of me, that's when I find myself the closest to Him. It is then that I am most thankful for the gift of faith that I have been given.

The hardest part for us now is watching and managing the long-term effects of Anna's tumor and treatment. But in addition to Anna's issues, we struggle with this world we now live in where children face cancer, and even death on a regular basis, and their parents face that reality, too. And so often these precious little ones that we love so much lose that battle. Sometimes Anna's challenges and the stress they bring to our lives, combined with the sadness that surrounds us, seems to be too much to bear.

But something always happens that renews our commitment to this amazing journey with Anna's Angel Fund…We hear about a grief-stricken mother who has not only lost her child, but cannot afford to bury her. She has no money and can hardly manage to get through the motions of her day. Amazingly, donations from our angels appear in the mail and allow Anna to bury her baby for her…A teenage boy whose only hope left is a bone marrow transplant. He's in the hospital for a very long time, parents are divorcing, and neither one of them have ever once even been to the hospital to visit him. But because of you, one day Anna is able to deliver to his social worker more clothes than he's ever had in his life, and they all fit for a change. He also gets a cool new game system with games and a stack of new movies! Somebody knows he's there. Somebody thinks he's worth every bit of it. Somebody cares and thinks he's worth loving. Wow. He is overwhelmed with emotion.

So often our hearts are breaking and yet, what an honor it is to be in this position. You give us the opportunity to be His hands and feet. We treasure your gifts and the special place they allow us to fill in the hearts of these children and their families. Very few of them will ever know where the gifts came from, but I doubt that any of them will ever forget the day you touched their lives.

Here are just a few of those people whose lives have most recently been changed by you, our angels:

$1000 Elliott Funeral Home
9 year old girl diagnosed with a Brainstem Glioma brain tumor in April, 2005. In March of this year she was admitted to the ICU. After fighting her battle there for 52 days, her suffering finally ended on May 19th. Her family had no insurance on her and their social worker was desperately looking for assistance for the family. She called and asked if Anna had the funding to help them at all. At the time she had $1000 in her account and she decided to give all of it to this family, to help them bury their little girl.

$471.30 Target, $147.08 Party City, Junkman's Daughter $34.56
Anna was contacted by a Child Life Specialist who told her about a girl who was about to celebrate her 13th birthday. She had planned to celebrate it at home with her friends and have a disco-themed party, but she had just learned that she would be spending her birthday in the bone marrow transplant unit. There, she would not be allowed to have any visitors. As you can imagine, she was terribly disappointed. But our angels allowed her to have the best 13th disco birthday party possible in her room that day! We found a really cool disco ball to hang from her ceiling, lots of disco themed decorations for her room, afro wigs, a disco outfit for the birthday girl to wear for her party, disco earrings, a huge glitter microphone, tons of peace sign necklaces for her to give out as party favors, all the paper goods for the cake and drinks, disco music, and disco party games for her to play with the nurses and staff. We heard that it was so very sweet…the nurses, doctors and staff from two shifts all dropped by to wish her a happy birthday, play games, and share in her celebration. Our angels also provided birthday gifts for her parents to give her. Because of you, they were able to give her a blue Ipod (exactly what she asked for!), a $15 ITunes card, a manicure kit, a Dreamgirls DVD, a digital makeover kit, and software for designing clothing. Not too bad for a birthday in the hospital!

$500 Wal-mart, $100 Cash
5 month old infant boy was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Disorder. This baby's mother is very young and his father is not financially supportive. She also has a four year old child. She has a very hard time asking her parents for help and has little support from them or anyone else. But she learned about angels one day, and how they just show up sometimes when you think there's nobody in the world who even knows you are alive. Best of all, they show you what God's love feels like – amazing and unconditional. Anna provided her with a $500 gift card so she could buy whatever she needed – food, personal items, things for her children, herself. She also provided her with $150 cash for parking at the hospital and eating there.

$356.40 Target
Sweet little baby girl from South Georgia, diagnosed with a malignant kidney tumor. Soon after her diagnosis, her second kidney failed and her cancer metastasized to her lung. Her social worker called us almost immediately for help, saying that they arrived with very few diapers and almost no clothing for the baby. She said they had very little money and could really use our help. Well, nothing thrills Anna more than getting a request to shop for a baby girl! This baby girl would most certainly have won a "best dressed" contest if they'd had one at the Ronald McDonald House while she was there! Hopefully, the toys Anna picked out gave her a few reasons to smile, too. Anna also provided mom with baby care items and two huge tote bags to carry everything home in.

