1000 Cards in 100 Days Needed for Sidney
Make a Little Angel's Wish Come True
This wasn't the first time she had cancer. July 18, 2005, at 18 months old, Sydney Abigail Meekma was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Rhabodomyosarcoma. You can read about her nightmarish journey on her CaringBridge Bloghttp://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sydneyabigail/mystory
She has been now taken to the Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where she will be going through Chemo for 5 weeks. She will be there for 100 days on and off after the chemo and for a bone marrow transplant.
Sydney is my little cousin. She loves getting cards or having her mom read her messages on her hospital blog. My goal is to get at least 1000 cards sent to her during her 100 day stay in the hospital.
If you can find the time to make this little person happy, please send her a card! Just tell her that you wish her well and to think happy thoughts.
It makes no difference that she doesn't know you. The difference that it will make is that you put a smile on her face - and in return you get the pleasure of knowing this.
This is a time that we can set aside our stresses in life and focus on what is really important- not just our health, but understanding how we can touch people with a simple random act of kindness. In other words, how strong the power of love is.
By keeping her in a positive state of mind will make a difference!
Below is where the get well cards can be sent:
Sydney Meekma
11358 Lavender Lane
Frankfort, IL 60423
or go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/sydneyabigail where you can also read about her updates and sign her greeting journal.
Prayers are free and when the spirit moves you...please send those too!
Cancer is not fun for anyone but little angels do get Cancer, too! Sydney is our little angel.
Her mom, Heidi, will stay at the McDonald House near the hospital during the 100 days. She lives too far away to commute from Frankfort, IL. She is a nurse and had to leave her job. She is staying with Sydney constantly. Heidi has 2 children. The older child is a little girl with Downs Syndrome. Her name is Madison.
This is a big cross for one young family to bear. The whole family is in shock, and prayers are the only thing that will help if anything else.
Thank you for anything you can do - even if it is your prayers.
And please, pass the word..1000 cards needed!!...Through our compassion we will find peace!
Published by Sea Shepherd
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- Sydney Abigail Meekma was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer call Rhabodomyosarcoma
- The goal is to get at least 1000 cards sent to her during her 100 day stay in the hospital
- This is a big cross for one young family to bear.
124 Comments
Post a CommentWWW.Caringbridge.org has many of them. Thank you all for your cards and gifts in the past.
Well, it has been nearly a year since I wrote this article and seeing I don't write much these days due to my own business, I thought I'd share with you some fantastic kindness the family just received by a gentleman who read this article. First Syd is doing great still even though she has to be monitored but that is expected. The family with donations from family members, took a trip to Disneyworld and was staying at this vacation house where the weekly rate is $3500. This was going to be Syd's first vacation since the operation. When they went to pay, the gentleman asked if she was the same Sydney that he read on the Internet. They said yes she was. With that, he gave them the week free of charge!! I wanted to share this with anyone who is still reading this not just because of Sydney but to remind us to keep our hearts open to other children who are hospitalized with serious illnesses that could also benefit from a simple card to be sent or any other acts of kindness. WWW.Caringbrid
What a touching loving account of Sydney. God Bless
Great news!
continued-WE ARE HOME!!!!! We go back on Wednesday just for labs and a check up. It will be a twice a week visit as long as there are no issues. Syd's appetite was great. The first thing she wanted to eat was egg whites & Canadian bacon. Her skin looks good and so far no diarrhea. Her energy level is non-stop. I don't where it comes from. She NEVER stops talking! hahaaha She even had a episode of It's a wonderful life when she went in her room. (Which I think she got from an icarly episode) She said" Hello old bed, hello old desk, hello old dresser, I love my mamo!!!" Too much TV!!! Quite a character tonight. Wish I could show a clip.
WE ARE HOME!!!!! Yeah! GO SYD!!!!We came home today and there was a giant package for SYDO straight from Walt Disney World. It took her almost 2 hours to open all the stuff in box bigger than her and her sister combined. She loved all the dress-ups and jewelry, books etc etc etc. But she spent the rest of the day in this pink cowgirl hat with fairy wings on her back. It was quite a sight. She was getting upset with her sister because she kept touching her wings. She finally said"mom & dad can you please put a pair of these fairy wings on Madison so she stops messing with mine." So we did and they both were running around with there wings. Thanks Elisa, Matt, Erin, Eric Jr., and Elliott, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Eric & Sandy. Coolest thing we ever saw. She still has her cowgirl hat on now for her late night mariokart session.
So it is great to be home. Syd seems to understand this isolation thing so far. Medications are going pretty well. We go back on Wednesday just for lab
Sunday- Syd is doing great, we hopefully are heading home tomorrow, depending on nothing changing. They are looking at her skin, for rashes, and making sure she is not having diarrhea and no signs of jaundice. She also has to be able to eat & drink. Right now she is passing with flying colors. They gave us a list of what to look for when we are home so that's what we will do. Right now we are going to enjoy all of this feeling great and hope it continues. Tomorrow they will do a chimerism blood test that will let us know that the donor cells our doing their job and taking over. We will get those results in a week. Syd is adapting well to taking many different oral medications. I am very proud of this because it can make my job alot harder. She knows what she has to do to stay home and stay healthy. She has even been trying to exercise while she is here. I think she really is 40 in a 5 year olds body. So say a prayer we go home and stay there
continued-Friday- They gave us a list of rules to follow including wearing a special mask outside, no visitors, no fast food, no fresh fruit & vegetables, etc......All of these rules were explained to us before hand, but SYd did not like hearing them. Although she is very excited about going home.
I am a little worried about going home because I have so many things to watch for that will make us come back. We have made some changes to our house so that we do not have to stay at the Ronald McDonald house. We are right at the cut off for mileage but I think because I am SYd's nurse it helped a little. So we will see how she does this weekend and if we really get to leave. They basically told us we will be back its just when? 1 out of 5 people have Graft vs. Host disease. So I guess I will just keep praying that these cells in Syd are the donors and she doesn't get a bad case of GVHD . I know too much boring medical talk.
Friday- Day+10 Syd is still doing good. Today we are switching her meds from IV to oral. She has quite a few meds to take. It really is going to be a challenge to get in a routine with twice a day meds. The most important is her anti-rejection med. She took it like a champ. I think I am going to have to work on swallowing pills so she doesn't have to take liquid that tastes so bad.
The plan is that we are going home on Monday if she does not get graft vs. host disease over the weekend. This is where the body sees something foreign in it and starts to attack its own organs, like skin, liver, GI tract. So far no symptoms except a slightly elevated bilirubin yesterday. This is now normal. Chemo can also cause elevated bilirubin. So they are just going to keep a close eye on her.
Her first question is when can I play with my friends. Well unfortunately at this point the Dr's just said we will let you know. They gave us a list of rules to follow including wearing a sp
SUPER NEWS CONTINUED!Thursday- Although we will still be in isolation in our house for the remaining portion of the 100 days. We will be taking Syd to the Dr. 2x's a week. They also mentioned we probably would have occasional admissions to the hospital either fever or regulating the anti rejection meds that she will be on. Even with all of that, she looks great and I would be so happy to get her in her house and see Maddie.
Jody thanks for the great dinner, it made our anniversary special! Thanks for the Hallmark help also. Its hard to get cards for your spouse when your inpatient.