Sunday, November 4, 2012

Spread The Word & Feel The Love

This is my mom
By looking at that picture, you can assume there is NOTHING wrong with her and that she is perfectly fine. (well to me she is perfectly fine!!) But, by assuming that - you are wrong.  When she was younger, all throughout the end of middle school and all of high school, she was very sick. The doctors didn't understand why and no one else could figure it out either. She went on day after day struggling and always in and out of the hospital. She couldn't enjoy her childhood memories that everyone else was able to. Summers? All she was looking forward to was resting and not having to miss class to make up all the work for being in the hospital. 
Well, one day, my mom and grandma (her mother)  were watching a doctor T.V. show and the doctor was talking about brain tumors and the symptoms to look out for. My mom then realized she was having those symptoms, looked at my grandmother and said, "Mom, I think I have a brain tumor, what if I do?" So soon after, my grandparents took my mom to a hospital and had a brain scan done and there it was…. a brain tumor.  A couple hospitals later,  the brain tumor was gone. But it wasn't an easy process. It was very hard on her and the equipment was not as great as it is today, a drill was used to go into her skull, she had a tube placed in, and then had surgery done on her brain. With all this surgery, she also had to go through radiation and that is when her hair has not been able to grow back. Not only was her hair lost, but she had to re-learn everything. Her vision was poor, lost some hand coordination, not able to walk, slowed speech, and thinking was much slower. She had to go through a lot of therapy (physical, speech, and occupational) to regain these skills back that are natural to us each day such as, dressing yourself, walking, talking, writing, etc.

Today, she is capable of most to ALL things that we do on a daily basis. She still has difficulty with her balance (she has not been able to ride a bike since the surgery), she does have to wear glasses, she has an ear issue that causes her pain from time to time, and still no hair on the back of her head. From looking at the picture above, you would think that she does have a head full of hair, but really it is only on the top, and the sides. All underneath is bald. So, whenever she goes outside, she always has a hair tie on her just in case it's windy so she can tie it back that way no one will see. Also, she does the same thing for when she goes in the pool.  (picture below shows her hair in a ponytail) She has never been able to go to hair salon to get her hair cut or styled due to her insecurity of the loss of hair she has and lack of hair to work with. This is something she badly wants to do but cannot.

With all that being said, my mom is trying to raise money to get her hair restored at a doctor's office close to where she lives in Florida. She went for an evaluation and consultation with the doctor and he said it would cost $15,000 to have the entire process done. My parent's cannot afford that type of procedure on their own. She needs help with the funds. So, if you could please donate to my mom for this cause - I know she would greatly appreciate it and love you with all she can. This is her only wish (and basically has been since she realized she couldn't grow hair back there for close to 35 years now) - It means so much to her. And when it means that much to her, it means that much to me.

The donation page is right under my header on this blog. You can donate any amount from $5 + .  She has a giveaway going on and she does little incentives depending on the amounts donated.  Then when you are finished donating (or even if you're unable to make any contribution), can you please share it with your friends or anyone you may know so others can help donate.. it's all amount word of mouth and we could use extra voices.  So share it on twitter, facebook, pinterest, blogs, work, hair salons, school, church, gym, and social gatherings.

Here is the link to her blog that she writes on. You can find her entire story on there, pictures and a video of where her hair is missing on her head.  (It was really difficult for her to even put her photos up of her head and loss of hair for the world to see, but she knows that it is something that will help her get closer to her wish.  Even some of her family has never seen what it looks like from surgery)   http://mychildhoodream.blogspot.com/    Feel free to add her as friend too!

This is the link to her funding website just in case you didn't get it from my blog   http://www.gofundme.com/healinghair

And here is her facebook page   https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-non-profit-Healing-Hair/293642820736174


*** I would just like to add that she knows she is blessed for surviving those procedures and battling the brain tumor. She is grateful for a continuing good life, but this is just one of those things that she just really wished she did have, and now that she has taken care of her children and they are grown, she is now finally doing something for her that she has wanted for close to 35 years. ***

2 comments:

  1. My Goodness Bridget,
    I don't know what to say. As soon as I saw your blog and your title of your post I started crying. They were tears of joy for what you did for me. You have touched my heart beyond measurement. You are my little angel in disguise. Posting this on your blog means so much to me, and it shows me how deep your love is for me. Thank you so much for your wonderful post. You really did a good job on it.
    I love you,
    Mom

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    1. Aw, I am glad that this made you so happy. I am hoping a lot of people are able to read this and pass it on when they see it. I am happy I am able to do something as a small gesture like this for you. It really was no problem at all. You're welcome. I love you too

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