An Interview with George Gring

This interview went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.  Actually I really didn't know what to expect, but I am sure it wasn't what George and his mother Katherine ended up sharing with me.  Not sure why, at this point in the campaign (only DAYS to go people!!), I would be surprised at the good of people outshining the black cloud of cancer?  That is what we have learned about from each of our other interviewees, and really the basic reason I signed on to this campaign, to make my silver lining brighter! And in this interview, we see how through JOY cancer doesn't stand a chance!

George Gring is an 8 year old boy.  His mother, Katherine, is one of my Team Awesome members, and truly one of my oldest friends!  About 2 1/2 years ago, George was diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma, and is now, thank God, in remission.  I knew when I came up with the idea for the blog that I wanted him to be one of the people I interviewed.  I mean, to be perfectly honest, it's a great story, and one that for sure would tug at your pocketbooks to support this very worthy cause I am campaigning so hard for!  So that's what I set to find out about.  I wanted to hear about how scared he was, how hard it was for him and his family, how sick he felt, how much of an outsider he felt from his peers, but that he's okay now.  That's what makes a great story, am I right?

But that's not the way this interview went.  George had something else in mind, and as much as Katherine and I tried to lead him into saying what we thought we wanted him to say, that was just not what George was there to teach us that day.   So here's how it went...

(We started with the basics, what's your name, how old are you, where do you go to school, do you know how I know you - but we've already touched on much of that, so we'll skip to the "real" questions)

Katie: Do you remember when you got sick?
George: No
Katie: No?
Katherine: You remember when you were sick.
George: No
Katherine: Not at all?  She means, do you remember when you got sick and had to go to the hospital and spend time in the hospital?
George: Oh - Daddy found a bump in my stomach, and I had to go in an ambulance.

Katie: Do you remember how you felt when you first were sick with that bump in your belly?
George: I didn't feel it.
Katherine: You didn't feel great though.  Remember your tummy hurt a little bit?

Playing Football in the yard with his dad and brother

So Katherine explained that George was having issues with an upset stomach starting at or near the beginning of his kindergarten year.  Katherine kind of chalked it up to nerves surrounding the start of a new school etc, but the pain was persistent.  Nothing would really come of it, he was just complaining of pain.  They went to their doctor and decided it might be a lactose intolerance and they took him off milk and it seemed to help some.  But then at the beginning of December his father, Clayton, and George were out playing football.  Clayton felt a large lump which turned out to be a tumor the size of a grapefruit surrounding his small intestine.  Within hours he was headed to the hospital and over the next couple of days they removed the tumor and began chemotherapy.

Katie: Where were you in the hospital?
George: I was in Texas Children's Hospital.

Katie: Do you remember what you had?  What was it called?
George: Cancer

Katie: Do you remember what kind it was?
George: No
Katherine: You don't remember what it was called?
George: Lymphoma?
Katie: Lymphoma, yes.
Katherine: Burkitt Lymphoma

Burkitt Lymphoma is a type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma that develops from B cells.  It is one of the fastest growing Lymphomas which is good because it makes it more likely to be cured by treatment.  It can affect both adults and children, and is 1/3 of all Lymphoma's that are diagnosed in children.  Men and boys are also more likely to get Burkitt Lymphoma. If caught and treated with intense intravenous chemotherapy the long term survival rate in children is around 90%!

Katie:  Do you remember wondering what was going on or were you scared to have to go to the hospital?
George: I can't remember.
Katherine: I'm sorry.  Do you remember when they had to take your blood?
George: I think I do, yes.
Katherine:  Remember you never liked them to access your port.  You had to watch the iPad to get through it?
George: Yeah.

I mean, geez, leave the poor kid alone! But now he gets talking a little bit...

Katie: Do you remember how your friends were during this time?  Were they helpful?
George: They sent me a Christmas Tree. (what I really wish you could see was the smile on his face!)
Katie: They sent you a Christmas Tree?
George: Yes, it had stars on it from all of my classmates.  And I also got a go cart.
Katie: A go cart in the hospital? From who?
George:  Santa Claus
Katie: Wow!  Santa came to your hospital room? He knows how to find you no matter what, right?
George: Yep!
Katie: Wow, Santa in the hospital and a Christmas Tree from your friends.  I bet that made you feel really good, didn't it?
George: Yes!

