In
2011 my niece, Olivia aka Miss FartyPants aka O, was born. I had just
learned to knit and my sister suddenly had this list of things she
wanted me to make. In 2012 my sister Melissa was diagnosed with
non-hodgkins lymphoma, Miss FartyPants was only 9 months old. By this
point I had already been cancer free for over 8 years, and I was lucky
and didn't have to undergo chemo. My sister did. Watching my sister's
health decline for months prior to being properly diagnosed was hard.
Once she was diagnosed I started looking into making chemo caps because I
knew the inevitable would happen. Somehow in my research I came across
pages of little kids with cancer, little kids my niece's age. And while O
was perfectly healthy, being around her and then seeing and reading
about little girls her same age fighting for their lives really hit me.
That's when I decided to make the Princess Olivia hat. Nothing
extraordinary, but a fun little hat with braids for little girls that
had lost their hair due to chemo. And of course for any little girl who
just wanted some braids. I sell the hats in my etsy store and for every
hat purchased I donate 1 to a little girl battling cancer. It's my
way of giving back and hopefully making a little girl smile and forget
her illness even for just a minute.
Last year
one of our friends ordered one of my hats for an 8 year old little girl
who was battling a very rare form of cancer, that little girl was Bella!
I had never met Bella or her family before, but because it truly is a
small world I found out that Bella's dad was into old cars and hotrods
and that's how they knew my friend Teri and it just so happened that
Bella's dad Ken had been following our magazine page on IG. In usual
social media sharing fashion Teri tagged me in a picture of Bella
wearing her Princess Olivia hat, and that's when Ken put 2 and 2
together and realized I was also "Mrs. AUTOCULT." I have yet to meet the
Carvalho family in person, but because of social media I feel like know
them, especially Bella. She's such a brave and amazingly talented
little girl and I love getting to see her progress health wise and show
off her talents and all that she does to help bring awareness to
Childhood Cancer. I'm sure she has her bad days, who doesn't, but she
has won this battle and cancer can't keep her down!
Once
I started selling Younique I realized not only was it a way to support
my makeup habit and make a little extra cash on the side, but it was
something that allows me the opportunity to give back. Knowing that
Bella is a girl after my own heart I reached out to Ken and Belinda and
let them know that I would like to have a fundraiser and donate my
commissions to the hospital where Bella had received treatment or children's cancer center - her choice and that's when they mentioned ACCOIN.
Cancer does not discriminate, it is a horrible disease that unfortunately has touched the lives of my family and many friends. So this month, in honor of Bella and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month I have chosen to donate 100% of my commissions from this fundraiser to ACCOIN (American Childhood Cancer Organization Inland Northwest).
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