$601.52 Target, $285.55 T.J. Maxx
This family has a 5 yr. old little girl who is battling leukemia, as well as a four year old daughter, and a new baby that was born prematurely. The 5 yr. old was undergoing a bone marrow transplant when her social worker contacted us about their circumstances. This family, like so many others with critically ill children, has been struggling financially for quite some time now. To complicate matters, the new baby has heart problems and is being treated at the Sibley Heart Center (at the same hospital). But even that isn't the end of this family's trials…they were evicted from their house and everything they owned was put outside in the rain. People came by and stole most of the nicer things they had. But there you were again – just like you always are when our little friends and their families need you most! Your donations always show up in the mail at the perfect time. Anna was able to buy clothing for the whole family and plenty of diapers and baby care items, too.

Total of $846.28 (Includes $88.74 AT&T, $554.28 AllState, $203.26 Jackson Membership (power bill))
15 year old girl diagnosed with cancer in Sept., 2006. Very low income family with many unpaid bills. They don't have much family support either and had reached an emotional and financial low point. Anna was able to pay all of their bills for the month and let them focus, for just that short period of time, on their daughter and her health.

$850 Herrin Communities (rent), $40 cash
Paid rent for family of a little girl who was undergoing bone marrow treatment. Her father lost his job when he had to bring the sibling to the hospital for harvesting the marrow. He had found another job but by then had gotten behind on their rent. Although their social worker was only requesting one month's rent, Anna decided to pay two months rent. Also, this little girls' mother didn't have anything to put her child's clothes in at the hospital and had been wishing for a small tote bag she'd seen in the gift shop. $40 cash was given to her social worker to so she could buy the tote bag.

$1026 Reading World Academy
5 yr. old girl diagnosed with Burkett's Lymphoma. Had a 3 yr. old sister who was in a day care program and loved it, but it was a program the child could attend free of charge only as long as mom was working. Because of her older daughter's diagnosis however, mom was now unable to work. Her social worker called us to tell us that it had become a huge stressor on mom to have the 3 yr. old at the hospital all day because her 5 yr. old was so critically ill and really needed one-on-one attention. She had seen this mother sobbing several times and wondered if we could help. The majority of the 5 yr. old's in-patient treatment would be completed in about two months and hopefully after that, mom could go back to work at least part time. Knowing how much it meant to me as a mom to be able to devote myself 100% to my child when she was fighting for her life, I knew the only response to this one would be "absolutely". Anna of course agreed, unable to imagine not having that attention when she needed it so much.

$1138.46 Sears
Once before, Anna helped this family make a few payments on a refrigerator they were renting. It was critical that they have a refrigerator for obvious reasons, but also because their child had medications that required refrigeration. This family's child is still very sick and they continue to struggle to make ends meet at home. That includes making those payments on the rented refrigerator, which has now cost them more than a new one would. So, Anna bought them a brand new refrigerator and we had it set up for delivery to their home!

$800 Rent
Paid rent for this mother whose 13 yr. old daughter had been in the hospital for a very long time. Her father didn't pay his child support and her mother was worried that she would not be able to pay their rent. But this time you paid it, so mom had a reason to cry some grateful tears for a change.

$500 Wal-mart, $250 QuikTrip
This 8 yr. old little boy has leukemia and even after going through a bone marrow transplant, he relapsed. This family is very simple and poor; dad making a living working in the onion fields. They have to drive from Vidalia once or twice every week for treatment for their son and are under tremendous strain. Anna provided them with a gift card to Wal-mart because that's where they buy food and also one to QuikTrip to help with their gas expenses.

$1000 NJ Ford Funeral Home, Memphis TN
17 month old baby girl. Her social worker contacted us before they even lost her. The family knew her death was imminent and wanted so badly to find a way to take her back to Memphis for burial. Their little church was working on raising money for them, but they needed $2000 dollars and just couldn't come up with that much. Anna had enough in her account at the time to give them $1000 and their church raised the other $1000. They took their baby home to Memphis…but we know she was really in heaven and when she arrived there, we prayed that she was greeted with a big smile and a sky full of beautiful butterflies by our precious little friend, Catie.

$300 QuikTrip, $50 Hospital parking deck coupons
4 yr. old little boy who lives in Riverdale, GA and has been fighting his battle for most of his life. This family's social worker says they are such a sweet family but just have more than they can manage. She describes them as "working poor". They have a two month old baby and are trying to juggle keeping dad's job, letting mom spend time at home with the new baby, and making sure she's at the hospital during the day for their older son, too. Their hearts must surely be tired and heavy. Especially on behalf of families like theirs, we are so grateful for your gifts to Anna.