We went on to discuss his treatment regimen which started with 2 rounds of chemo and a total of 18 days in the hospital. From there they would return every 3 weeks for another round, with 5 rounds total.  He also underwent another surgery to check what they thought was a "hot spot" but was just scar tissue.  He was in remission by his birthday on March 4th.  George had to be reminded of all this along the way of our interview.  We reminded him about the PET and CAT scans he had to have, why he had to go back to the hospital because he "just" had a fever,  and how he had to stop school and get a tutor.  Not once did he bring up about how scared he was, how much pain he was in or how sick he felt, although I know all of those things were very much a part of their journey at the time.  I know Katherine VERY much remembers all of this. (And did I mention that George has a little brother, Wade, who was also needing to be cared for and at 3 years old was probably so confused about where his brother, mom and dad were all of the time?)  You should have heard how hard we tried though, to get George to recount and elaborate on this part.  Its almost painful to listen to it again, but we thought we knew what we wanted him to say!

Here is a fabulous video made by TCH which highlights the Gring's experience at this world class hospital.

Then George said, "Can we stop talking about the hospital now?"  I thought Katherine was going to have a heart attack!  Ha!  She eventually fessed up though and said he really only remembers the good parts.  So then we started talking about the hospital atmosphere and the people at the hospital.  Now I couldn't get George to stop talking.  He told me about his room, and where it was in comparison to the game room.  He recounted everything that was in the game room, and what his favorites were.  He remembers the friends he made in the hospital and told me about them.  He even reminded Katherine about the family room where they could all go and eat dinner together at a table.  That was obviously very special to him.  He remembers his doctors and nurses, and what he made a point to tell me was that they were really nice.  Not that they were constantly poking and prodding him, but that they were nice.  He remembers that he lost his first tooth in the hospital and the tooth fairy was able to find him there.  You see, George didn't necessarily want to stop talking about the hospital, he wanted to stop talking about the sickness.  What he wanted to tell me about was all of the good things that happened, that's the story he wanted to share.  The story was that even though it was scary at times, there was still good.  People made sure of it.

George and his team of doctors

Some of the wonderful nurses at TCH that treated George

And then we got to his favorite part:

Katie: I hear you have a really super famous friend?
George: It's not just one friend, it's a team.
Katie: A whole team?  Tell me about that super famous team.
George: They're called the Panthers, and the person I know best is Cam Newton.
Katie: You know Cam Newton??
George: Yes!
Katie: Oh my gosh!  Patrick (my son) is going to be so jealous!
George: Because I got sick, I got to make a wish, and I wished to meet the Panthers.

George walking on to the field with Cam Newton

For those unfamiliar, the Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit which arranges experiences described as "wishes" for children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses.  Every 37 minutes a sick child's wish is granted in the United States!  This is a special organization that brings so much joy and happiness to the children and families of those facing these scary diseases.  They bring the JOY back into these families' lives.  Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation George, and the whole family, got to travel to North Carolina to be a Panther for a day right along side of Cam Newton and enjoy all of the spoils that come with that.  It was an incredible day for everyone involved and they have remained close with the team and continue to visit them every season.  Much to his mother's surprise, he plans to see "like 3 or 4" games this fall!  HA! George and his wish was even featured on ESPN's My Wish series!  What an amazing gift this wish was for him - I mean you can't tell me you made it to when Cam is putting on those gold shoes without crying.  So special!

Carolina Panther's official program

While that is an exceptional experience, so many people had a hand in making their fight against Lymphoma joyful for George.  You heard it from him; it was his friends and teachers at school, his doctors and nurses, even down to the people who designed the hospital to make it comfortable and fun for those patients (ok - that's a shameless plug because that's what I used to do - but it does make a difference! ;) ).  We didn't even touch on the Mighty George team that Katherine and Clayton's friends set up who rallied around this family to offer food, activities and distractions for George's brother Wade, made t-shirts and bracelets, and hosted the most fun family party at Sky High to show their support!  I am hear to tell you, it takes a village and our village is good!

Mom, dad and me sporting our Mighty George bracelets while mom was getting a round of chemo!

