Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Cancer Survivors Lobby for a Beautiful and Bald Barbie
Cancer Survivors Lobby for a Bald Barbie.
Elizabeth on FOX News!!!
A Warriors Unexpected Weapon
According to the Beads of Courage website…
In cultures across the world, BEADS have had many different functions…
Beads signify strength and courage
Just like medals, ribbons and certificates, many ancient and modern-day cultures use beads to show bravery and accomplishment. They have long been used to protect warriors from natural and supernatural enemies, along with lending special magical protection for heroes during long journeys. In many societies, beads are believed to carry protective and healing powers
Did you know that the Egyptian word sha means “luck” and sha-sha means “bead”?
Sha-sha. I like the sound of that. It reminds me of a noise you would make as you side kick cancer in the buttcrack? It doesn’t take eating bugs and slugs for Fear Factor contestant Elizabeth Blair to prove how courageous she is. She has faced every fear and beyond over the last five months. Elizabeth decided a long time ago that fear was not a factor for her. She doesn’t have 50,000 dollars to prove it. She has something better. A sparklicious necklace to prove it! It is her modern-day medal that protects her from her evil cancer enemy. She calls her medal… Beads of Courage. Back in August when Elizabeth was first diagnosed, we were handed a small, cream bag with angel-fairies all over it. On the front it said, Beads of Courage. I put it aside not thinking anything of it or it’s importance. We could barely breathe let alone worry about what was in this little bag that clicked like Cinderella’s glass slippers every time I moved it out of the way. A few weeks went by and a mom by the name of Sandra came by with her daughter Mia, who is also battling cancer. Fear is definitely not a factor for Mia, either. They kindly introduced themselves to Elizabeth and I. Elizabeth immediately took to Mia, and began constantly asking when she would get to see her again. Elizabeth for the first time, did not feel like she was going through all of this alone. She realized she was not the only sweet kiddo being dealt a really crappy hand. She had a friend who understood exactly what she was going through. Mia understood her exactly. A couple more weeks went by and we were both admitted on the 7th floor. Elizabeth and I went by Sandra and Mia’s room to say hello and there hanging on the pole that contained her chemotherapy, were her beads of courage. I commented to Sandra how beautiful the beads were and she told me they were Mia’s beads of courage. There was a bead with each letter of her name and what appeared to be additional random beads along a string. When Elizabeth and I eventually went home, I immediately started going through the million, billion, gazillion items we had received since August. I was frantically searching for this bag I vagely remembered getting at the hospital. Sha and behold I found it and immediately opened it. There they were… It was the most sparklicious, rainbowlicious surprise I could have got at that moment. Elizabeths beads from her first week diagnosed with cancer. An anchor bead for our family, friends and caregivers and how they (you) have been the anchor and a symbol of hope. An acorn bead to symbolize growth during all the changes and challenges Elizabeth encounters. A fish bead to symbolize the upstream battles Elizabeth faces each day. At our next visit to the hospital I asked the child life specialist to help get us caught up with all the beads we missed. She received a bead for every surgery, every blood transfusion, every hospital stay, every intensive care stay, every physical therapy, every occupational therapy, every chemotherapy, each and every single battle she has faced this far. And of course E and I strung the beads in none other than rainbow fashion. We ran out of space because she had received so many beads andis total awesomeness! And we are now working on filling her second necklace. We now hang the beads on her pole each time she is admitted. Not only is it powerful to see all that Elizabeth has endured over the last 5 months but it also lends special, magical powers to protect our courageous HERO, Elizabeth Brooklyn Blair from the evil enemy, childhood cancer. And yet all the while she is still singing and still dancing and still painting rainbows everyday in true fear factor fashion. Not even Cinderella’s super duper slippers could do that. Keep shining my bright and beautiful love bug.