$280.85 Old Navy, $454.64 Best Buy
Spent on a 15 yr old boy who was awaiting a bone marrow transplant. This guy made the gift of giving as special as it has ever been for us. We heard so much about this awesome kid. And after receiving a donation from an amazing and precious family who had lost their own son, Josh, we wanted to do something special with their donation for this boy. Because God continues to surround Anna with so many angels, she was able to do more than we ever dreamed for him.

We heard that his parents were going through a divorce and somehow it seemed that, being so wrapped up in the selfishness of it all, they'd forgotten their child's heart and his needs. Neither of them ever came to visit him. In fact, he had no visitors. But rather than wallowing in self-pity, this kid cheerfully took in and "parented" the other very young children in the AFLAC Cancer Center whose families never visited. (Yes, there are always others.) Knowing that the longing to be loved never goes away, what a deserving guy to be the recipients of your gracious gifts. Anna bought him new pajamas, comfortable clothes, socks, underwear, tennis shoes, and house shoes. And since he spends most of his time alone, she also bought him a game system, a few games and some movies to watch. We heard he was thrilled and walking around in disbelief for a while. How awesome! Thank you so much for letting this boy know just how special and deserving he is.

$525.34 Georgia Power
Family's power had been disconnected. Anna was able to pay the reconnection fee, the outstanding balance, and give them a $100 credit balance toward next month's bill.

$175 Global Body Works
Teenage boy who had finished his treatments but was having a lot of headaches and vague pain issues. His oncologist felt that massage treatments might help. His family is very poor though and could never afford massages. We paid for five sessions and set them up so that he could use them when he came to clinic to see his oncologist.

$2500 Tim Stewart Funeral Home
This was for the family whose teenage son you sent to Big Canoe in our last update. He was in the care of hospice and just wanted a weekend in the mountains with his family and his dog before he passed away. When his family did lose him they were also left with a huge ($8000) funeral bill. His social worker called and asked if we might be able to help make a dent in that debt for them. Anna didn't hesitate to offer what she had.

$274 Apollo Health
Young girl who fought a brain tumor and although she is now off treatment she has been left with many issues, including blindness and cognitive impairment, requiring all special education classes. She lives with her mom who is recently divorced from her dad. Medicaid will not cover this device and it is something her doctor felt she needed to help her sleep. Our angels purchased it for her in hopes of bringing her the sweetest of dreams.

$750 Meybohm Residential
Paid rent for the family of a little girl who had recently been diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor. They had been in Atlanta for quite a while (home was Augusta, GA) and were going to be staying a while longer. Her mother was here with her and obviously missing a lot of time at work. They desperately needed help paying their rent back in Augusta and, thanks to you, Anna was able to take care of it for them.

Total $1187.50 (Limo $200, Disc Jockey $250, Room $225, caterer $712.50)
We were asked by Sherry Samuels and Mary Campbell at the Brain Tumor Fdn. for Children if we might be able to help provide a "once in a lifetime" high school graduation party for a girl who is a brain tumor survivor. Although she is a survivor, her brain tumor has taken quite a toll on her. She is permanently confined to a wheelchair and has other issues that are common to brain tumor patients as well. This was more than just a celebration of her graduation – it was a celebration of survival and life! With the help of the Brain Tumor Fdn., her party was everything she wanted and hopefully a very special night for her.

$100 QuikTrip
3 yr. old little boy with Down's Syndrome and Leukemia. (We've learned that sadly, the incidence of Leukemia is very high among Downs children.) In this family, dad is the primary caregiver. Mom's job provides the health insurance so dad had to be the one to quit his job. When we got the call from his social worker, this little boy had been in the intensive care unit for over a month. She asked if Anna might be able to provide help with gas expenses and requested $100 in gas cards for this family.

$150 Whole Foods
A second family whose 18 month old infant son also had Down's Syndrome and was diagnosed with Leukemia. This family's child was also going to be in the hospital for several weeks and they adhere to a very strict, organic, and healthy diet. Obviously, hospital cafeterias don't cater to this kind of diet so their social worker asked if Anna would be willing to provide them with a Whole Foods gift card so they could shop for and bring in their own food.