So there you have it friends!  George taught me my own lesson today!  I felt like God worked through the stubbornness of this healthy 8 year old boy who was not willing to participate in the interview I thought I wanted.  It was like He was saying, "Hey Katie!  Your missing your own point!" with every short answer or "I don't know" that George gave me.  It wasn't until we started talking about all of the good that he opened up, and I opened my eyes.   Cancer can NOT beat the good of people.  We will always rise above and be stronger! It can not take our JOY!

George and me after I interviewed him...he's still smiling!

So WOW!  The Finale is this Friday night!  The campaign is almost over!  We have fought so hard and raised so much money!  There is still time to raise more though!  If you have not donated yet please do so by clicking over to my donation page.  I am overcome by gratitude, and humbled by your support every day.  Not just through your donations, but through your kind words of encouragement and praise, and your own stories of struggle with blood cancers and how you overcame them.  These have lifted me up and kept me going in this campaign, and I thank you for that (because I have needed it for sure at times!!).   Keep fighting for the JOY friends!  xo

Couldn't forget about when the Harlem Globetrotters visited George!  So cool!

An Interview with Beverly Hughes

Remember during the last interview with Dr. Rice how I was telling you about the exceptional staff at Methodist Hospital?  Well, I am so happy to have one of these amazing staff members here on the blog today!  Beverly Hughes is the head nurse on the 8th Floor of the Main Building at Methodist Hospital.  While I appreciated all of the care we received at all of the different parts of Methodist (mom had a pacemaker and was in the world renowned DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, as well as a couple of ICU units during her illness, some ER visits, etc), we were always relieved to be headed back home.  And our home in Methodist was the 8th Floor of the Main Building.  They were so compassionate and caring, and really, really good at what they did.  To be quite honest, my mom was not an easy patient.  For those of you who didn't know her, lets just say she could be a little particular.  She likes things the way she liked them.  Those nurses, and staff had their work cut out for them.  HA!  And they rose to the challenge, exceeding above and beyond their job description 100% of the time.

Nursing is such an important job.  In fact, my mom was a nurse, and coincidentally her first job was at Methodist.  She took so much pride in her career.  She worked in labor and delivery and was always so happy to point out around town all of the babies (usually full grown adults at this point) who she helped deliver.  But back to nursing.  They not only have to have such a wealth of knowledge to be able to assist and coordinate in patient care, but they also have to be able to provide emotional support for their doctor's patients.  Their contribution to the patient's overall recovery is immeasurable and often overlooked.  I sure did mean to get this post together and out in honor of Nurses Day on May 12th, but alas I got lost in the pre-bowling party craze and I missed it.  But please do not wait for next May 12th to roll around to thank the nurses in your life for committing their lives to help make others' lives better!

So as I get off my soapbox, I introduce to you Beverly Hughes...

Katie:  Tell me a little about yourself? 
Beverly:  I am an Oncology Nurse Specialist at HMH and I work with hematology and oncology patients on 8NW and inpatient Bone Marrow Transplantation. I have been a Heme/Onc nurse forever [since 1972].

Katie: What is your job? 

Beverly:  I provide patient education for hematology and oncology patients; I am also responsible for educating nurses on the administration of chemotherapy, informing/educating the staff about new drugs approved by the FDA, new procedures, equipment, etc.

Katie: Why did you become a nurse? 

Beverly:  When I was in high school here in Houston, I was a Volunteer Nurse’s Aide at Texas Children’s Hospital – I volunteered every weekend for about 2 years – that is when I decided to be a nurse [rather than a marine biologist!].

Katie:  How did you find your way to Methodist Main 8? 

Beverly:  I have worked with the nursing staff for the past 27 years – I have enjoyed/enjoy working with Dr. Rice and all of the Hematology staff as well as the Oncologists who practice at HMH.

Katie:  What keeps you coming back to work each day? 

Beverly:  I enjoy working directly with patients every day – patients and families are the best part of my day. I remember your Mother while she was on 8NW and I remember meeting you sister who is a pediatrician.

Katie:  What makes your staff so special? 

Beverly:  Compassion comes to mind first; trying to make patient and their families/friends as comfortable as possible while going through treatment.