Fearlessly sha sha’ing cancer in the buttcrack,
The Blairs
Happy Glitter Year
Elizabeth woke up on New Years Eve morning and with a sleepy voice said, “Mama, I had a beautiful dream.” “Wow! You had a beautiful dream? What was it about?” I asked. She said, “Bryce had magical pennies.” “What did he do with the magical pennies? Did he give you one?” She all of a sudden got ticked off and said, “No!” “Well, darn it! I really want a magical penny right now, too.” I said. I would wish for all this stupid cancer to go away for all these beautiful kiddos. I swear these kids are all the sweetest kids I have ever met here on the 7th floor. My heart is so broken. It is so so sad because of beautiful girls like Zesty Zoey, diagnosed at age 17 just days before Christmas with Lymphoma. Zoey is so super duper smart and has a super duper fire inside of her! She told me about how she graduated high school at the age of 15! She agreed with me when I said that was CRAZY! She is going to college until she turns 18 and then she is off to LA to follow her dream to become a professional dancer. She now has to deal with stupid cancer. She has beautiful long red hair that will start falling out anyday, but she assures me that thinking positive is the only thing she can do. There is no other option, she said. She is still planning on following her dreams. TAKE THAT CHILDHOOD CANCER! I can’t stop thinking about young guys like, Duane. Duane is 16 and will so graciously and so patiently play Headbandz with Elizabeth each and every time she comes strolling into the playroom. He gave Elizabeth’s little friend, Trey Meszaros a remote control car for Christmas the other day. Trey thinks “that dude is so freakin’ nice!” TAKE THAT CHILDHOOD CANCER! Then there is my sweet Elizabeth. Yep, we all know her. She’s tough! REALLY TOUGH! Cancer picked the wrong girl! And there is no doubt in my mind that Elizabeth will do something really really great someday because of all of this. SOMETHING REALLY BIG!!! I KNOW IT! GET HER AUTOGRAPH NOW PEOPLE.
It’s no big secret that this has been the yuckiest year of our lives. It sucks that Elizabeth has to even have words like lymphoma, cancer and chemotherapy in her vocabulary at age five! It sucks that she must look me, her mama, in the eyes and say, “I did not ask to be born into this world. Why was I born? I don’t want cancer!” It sucks that there is a floor full of beautiful children with cancer, a floor that continues to stay full. Children are dying from childhood cancer and even more children are being diagnosed everyday. Children like Zoey, Duane and Elizabeth. No matter what your age, no matter what your dreams, no matter if you’re rich or poor, no matter what, not a single child is protected from this awful awful cancer. We, The Blair’s, are DEFINITELY ready for The New Year and welcoming 2012 with open arms even if we had to bring in the New Year in the hospital. But I must say, it was one of the best new years celebrations that we have had! (more about this in a minute) Unfortunately, PCH closed off the hospital to children under the age of 12 the day before New Years Eve. Bryce and Kate spent the night with our fabulous family friends, The Wise’s! They had a great celebration letting off smoke bombs, sparklers, poppers and pizza! And well Chip, Kathy, Nathan and Katelyn surprised us with a super duper stack of cash for EBB Foundation earlier that day after the Fiesta Bowl parade. $515.00 to be exact!!!!!! The Wise’s had the most rockin’ Christmas light display this year! They programmed their Christmas lights to music and collected donations for Elizabeth. I can’t think of a more glitteriffic way to raise money for EBB! Speaking of EBB. The new EBB blog is up and running thanks to my very special friend, Natalie Meszaros! Check it out! www.gotebb.com. Spread the word! Please spread the word! This year and every year from here on out my new years resolution is one to not be broken… Raising childhood cancer awareness. If you haven’t made one or already broke the one you made, start now and do it with me! www.gotebb.com.
You know…
SOME GIRLS ARE JUST BORN WITH GLITTER IN THEIR VEINS….
Elizabeth Brooklyn Blair is one of those girls.
Here are Elizabeth’s Top Ten Ways to add a little extra sparkle to your New Year.
