A Good Cause

A few days ago, I received an email from a very good friend, my darling Kristabelle. Normally, I wouldn't pass on a request for money, but this is something that is very real (I'll let Krista tell you about that part) and totally legit. Please, please donate if you can--even if it's only $5--and if you let me know through the comments or email, I'll knit you something as a thank you. Oh, and pass this along if you can, or if you know of someone else who might want to help.

Hey everyone,

This year my family (my WHOLE family) is going to participate in the Canadian
Cancer Society Relay for Life. That's right!! Dad, Meredith, Mark, Kayla,
Chad, Steve, Mitch, Aurora and I will be working as a team to participate in the
Relay. Why you ask? One simple answer: in rememberance of my mother Cheryl
Elizabeth Caldwell-Ellam.

For those of you who don't know her let me tell you a little about her so you
can understand why this is important to us.

My mother was an amazing person. She MADE me and my brothers and sister the
people we are today. She inspired us to be the people we are today. When she
looked at us she only saw our potential to greatness in this everchanging world.
My mother worked hard to ensure that we never went without. She brought us up
to care about each other and other people. My mother did not only focus on us.
When the neighbourhood skating building was condemned and torn down, my mother
got together with the other community members and raised the money to build us a
bigger and better community centre. Just for the neighbourhood kids, that was
us. My mother also came to every single softball game Kayla and I ever played
until she got sick. She never wanted to miss a game. She would cheer us on
again and again whether we won or lost. My mother also worked hard to fullfil
our life dreams. I wanted to fly a plane. My mother said yes and handed over
the money. I wanted to go to Nebraska for a drama festival. She said yes
again. I wanted to go to England. She said "Krista, I don't have the money for
that, but if you can raise it yourself I will help with everything else." And I
did so she did. She made me call her right before we left to catch our flight
and she was awake when I got home at 5 am to greet me. My mother was an amazing
person.

We found out that my mother was sick in September 1999. I will never forget
that day. I could see the pain in her eyes as she tried to tell us that it
would be alright. They could fix her. It wasn't going to be that bad. Everyone
cried. Everyone just stopped and cried together. I just didn't know what to
do. No one did. We just sat and cried.

My mother died in August 2000. That was the saddest day in my whole life. I
never got to say goodbye. I woke up one morning to get ready for work to find
my aunt and uncle had come over, teary eyed, to tell us the horrible news. She
was dead. She was never coming back. I would never see her again. The worst
part is that I hadn't talked to her all that past week. She had been in and out
of the hospital for a variety of reasons and I was mad at her. I am sure that
it was something stupid at the time. Regardless, I am sure that my mother had
forgiven me. Mothers forgive their silly daughters unconditionally. Anyway,
that was the longest day of my life. My family gathered at my aunts house and
it seemed like I was living in a dream. We sat around and did nothing. My dad
came over. I was never so thankful to see him. He was the only support I felt
like I had at the time. My rock so to say. I just wanted to go home and go
back to bed and wake up to a beautiful day where my world kept turning like any
other 19 year old's. That was not to be. My life was changed forever. My whole
family had regrets. We all felt like we were responsible for her death. But we
didn't do anything, we didn't kill her. Cancer did, plain and simple.

So (let me just wipe the tears away from my eys), this year my family is
participating in the Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life. We need your help
and support. I am sending you this painfully personal to ask you to donate
whatever you can so that we can raise money for cancer research. This is
important to me and to my family. So please give whatever you can.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Love, Krista

Click here to donate money to Krista's run.

I never got to meet Krista's mom, as Krista and I first crossed paths about a month after her death, but I have met her legacy in her four kids. My dad survived skin cancer, but not everyone is that lucky--cancer research of all kinds is incredibly important.