Total $2073.71 Multiple bill payments (Includes: Georgia Power $350 ($161.64 past due, plus help for next month), North Park at Eagles Landing (rent) $935, QuikTrip gas card $100, Wal-mart gift card (groceries) $300, AmeriCredit $398.71 car payment))
Social worker says this family is in crisis both emotionally and financially. Their teenage daughter has relapsed Lymphoma and her prognosis is not good. Dad has severe diabetes and got a serious infection in his foot. He couldn't work and was fired from his job.

$250 BB&T Bank
This 15 yr. old patient's step mom walked out on him and his father and overdrew dad's checking account. Dad was left with $140 in overdraft charges. Mailed check to family's account to cover overdraft charges and give them a little breathing room.

$700 Japanese Auto for car repairs
This patient has a single mom who was fired from her job at the Atlanta airport due to the number of missed work days while her child was in the hospital. She was looking for a new job, but in the meantime her car had become even less reliable, needing a new clutch and quite a bit of other extensive work. The total expenses were $1400. At the time, Anna was only able to offer half of what she needed but we believe she was able to make payments on the balance.

$730 ($600 Rent and $130 late fees)
This patient's mother pays the rent with her SSI disability check and due to a history of frequent moves (mom is a victim of serious domestic violence), the checks have a hard time keeping up with her. Anna gladly agreed to pay one month of rent and those late fees for her.

$250 QuikTrip
One of the most consistent needs we hear about from the social workers in the AFLAC Cancer Center is for help with gas expenses for patient families. We tend to forget that many of these families travel very long distances, often several times a week, to bring their children to the hospital for cancer treatments. So, often they ask us for gas gift cards. We choose to buy them at QuikTrip because it is usually the cheapest in Atlanta, and because there is a QuikTrip just down the street from the hospital. They were very much in need of gas cards at one point and Anna agreed to buy them ten $25 gift cards to give out as needed.

$200 Kroger, $200 QuikTrip
For a very poor family of a precious little girl from a small town in Georgia called Cornelia. This little girl has leukemia and her social worker called and asked if there was any way we could help them a little with groceries and gas money.

$174 New phone service
13 yr. old boy has a serious blood disorder. Mom has eight children and struggles financially. Her telephone service was disconnected and the hospital badly needed to be able to stay in contact with her, for the safety of her child. They asked if we could help her get it established. Anna paid $58 to establish her service and then $116 to cover her payments for the next two months.

$555.74 Target, $75.96 Sports Authority, $500 Wal-mart
15 yr old boy with a 13 yr old sister. This patient's social worker was concerned about them because the parents were extremely poor and the teenagers always wore the same worn out clothes. Not only that, but it was back in early February and she also noticed that neither of them had warm clothes or coats either and she thought it might be nice if the patient could have a warm pair of pajamas. We thought so, too! This was a fun request to fill! Both teenagers got lots of new clothes, although we tried to focus mostly on warm-ups, sweats and comfy pajamas for the patient. Anna also chose a robe and house shoes for him to wear around the hospital. Both got new tennis shoes and coats, too! To help the family out with groceries and other personal needs, Anna was also able to give them a $500 gift card to Wal-mart, where we heard they normally did most of their grocery shopping.

$2000 Thomas Funeral Home
Another little girl who couldn't fight any longer. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November of 2006 in Utah and her family moved to Dallas, Texas for treatment. She relapsed in February and again in May, and at that point her family moved home to Georgia to be close to family. We got a call from Mary Campbell at the Brain Tumor Fdn. For Children (BTFC), asking if Anna might be able to help with burial expenses for this 6 yr. old child. BTFC was making a significant contribution too, but this grieving family needed much more than any one organization could offer.

What you send to Anna may be a check, or a donation through PayPal. But to these children and their families, your gifts are so much more personal than that. Because Anna's gifts are anonymous, very few of them ever know where the help came from or what prompted it. But what they do know is that when they were in pain someone cared, had the means to help them, and silently showed up to deliver what their hearts needed most. You may have noticed how many children Anna has been asked to help bury over the last six months (actually we haven't even included all of them here). Those expenses take huge chunks out of Anna's Angel Fund. But through you, our precious angels, He always provides a way.

In almost four years, your gifts to Anna's Angel Fund have totaled approximately $151,000! That represents an incomprehensible amount of love, gifts of joy, and buckets of happy tears. The words "thank you" hardly seem even close to adequate, but they are all we know to offer you. Our hearts are forever overflowing with humility and gratitude for all you have done to make our world and theirs a happier, more hopeful place.

Forever grateful,

Lisa, Larry, and Anna


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