10. Mix glitter with your lipgloss and add to lips, eyes, cheeks, and ear lobes. Ohhhh la la! So Glamorous!
9. Buy a pair of shoes that sparkle. And if you can find them in cheetah, that’s even better.
8. Applying a rhinestone by the eye, is soooo Hollywood!! Ask Elizabeth and Lady Gaga.
7. Blinged out jewelry and hospital bands. Elizabeth says, the shinier the better.
6. Add a disco ball to your hospital/bedroom décor.
5. Glitter and glow in the dark nail polish is always a must when painting nails.
4. Eat your vegetables. They make your skin glow. The greener the better. They also kick cancer in the buttcrack, too.
3. Drink lots of sparkling lemonade out of a champagne glass, of course.
2. Jump in a pile of glitter! No kidding!
1. Give from the heart, it makes your heart more beautiful and sparkle super duper bright!
Elizabeth did all of this and more New Years Eve! Elizabeth put on her disco ball earrings, sparkling sunglasses, did mommy and her makeup, and as Daddy carried her, she cruised with her pole on the 7th floor all glittered up handing out shiny necklaces and glow sticks! We had the Jonas Brothers jamming on the ipad singing, We’re the Kids of the Future. We told everyone that there was a party at room 7134. And on Elizabeth’s hospital tray stand, we had sparkling lemonade in fancy champagne glasses with Justin Bieber straws, rainbowlicious sherbert ice cream cones, a cupcake piniata filled with lollipops and maracas, awesome music and, of course, dancing. Yep, DANCING! Probably not as wild and crazy like it would have been without cancer interfering, but I will say we had a circle formed and Elizabeth was in the center! Elizabeth told everyone about her Taylor Swift experience this year (a highlight for sure). She shined! I wrapped up the night with telling everyone how we had hoped to be home for New Years, but that it was awesome that we got to party with all of them instead! It was total awesomeness! Aside from having a magic penny and making cancer disappear from this world, I would not have wanted to spend New Years any other way. We had a beautiful night with beautiful beautiful people! Elizabeth got to return home on New Years Day and waiting in the front yard was a gigantic rainbow of balloons that my friend Kathy and her dad hijacked from the parade the day before. They tied them in our yard for Elizabeth’s homecoming. They were amazing and twice as high as our house. When we pulled in the driveway, Elizabeth got a huge smile! We then cooked up some very lucky pork and sauerkraut and we ate almost every last bite for good luck! We will do anything and everything for luck these days!
Wishing you all a magical New Year where all your beautiful dreams come true and a year full of super duper sparkle and piles of glitter!
Brooke, Heidi, Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth
Meet Rainbow
I hope everyone had the most Merrylicious Christmas. We certainly did here! And the most prized gift from Santa by all three kiddos is our new addition to the Blair household…Rainbow Beauty Blair. She is our new, sweet and most rainbowlicious maltipoo puppy, which wondered down the hall Christmas morning as the kids finished opening their presents. Elizabeth just started to say, “This is the best Christmas ever, even though I didn’t get my pup….” Just then a Christmas miracle happened as she spotted a tan furry fluff ball prancing down the hallway. Elizabeth didn’t say a word as she made eye contact and ran over and picked up what appeared to be a mini ewok straight from Star Wars. All the kids then began to follow in disbelief saying “oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I can’t believe we got a puppy!” Kate cried with overwhelming amounts of love for her sister, not because they all got a new puppy, but because, Elizabeth’s Christmas wish came true. That chickee is such a sweetheart! Bryce rolled over in his new rockin’ rollerskates with excitement, Daddy video recorded the entire thing and I was snapping pictures, crying along with Kate. Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth all then agreed on her name within minutes of her arrival and there you have it, another Christmas miracle! Elizabeth carries her everywhere and refuses to share, but will be admitted tomorrow for her next round of chemotherapy so she will have no choice but to leave her brother and sister in charge of Rainbow’s care. I’m sure they will do an excellent job. We will hopefully be home before New Years, but if not you can bet Elizabeth’s room will be hosting the biggest count down to the new year in PCH history. I have the disco ball packed and the horns and confetti ready. We can hardly wait for 2012. We welcome it with flying rainbow colors and can not wait to see all the rainbowliciousness that is in store.
Cheers to the ROYGBIV,
The Blair’s
Merrylicious Christmas
Merrylicious Christmas Everyone! Elizabeth is home and doing great! My Christmas Wish has officially been granted. Elizabeth was released to come home from the hospital this past Saturday afternoon! With minor complications, Elizabeth conquered her chemo like a champ. She took a little longer to rid the chemo from her body, which in turn left mouth sores throughout her mouth as well as her esophagus. She lost her voice for a few days, which is a big deal for a little girl who LOVES to sing all day long. And honestly, I love listening to her sing all day long. Elizabeth has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in a five year old. I did not realize this until she came home from Valley Youth Theatre Summer Camp singing Little Boy Blue, this past summer. I was floored at the beauty of her voice and it is now my favorite request of her. In addition to losing her voice, Elizabeth also suffered minor mucositis and vomiting. But once again she continues to prove her strength and tonight Elizabeth is roller skating circles around the coffee table with big sister, Kate. We are looking forward to Christmas and Grandma Gee Gee’s visit from Florida. Elizabeth also casually and confidently informed us the other night at the dinner table that “Santa is bringing me a puppy, ya know.” “WOW! He didn’t clear that gift through me.” I said. “Well, he is.” as she rock-n-rolled her eyes at me. Hummm stay tuned for Christmas mornings report. We are also doing a secret Santa here at our house. So far the kids have all told who they have. Apparently, Kate has Elizabeth and Elizabeth has Kate. Bryce thinks I have him, but do I? Bryce has me and well I think you can figure out the rest. We are all looking forward (especially Kate) to daddy’s chocolate chip waffles with vanilla ice cream for breakfast on Christmas morning. I have also heard of a very special family serving Christmas dinner at the Ronald McDonald House this Christmas, too. I find this beyond amazing and so truly EBB! Way to go Howell Family! I hope that it makes your Christmas day that much extra special in a truly Merrylicious way! Love to you all!