Beverly also mentioned in our email exchanges that she does her own work fundraising for LLS (not sure how she has the time or energy)!  She has participated and/or worked at the LLS Light the Night walk for the past 2 years with a team from Methodist, and they have plans to do it again this year!  In fact, I organized a team to walk in the 2014 event just a few short weeks before mom passed away and I learned about it from the flyers her team had posted around the hospital.  The Ginger's Army team raised around $6,000 for LLS and had over 30 people walking with us that night!  It is a really special event.  It takes place at night and there are lanterns that they pass out in different colors, white for survivors, red for patients, and yellow to honor those that have lost their fight.  The sky becomes illuminated with the glowing of lanterns.   Its moving, encouraging, and emotional as you are literally taking steps toward a cure for these blood cancers!  This year's Houston Light the Night walk takes place on October 8th!  Good work to Beverly and the Methodist team for donating their time, energy, and money to this wonderful event.  And thank you Beverly for sharing your story!

Thanks for visiting again and checking out another interview!  I really have loved doing these for you during this campaign and hope you have enjoyed them too!  But don't worry, there is still more to come.  I am going to try to squeeze in some more before the June 3rd deadline which is quickly approaching.  Which brings me to my friendly donation reminder!  Only 10 short days to make your vote count (hint: DONATE HERE) towards research, patient well being, and a cure!!  Thanks friends!  I'll be back soon!!

An Interview with Dr. Lawrence Rice

This interview is fascinating, informative, and like the others, extraordinarily hopeful, but comes from a completely different perspective.  This is an interview with Dr. Lawrence Rice, Chief of Hematology at Houston Methodist Hospital, and most importantly to me, my mother's physician.   My dad and I met with Dr. Rice at his office in Smith Tower about a week ago and he sat with us for almost an hour to talk to us for this interview.  This guy has a lot of more important things to do, I know that for sure, but he was nice enough to give us such great information to share with you today.  For my dad and I though, the whole experience was special because at almost exactly 18 months from the last time we saw him, we got to sit down with him face to face and say, "Thank you".  We got to thank him for never giving up on my mom and trying till the end to cure her.  Although we could never thank him enough, it felt so good to let him know how grateful we were for his care and expertise.

Katie:  So tell me about yourself?  Where are you from?  Where did you study?  How did you get to Houston?
Dr. Rice: I was born in New York but grew up in Miami...I went to college at the University of Florida, and medical school at Emory in Atlanta.  I have been in Houston forever, I came here as an intern in 1974.  And I tell people I haven't left because I can't find anyone to pay me so much to do so little.

OK, you can mark that down as the understatement of the year.  I am pretty sure he never stops working!

Dr. Rice came to Houston in 1974 for his Internal Medicine internship, residency, and Hematology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine.  He was then appointed to the faculty and became a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Thrombosis Research. For more than 20 years, he served as the Hematology Program Director and Director of the required medical student Hematology/Oncology course.  A fun note, my sister Lindy took this course when she was in medical school at Baylor College of Medicine.  He says, "she was forced to endure it"! Ha!  I'd say she was lucky to learn from the best.  In 2007 he became Chief of Hematology at Methodist and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.  

Katie: What drew you to Hematology?
Dr. Rice:  It's a fascinating field.  It's a very broad field.  I think it's the broadest field in medicine because you have to know so many things.  Not only how to treat cancer but you have to know all about infections.  You have to know all about blood clotting and bleeding.  You have to know as much about liver diseases as liver specialists do.  So, it's intellectually stimulating and exciting...many breakthroughs have occurred in the field of Hematology and then were translated to other fields.  So it's very exciting to me...I am a pure hematologist.  I treat both what we call benign hematology, which is often life-threatening and not so benign, but not technically cancer.  Your mom had "benign" hematology problems at first.  But I also treat blood cancers like Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma.  

For those of you who don't know the background on mom, she first developed Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP) in October of 2011 which is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks its own platelets.  This is when she became a patient of Dr. Rice.  Her body also went on to attack her red blood cells, the Evan's Syndrome (a combination of ITP and autoimmune hemolytic anemia).  As if she didn't have enough relatively rare blood problems, she also experienced for a time Pure Red Cell Aplasia.  These autoimmune diseases are life-threatening, however many people, as my mom did, can be treated and move into remission.  But as these are all blood-related diseases, a patient with her history has a greater chance to develop blood cancer down the road, and that is what happened with mom, and she was diagnosed with Large B-Cell Lymphoma in December of 2013.  So clearly, with her history, we felt so fortunate to have an expert in Hematology work with my mom's very complex and ever-changing medical make-up.  

