Light the Night

Last night J, the munchkin and I took part in the Light the Night walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  The walk is a way to raise awareness and money for blood cancers.  This year this cause is especially close to my heart due to baby Ellison. 

We were on the team with Andrew's daycare so he got to spend a little more time with Marc and Andrea.  The weather was perfect, although we could have used a little bit of a breeze to get rid of some of the gnats - they were awful.

After a little food and listening to some of the speakers we set out on the symbolic walk, following everyone with their blinking balloons.  There was a good turn out and I hope they were able to raise a lot of money for more blood cancer research.

Watching the red ($100+ in money raised), gold ($1,000+ in money raised),and white (survivors) balloons blinking among the crowd was kind of cool

Andrea and J chatting before the walk

Our team - they made the banner at daycare yesterday

Now for an update on poor baby Ellison.  She had the bone marrow transplant on 10/19 and became very sick that weekend.  Last Thursday she was put in the PICU and was in critical condition.  When I heard that I was in tears.  I checked in with Ashley, her mom, to see if they need anything at all - a home cooked meal, a place to get away from the hospital for a few hours, anything. We are right over the bridge from the hospital downtown and I wanted her to know that we are here if they need anything - especially since they are 100 miles from home.

She thanked me and let me know that Ellison was doing a little better and she would keep us posted.  The next day her husband updated Ellison's CaringBridge site and let everyone know that she is out of the PICU and back in her own room and that her immune system is starting to bounce back and her body is starting to generate new blood cells.  I was so happy to hear that and was in tears again, but this time from relief.

On Wednesday Ashley sent me this picture:

Apparently Ellison decided that she needs to review her lab work herself  :)

I keep praying for that sweet baby and I look forward to every update that I get on her.  She is why I was proud to take part in last night's walk. Anything that we can do to help Ellison and other babies, children and adults like her is worth it to me.