Extravaganzalorious Helpers
Sweet candy cane! There is some extra special EBB going on up here on the 7th floor tonight!
Extravaganzalourious! That’s what the elves say at the North Pole, right? Well, we received a special letter from the North Pole today. The letter read as follows…
Dear Bryce, Kate, and Elizabeth,
I need your help tonight to deliver an elf to every boy and girl on the 7th floor. One toy gets passed out with every elf. I left a special game and movie for you. Thank you for elfing.
From: Squirt, Stacy and Santa
(Squirt = our elf at home. Stacy = Elizabeths elf at the hospital and Santa we all know)
Now can you believe along with this letter were 45 boxes containing The Elf on the Shelf as well as 50 or so toys for all the boys and girls on the 7th floor! Rumor has it that one of Santa’s helpers went to this magically toy store today by the name of Kidstop! This place is so SO magical! They magically had 45 boxes of elves! The exact magical number needed for each and every kiddo to receive one on the seventh floor! And in addition to all of this excitement, Kidstop donated 50 plus toys for all the kiddos, as well. Kidstop is down with EBB! Well, somehow Santa chose the Blair kids for this task. As the kids all walked into Elizabeths hospital room, pure and absolute joy filled these beauties! Bryce had a smile from ear to ear and immediately said, “What’s our mission?” Kate read the letter and so we were off down the hall! Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth followed through with what Santa asked them to do. They delivered those elves one by one. It brought each and every child to a smile. I could tell, everyone’s heart fluttered including mine. Ages 1 to 16, they all LOVED them! And well, Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth, they are hoping Santa sends them on another special mission tomorrow, too. The toys are still waiting to be delivered sooooo it looks like another busy night for Santa’s helpers tomorrow! Beauty comes from within the heart. That is what EBB is all about. A special thank you to everyone who came out to support EBB Foundation this past weekend. A portion of the money from this weekends event was used to make tonight possible as well as make Christmas extra special for one sweet girlie in Pennsylvania who is working really really hard to recover from Mr. C’s Stink, Stank, Stunk!
With extravaganzalorious love,
Santa’s Helpers
Love Elizabeth
We have been a very busy family the past couple of weeks. Trying to fit all sorts of fabulous holiday fun in before counts go down. It has been exciting as well as exhausting. Elizabeth’s counts are finally up. We attended the Nutcracker Ballet, which is always so beautiful. The girls recognized many of the ballerinas on stage this year, which they were super duper excited about. We also witnessed and learned an important lifeskill at the ballet this year. One of the candy cane girls slipped and fell extremely hard during the performance. There is no way she was not hurt. She was in full toe point and every muscle in her body was flexed as her foot slipped on some snow and crashed down on the stage. As I gave Bryce a dirty look for laughing, after the show we as a family had a full conversation about never giving up. We witnessed first hand this girl picking herself up and continuing on with such bravery. I thought to myself, this girl will never be the same on stage. She will be stronger and braver than she has ever been before. The same is true with Elizabeth and cancer. She is stronger and braver than she has ever been and it’s true she will never be the same, either.