Dr. Rice has contributed to many studies, research papers, and text books, treated countless number of patients, but I love where his passion lies.  He loves to teach.   And we could brag on all of his accomplishments and accolades, but his students are by far his crowning achievement.  

Dr. Rice: "Of course there are patients and families who appreciate what I was able to do for them (um hello, that's us!), and while I have written and published well over a hundred articles and dozens of textbook chapters, my real legacy is the Hematologists all over the country, all over the world, whom I've trained and who still email me every day for advice on challenging patients.  My greatest accomplishment in my career is an educator, a clinical educator...Having said that though, when my phone goes off the patient always comes first.  But that's another thing I teach my students".

And it's true.  I told him this too.  I always felt like he was working on my mother's case 100% of the time.  Like she was his only patient.  I knew it couldn't be true, but his dedication to her case seemed to be his principal priority.  And honestly, that's how we felt with all of the doctors, nurses, medical and non-medical staff at Methodist Hospital.  It's an extraordinary place.  One that is equipped to treat the whole body.  The care mom received there was second to none, but what impressed me the most was the compassion for the patient and the patient's family that was a part of everyone who worked there.  Nothing was more important than what was going on in your hospital room.  I think I took for granted before mom was sick how lucky we were to have such a first class institution literally in our back yard, but after our time at Methodist, I will never stop singing its praises.    

Ok, this is getting long!  Enough about us, lets get to the reason we're here...

Katie: From your perspective as a clinical researcher, how important is funding from a non-profit like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society?
Dr. Rice: It is essential.  It is essential.  We've made so much progress.  The outlook for these disorders is improving every day and we would never be where we are today without it.  We are moving forward so rapidly and it takes money to do it.

My Dad: You mentioned forward-looking things.  What's on the horizon for Leukemia & Lymphoma?
Dr. Rice:  Most of the recent advances have to do with genetic and molecular mechanisms.  There is exploding knowledge in some of the genetic causes and influences on these disorders.  Now we are able to target these genetic abnormalities in a growing number of ways.  An absolute breakthrough drug was Imatinib for Chronic Myelogenon Leukemia where we knew what the abnormal chromosome was, what the gene product was and we could specifically target it with a pill you take once a day.  People used to die in three or four years and now live forever.  But we're starting to be able to do that for other Leukemias and Lymphomas which are more complicated because in CML there is consistent abnormality, and in these other disorders there are usually multiple abnormalities, and not everyone has the same ones.  But we're learning to sort those out and to develop specific treatments that target specific gene abnormalities.  Immuno-therapy is another huge emerging area.  For decades people have wanted to harness the body's immune response against the cancer, but now we have new exciting leads that are spectacularly successful in preliminary studies and need to be expanded and made more practical.   

My Dad: And this is where your own immune system is trained and restructured to attack?
Dr. Rice:  One of the biggest recent breakthroughs is that we have learned that cancer is able to shut off the immune system and escape from it.  And now, we are leaning how to reactivate it and prevent the cancer cells from shutting the immune system off, and that leads to the destruction of the cancer cells.  I am certain there are going to be Nobel Prizes in the next year or two based on this; this is an expanding area of interest.  We are doing some of this work here at Methodist and I am able to refer my patients to those studies.  Antibody treatments is a slightly different way to go about things but has also greatly improved the outlook for many people.  

Katie: Why is this research important?
Dr. Rice: [Leukemia and Lymphoma] are 5% of all cancers, and in young people it's a higher percentage. It's 5% of all cancers but the importance is way out of proportion to the 5%.  A very high number of breakthroughs in cancer therapy came through studies and treatments of Lymphoma and Leukemia and these were later applied to other cancers successfully.  The first wide spread cancers to be cured, the way to use chemotherapy, the way to use radio therapy in curative ways came through studies of Leukemia and Lymphoma...We are on the cusp of these new breakthrough therapies and the leader in all of these studies is Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Katie:  The research affects everyone?
Dr. Rice: Everyone.  Everyone.

