Invisible string
When I picked Charlotte up at preschool yesterday, she was beaming and told me to bend down to her level. I crouched down and she put her arm around my shoulder, “This is how me and Eliana walked today on a nature walk. And then we played we were cats!” With her little red preschool bag drooping off her little shoulder, she skipped off ahead of me full of joy and confidence. In that little red bag today was 2019-2020 school information and I started realizing that next month we will be signing her up for kindergarten. Her teacher emailed me this picture tonight, showing the image that Charlotte herself actually painted for me in her recap of her favorite moment of the school day. This little girl and her family doesn’t know Charlotte’s story. You can’t see her scars or battle wounds. She is such a gift and as much as I feel a little pain knowing she is about 1/2 way through her last year home with me, I am also equally beaming with pride that we can talk about her starting school and that she CAN go off and make friends and develop interests and talents and make her way while Brian and I get to proudly watch on knowing God had a better plan for her then we could have fathomed.
Many people have followed our Charlotte’s battle. Some of you out there are our family, close friends, neighbors, extended family, some are acquaintances, old friends, friends of friends, family friends, work associates, or complete strangers. But this little girl and her inspiring fight and light connects us all with this invisible string. Recently, many people have reached out in interest regarding Brian and I’s gift of weekly pizza lunch we are providing to the families on Duke Childrens Bone Marrow Transplant Ward of 5200, a place we lived in and out of for 4 months during transplant and then again for 6 months of Immunotherapy where she would be admitted one week a month. This place was a second home. These families there, a familiar mirror image that reflects back to us those hard days in which words can hardly capture. So, although we want to do much more one day, right now, we send pizza lunch every Tuesdays. Some of our own village has reached out saying “we want to take a week! Let us know how we can help send a pizza or a meal for families one week!” Brian and I were in awe. We were speechless but also not surprised because we have seen first hand the love and generosity of all of the village of prayer warriors out there who have loved our family, our Charlotte.
An old high school friend of mine, Mike, also recently reached out regarding our gift. Mike was a professional MLB player many years ago and along the way started a nonprofit. He works a lot with pediatric cancer organizations and shortly after Charlotte was diagnosed, he reached out asking if he could help in any way. I hadn’t talked or seen this person in probably 20 years, but this invisible string found him. I have said this many times but I truly believe God weaves people and their lives together in ways we can’t always imagine or even see. Mike and I had a very good friend in common. My high school and college friend Shannon married his high school buddy, Gary and when their son Trevor was about 6 years old, he was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma. I’ve written about Trevor before. He was the only other child I had known at the time with this cancer, and Trevor fought this beast for 5 years before he got his angel wings. I imagine Mike was drawn to Charlotte and her story because he was a part of Trevor’s life and maybe this is part of the string connecting us. Never the less, he reached out again after hearing of our weekly Pizza gift to Dukes PBMT and he asked if he could donate to the PBMT family support services in Charlotte’s honor. Brian and I are so humbled and honored by his generosity. Mike’s nonprofit will be covering many family/caregiver dinners over this next year. These meals provide such a relief for these families, as well as needed gathering and normalcy for parents going through the unimaginable. There is so much to be said about gathering around a table with other people and the fellowship that is involved. I don’t think I ever realized the importance of this. I know this “ritual”, gathering with others to share a meal, is discussed with importance in the Bible quite often. Sharing a meal and conversation, this normal thing we take for granted in our own lives is a cherished event on the PBMT floor, providing relief and nutrition for the body and soul. A shared meal is anothe way God weaves and connects us with his invisible string. Thanks to an old friend I haven’t spoken to or seen in decades, this string is lengthening. Where did the string begin? Surly it was there before Charlotte, before Trevor. It was there before any of us. And I can’t help but wonder where else we can take the part of the string God has gifted us? What else can we do? Mike and our other village members response to our pizza gift has set this desire within us in motion...how else can we give back and make a difference in the New Year and beyond. We are praying for guidance and a clarity here because as God weaves, maybe we help interlace his invisible string.
Many people have followed our Charlotte’s battle. Some of you out there are our family, close friends, neighbors, extended family, some are acquaintances, old friends, friends of friends, family friends, work associates, or complete strangers. But this little girl and her inspiring fight and light connects us all with this invisible string. Recently, many people have reached out in interest regarding Brian and I’s gift of weekly pizza lunch we are providing to the families on Duke Childrens Bone Marrow Transplant Ward of 5200, a place we lived in and out of for 4 months during transplant and then again for 6 months of Immunotherapy where she would be admitted one week a month. This place was a second home. These families there, a familiar mirror image that reflects back to us those hard days in which words can hardly capture. So, although we want to do much more one day, right now, we send pizza lunch every Tuesdays. Some of our own village has reached out saying “we want to take a week! Let us know how we can help send a pizza or a meal for families one week!” Brian and I were in awe. We were speechless but also not surprised because we have seen first hand the love and generosity of all of the village of prayer warriors out there who have loved our family, our Charlotte.
An old high school friend of mine, Mike, also recently reached out regarding our gift. Mike was a professional MLB player many years ago and along the way started a nonprofit. He works a lot with pediatric cancer organizations and shortly after Charlotte was diagnosed, he reached out asking if he could help in any way. I hadn’t talked or seen this person in probably 20 years, but this invisible string found him. I have said this many times but I truly believe God weaves people and their lives together in ways we can’t always imagine or even see. Mike and I had a very good friend in common. My high school and college friend Shannon married his high school buddy, Gary and when their son Trevor was about 6 years old, he was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma. I’ve written about Trevor before. He was the only other child I had known at the time with this cancer, and Trevor fought this beast for 5 years before he got his angel wings. I imagine Mike was drawn to Charlotte and her story because he was a part of Trevor’s life and maybe this is part of the string connecting us. Never the less, he reached out again after hearing of our weekly Pizza gift to Dukes PBMT and he asked if he could donate to the PBMT family support services in Charlotte’s honor. Brian and I are so humbled and honored by his generosity. Mike’s nonprofit will be covering many family/caregiver dinners over this next year. These meals provide such a relief for these families, as well as needed gathering and normalcy for parents going through the unimaginable. There is so much to be said about gathering around a table with other people and the fellowship that is involved. I don’t think I ever realized the importance of this. I know this “ritual”, gathering with others to share a meal, is discussed with importance in the Bible quite often. Sharing a meal and conversation, this normal thing we take for granted in our own lives is a cherished event on the PBMT floor, providing relief and nutrition for the body and soul. A shared meal is anothe way God weaves and connects us with his invisible string. Thanks to an old friend I haven’t spoken to or seen in decades, this string is lengthening. Where did the string begin? Surly it was there before Charlotte, before Trevor. It was there before any of us. And I can’t help but wonder where else we can take the part of the string God has gifted us? What else can we do? Mike and our other village members response to our pizza gift has set this desire within us in motion...how else can we give back and make a difference in the New Year and beyond. We are praying for guidance and a clarity here because as God weaves, maybe we help interlace his invisible string.
Charlotte’s special nature walk with her friend (thanks to her teacher for the picture
Fun photos below as we kick off the Christmas Season with some fun!
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