So our Christmas tree is up and we are ready for Santa to visit. Each year the kids pick a new Disney ornament and add to the collection. Disneyland is one of our most favorite places to visit as a family. Brooke and I both grew up going every year and we wanted to continue the tradition with our own children. It’s hard to believe at this time last year we were on our way to Disneyland with three healthy kiddos, well actually Miss Kate got the stomach flu while we were there and so we returned home and went back for New Year’s. Disneyland is also where we celebrated Elizabeth’s 5th birthday this year. And now we are decorating the same tree that we do each and every single year with all our Disney ornaments. This year it all seems so very different. My head keeps saying “what if this is the last time we get to do this together. I have been saying that a lot lately with many things. I try really hard not to think like that but that’s what cancer does. And it sadly stops me in my tracks. I don’t have it in me to Christmas shop this year. Brooke continues to pick up all my slack. Some days I feel like I can take on the world and other days I just can not. I heard the song by Tim McGraw the other day “Live Like You Were Dying”. You love deeper, you talk sweeter, you give forgiveness that you’ve been denying. I don’t know from one day to the next what life holds but life is definitely a gift not a guarantee. Make every moment count. It kills me to hear about the families that have lost their child because they died from childhood cancer or other devastating circumstances. I cry for these families and how hard it must be for them. I pray that we never know. As I sit next to Elizabeth tonight I again hear the baby crying next door. Elizabeth has received very intense amounts of chemo over the past 24 hours. Her Dad and I have been very anxious about starting again. Anxious for a couple of reasons.. Not only because of our fear of cancer coming back full force due to no chemo, which is constantly on our minds but also because this current drug Elizabeth is receiving is the drug the doctors believed caused all the stroke-like complications before. Things were getting back to somewhat “normal” around here. If there is such a word. Watching chemotherapy poison enter your daughters body to kill cancer cells should not be “normal” for anyone. Which is why EBB Foundation is so important to Brooke and I. We want to help make a difference for families who have to call this life “normal”. As I sat in the ER with Elizabeth and our new “normal” life Thursday night, she like always makes me laugh when I need it most (just like her daddy), she decided that she wants to start her own web show. “Really”, I replied “well, what are you going to call it?” I asked her. She said it’s going to be called…”Love Elizabeth”. Of course it is! Speaking of Love Elizabeth. Did everyone hear about the amazing fundraiser that took place this weekend for EBB Foundation? I’m convinced if you were looking down from the sky at our little community there would have been a big giant rainbow heart appearing overhead. Super duper generous love filled the air at 5202 N. 7th Street this past Saturday and Sunday. If you are down with EBB, then you know me and that I was so emotionally touched to see so many of you come out to support Elizabeth and her fight against childhood cancer. From the so special silver angel pocket token I received as well as the beautiful silver soldered necklace gifted to me that says “I can do hard things” to all the tight hugs and the kindest of words. It was beyond amazing! I feel like putting it into words could not possibly do justice to how I feel about each and everyone of you that came out full of EBB. Now for the mom who has a problem with the wording on our new “Kicking Cancer in the Buttcrack” t-shirts. And yes, really someone had a problem with letting their child wear a t-shirt with the word buttcrack on it and apparently had to verbally express this. I have two things to say to that person…GET THE STICK OUT OF YOUR BUTTCRACK and if that doesn’t work then KISS MY BUTTCRACK! Because if your child had cancer (and I pray they never do) and you saw first hand the evil that it brings, you would know those shirts are rated G compared to what they should say. And FYI the most beautiful five year old you could ever meet, came up with the wording on those shirts. And I’m not talking beautiful on the outside (because she does have that, too) I’m talking about beauty that comes from within the heart. Which again, you know nothing about. However, I do pray that you do figure that one out someday. And also FYI, I wouldn’t sell you either shirt because you don’t deserve to wear them. But for the rest of you lovely people who came out to support Elizabeth, Kate, Bryce, Brooke and myself this means so much to us all! Bryce worked so hard all day on Saturday. I didn’t have to wake him up. He just set his alarm clock, got himself up, made his bed and said, ” I’m ready to work, mom.”. And that little guy worked so hard monitoring the kids candy station and donations all day. He kept a tally all day long and every time he would receive another dollar, he would run over and tell me in the proudest way possible. Which in return makes me the proudest mommy possible. I’m sending a big big thank you to everyone who came out and bought t-shirts, entered the raffle, bought items from local vendors including my boutique, Vintage Style and especially helped make this a great beginning for EBB Foundation. It was a great success and brought in $12,000!! This money will be used towards a bigger fundraiser to raise awareness for childhood cancer (hopefully in the Spring) and to eventually fund The EBB Book Project, Elizabeth and I have been working so hard on. With Christmas so close, Brooke and I have been also talking about purchasing some special gifts for the kiddos who will be on the 7th floor on Christmas day. I will keep you posted on what we come up with. In addition to all of the above, Elizabeth started back to Crossroads Preschool this past week. Did I mention that Crossroads Preschool is the most absolutely, amazing and beautifully loving preschool I know! We are thrilled and are looking forward to many fun days to come. Did I also mention, Elizabeth was also approved for Make a Wish this week, which means she needs to decide what her Make a Wish will be. I will say she has mentioned meeting Jaden Smith and Justin Bieber, cheetah pants and a shopping spree. So we will see what she ends up deciding on. It is all very exciting for her! Well, signing off from the 7th floor tonight.
Love,
Elizabeth (and her mom)
P.S. We have t-shirts still available if you couldn’t make it Saturday and would like to purchase one, two or more. They are $30.00 and showcase Elizabeth, the cancer slayer, Kicking cancer in the buttcrack! We also have our original t-shirts Beauty comes from within the heart, as well. Let me know!
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