The final question I asked Dr. Rice was, "For those of us who are not in the medical community, what can we do to help, to advance this research?" "You don't have to go to medical school to help" was his immediate answer.  And then he thought about this one a while (even overnight and sending me an email the next day), and it turns out the simple answer was the best, we can donate money.  We can raise awareness, and we can donate money.   That is what we are doing with this campaign.  You heard Dr. Rice here.  The research is moving so quickly, and advances are being made all of the time.  But they need our support in the way of funding to make it happen.  In the email he sent me the day after our interview he also mentioned that he recently spoke at a symposium on Chronic Leukemia that LLS sponsored, and they have provided funding for his clinical fellowship trainees and the fellows' research.  Dr. Rice noted that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is also supportive of many educational and patient support efforts, not just research.  The money is being put into action but that would all end without our support.  

This is a fun competition, sure.  And turns out I am super competitive and want to win, of course.  But here, in this interview, is the real reason I signed up for this campaign 6 months ago.  Every dollar raised is a vote for me.  And while in just over 2 weeks, those votes won't mean a darn thing, those dollars will mean a great deal.  Have you ever voted in an election, but left feeling like your vote doesn't matter?  I can assure you, that in this election, IT DOES!!!  Vote here, vote for breakthroughs, vote for new treatments, vote for a CURE!

Oh What an Incredi-BOWL Night!!

(Warning: Exclamation point overload ahead!!!!!!!)

We did it again!  We had fun with family and friends, all while raising money for LLS!  I love that throughout this campaign we have united, we have bonded, we have laughed, and we have made memories, all happy and all good!  We have done it together and we are making a difference!!!  Blood cancers DO NOT stand a chance against us!  They will not survive our love and joy!

The Friends and Family Roll and Bowl could not have been more perfect last night!  From the weather only being bad between the hours of 4-6, to the hospitality of the folks at Bowl on Bellaire, and the generosity of Little Matt's and Galveston Island Brewery, to the amazing raffle prizes put together by Casey Redd and The Shops off Westheimer!!  And then there were the people.  The most fun people showed up last night and everyone was ready to have a great time and it showed.

My very talented husband and Team Awesome member put together this video which sums up the fun so well!  I hope y'all enjoy it.  Its on repeat at my house right now!!

I do want to add a special note about Little Matt's and Jim Reid, the owner.  I just believe that the word should be spread and we should be doing all that we can to support small businesses in our community who do so much to give back.  Jim's son is a 2 time survivor of Acute Lymphoma Leukemia and he opened Little Matt's as a way to thank God for allowing his son to win over cancer (kind of the theme of this campaign, ya know!).  Proceeds from the restaurant go to Texas Children's Hospital to help support families whose children are fighting cancer.  Click here to read an article more about Jim and his mission!  And go eat at Little Matt's!!!

Finally, we are heading into the homestretch of the campaign!  Less than 3 weeks to go until the title is announced!  Please help me help so many others by "voting" for me through your donation.  We have already exceeded my expectations, but it only makes me dream about how far we can go!!  Thank you, thank you!!!

Raffle Prizes for Bowling Party - Get Your Tickets Now!!

The Friends and Family Roll & Bowl is just a few short days away!!  I am so excited about this event.  Its going to be a wonderful fundraiser as well as a celebration for all of the hard work and money we have raised so far in this campaign (which is a lot!! YEA!).

In addition to just the plain old fun of spending an afternoon bowling with a lot of really awesome people, we are also having a raffle for some seriously great prizes!!!  We have opened the raffle ticket sales for pre-sale so that those of you who can't come to the bowling event can still have a chance to win!

Here they are!

Prize #1: Purchase Tickets Here!

***All Things Boy - Indoor and Outdoor Summer Fun***

Total Value: $345

NFL Limited Edition Texans backpack ($45)
NBA Certified Rockets Basketball ($30)
Two person inflatable blue and white raft ($35)
Air Hunter Mega Target, Z-Curve bow, and three darts ($40)
Disgusting Science Activity Box ($25)
Knock Knock Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott ($6)
The Slime Experiment by Weird Science Lab ($12)
Wood Game Super Set. Ten games including chess, classic and chinese checkers. ($35)
Totally Gross, The Game of Science ($25)
Nerf 3-Dart Micro Blaster Elite. Fires darts up to 90 feet. ($15)
Discovery Kids night vision spy goggles ($25)
Uncle Miltons Star Wars Science Jedi Force Levitator. ($30)
Zuru Bug Eliminator X-Shot. Darts fire up to 55 feet. ($22)

Prize #2: Purchase Tickets Here!

***Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Sleepover Essentials***
Total Value - $414
Ever Moda Grey/White Chevron (trimmed in hot pink) roller and matching duffle bag ($100)
Voucher for both bags to get monogrammed at Sand Oak Embroidery ($25)
Just 4 Girls lipgloss set of ten ($15)
Sleepover Party Game including over 200 stunts, performances, and activities for girls to do at a party or sleepover ($25)
Morgan Collection 50"X60" Micro Fleece hot pink throw ($25)
Dylan's Candy Bar Tin, "Candy is a girls best friend" full of candy ($40)
Sleepover Party Mad Libs activity book ($6)
Iscream Yummy Treats bubblegum scented Gumball Machine microbead pillow ($35)
Hot pink fur and flower tassel key chains ($18)
Worlds Best purple and white travel pillow ($20)
Pink Fizz Beauty Essentials make-up and manicure set ($20)
Treasures of India 4X6 hot pink and silver frame ($25)
Hello Tokyo lip balm set of 10 ($15)
Just 4 Girls 12 pack of nail polish ($15)
HT International over sized pink owl plush toy ($30)

Prize #3: Purchase Tickets Here!

***Razor Flash Rider 360 - Fun for Boys and Girls***
Total Value - $169
Razor Flash Rider 360 Spin and Spark. Watch your world spin by as sparks fly with the Flash Rider 360. Dual inclined caster wheels offer the ultimate spinning action - throw fast 360 degree spins, then pull the spark lever to let them fly. Suggested age 6+. ($119)
HT International over sized elephant plush toy, 38 inches ($50)

Prize #4: Purchase Tickets Here!
***Pick of the Litter from The Shops off Westheimer***
Total Value: $650
Monogrammit - Collegiate pillow. Choose your favorite university!
The Smocked Frock - Rosalina Tulip Dress, Size 3
Two Friends Folk Art - German Scherenschnitte paper cutting "Parade"
The Silver Basket - Vintage French silver plate tray
Vintage Linens - Fine white linen cutwork cloth, size 34"x34"
Pewter Ranch - Star pewter dish and State of Texas dish
Sultana's Daughter - 3 pairs of crazy men's "Sock-It-To-Me" socks
This 'n That - Set of 6 brown and white transfer ware dessert plates, circa 1885

Great stuff right??? A little something for everyone!!

A VERY special thanks to Casey Redd (seriously - get this woman on your next auction team - she is AMAZING!) who put together items 1-3 and the Shops off Westheimer for donating all of the items in prize 4!

Please let me know if you have any questions, and please keep the support coming.  We are approaching the home stretch (and you will be hearing a lot more from me over the next 3 weeks!)!  If any of you have been waiting to donate, please do it this week!  They have given the candidates an incentive of $5000 dollars into our campaign account for the person who raises the most money this week!!!!  Think about how your donation could help me multiply it into $5,000!  $5000 is a lot of free money!!!!!!!  DONATE HERE!

Also, I have 3 new interviews in the works and they are going to be fantastic!  I can not wait to share them with you!  Please sign up to receive them by email or keep checking social media to see when they are posted.   

Mother's Day

So I am going to keep this pretty short, mainly because it's such a bittersweet day for me.  It's only my second Mother's Day without a mother and it is still very hard.  I only got 7 Mother's Days where I could actually understand what it meant to be a mother, and therefore truly appreciate, celebrate and love on my mother, and that wasn't enough.  But I am also a mother to 3 wonderful children who deserve to have a mom today that's joyful, and ready to be kissed and hugged and showered with homemade presents that they have been waiting for weeks to give me, so I will relinquish my loss for now, and relish in my blessings.  Mom was one of my most precious blessings and so today I choose to think of happy memories and focus on the lessons of love and faith that she gave me which make me the mom I am today.

I will end with this.  One of mom's favorite songs from one of her favorite musicals was "For Good" from the musical "Wicked".  The original cast members, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, recently reunited to sing this song.  I watched this video this morning and cried (I know - there I go again!).  The words are a perfect tribute to mom on this Mother's Day...

"It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart"

A very happy and blessed Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.


 XO - Katie
"I thank my God every time I remember you" Philippians 1:3