More Day by Day photos and paintings

This is just a short blog of art I will be having at Day by Day, on my website when i finally get it finished, and hopefully somewhere that people for silent auctions, etc, can go for the time being to look and see what types of art they could sell in the store. For those of you that don't know, I canceled my art show in September because there were too many darts, but there will be other ones. Right now, I'm trying to be chosen to be part of a silent auction for Be the Match since, especially since I haven't be able to really raise any money due to those dangers. I been busy putting on my body armor the Lord made for me. Please if you plan on singing up for the run/walk/tot trot/volunteering, don't wait. We will send you post cards to hand out and you can promote under you own name as well as the team. Remember, you can always just donate and we need a lot of volunteers. Most of all we need more donors to save lives  We are going to have great entertainment this year: music, dancers, kids songs, the tot trot, and many more fun events. You can go to our teams BE THE MATCH FUNDRAISING PAGE.

The following are some of my photographs and painting I plan on getting matted and/or made into note cards. At this point it depends on what is chosen for the auction but most will be available through the website and booth. Excuse the camera quality on some pictures, I’m still trying to figure this thing out but will replace them with larger pictures as I take better ones. Also remember to look back at “older posts” where there is some of the recycled jewelry and that I can personalize Item. I love wearing the coke a cola earrings with picture of my puppies. 

Be the Match Run/ Walk 2012

Hi,

I'm a recent bone marrow recipient and so far it has saved my life. Without a 22 year old lady from somewhere overseas, I would not be here to watch my little girl grow up or be with my family. Our team is looking to raise funds for Be the Match to help with other fundraisers and those that can not afford Bone Marrow Transplants. We are also trying to raise awareness. I'm singing the national anthem again this year and there are going to be a lot of entertainment that we did not have last year including more music, and other fun stuff for kids and adults. I'm playing on walking the 5K but we’ill see and Evalyn is going to do the tot trot this year!

Please sign up to be part of the run, help fund-raise, donate, or come volunteer your time at the event.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support over these last couple of years.

The team site is www.tinyurl.com/runthosestemcellsout    

Last year our team did great!!! 

BE THE MATCH DRIVE for Kajal Patel

Alright, Athens and surrounding peeps, we have a 24 hours BE The Match drive for Kajal. I need you all to spread the word and come out sometime to donate, support, swab your cheek, or hey be on the news, we will have 24 hour covered from the news and radio. I will be playing and singing outside the GA Theater at 8... guitar case open. Please come by and play and sing... cause I can't do it all night, I don't remember enough songs anymore!

Tuesday, March 27 thru Wednesday, March 28
4pm-8pm Omni Fitness Center
8pm-2am: Georgia Theatre
2am-6am: Waffle House (right by Georgia Theatre off of Clayton RD)
6am-10am: Ramsey Center & 7am-10am Omni Fitness
10am-4pm: Tate Center

http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/TR?px=1812947&fr_id=1461&pg=personal
http://www.facebook.com/Beaheroforkajal

Be the Match Race and Fundraiser!!

On our way to Atlanta, this girl loves hotels. 

My brother Scott, me, and the Rabel family. 

My brother Daniel did excellent on 3 hours of sleep.  Kids.....

The Khoury's and Danielle.

What's up Doc? Dr. Khoury finished first for our team.

Scott did a great job walking with us and meeting new people. 

The runners....

Funny... Daniel said, where's Jennifer, and he had his arm around her, hee hee.

So thankful to be keeping up with my cousins!

         
 The Be the Match Race and Fundraiser was a huge success with over $60,000 being raised! This money will go to research, helping families with medical costs, donation costs, awareness, etc. Our team, "Run those stem cells out!!" raised the most money out of all the teams and Judi Rabel was the top fundraiser and Danielle Rabel was the fourth!! Way to go team!! We had 8 people complete the 5K and the rest of us thought we missed the 1K turn off but it was actually a little over a mile.  I think we only had one person throw up.... a few felt like it. It was great to see all the people out there, all the survivors, the donors, the volunteers. Be the Match let us use an extra hotel room the night before. It was such a blessing to be right there in Atlantic Station so early in the morning, with Evalyn, and with singing the national anthem. Everyone said that I did a great job, and to tell you the truth, I surprised myself. The Lord helped me through the song because I was coughing all week and was scared to death I was not going to be able to do it. My sister was the alternate singer, she just didn't know it. :) My brother, Scott, walked with me and he did an amazing job, we even ran the last 10 feet. I had a short interview and will hopefully find out soon when it will air. It was so great to have my family, some friends, two of my cousins, and my wonderful physician participate in this event. Some how I missed getting a picture of my brother and sister in law. Sorry ! Next year, maybe I will run, hmmm maybe I'll walk the 5K. After the run, Danielle's dad treated us to West Egg where they have the best pumpkin pancakes, ever! Here is the video of me singing the National Anthem.

For the newcomers...

        Many of you reading this already now most of my story. I have decided to do a short summary though for the Be The Match Run and also for my new readers. If you are a new reader of my blog, or reading through the last few months could be a little overwhelming, so let me give you a synopsis.

        I was first diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia after my first prenatal blood work when I was newly pregnant with Evalyn. We had just finished telling our family the great news about our new baby when we received a call from my doctor telling us that my white blood cell count was elevated. Coming from a family of nurses and doctors, we knew that only could mean two things: infection or cancer. We went to see a hematologist in Athens, and soon to the Emory Clinic to see what our options were. It looked like they caught it early enough so that I could go through the pregnancy under close guidance, then after delivery I would start taking an oral chemotherapy pill and I would live a long and full life.

        The treatment went great for a 3 months and then the oral chemo started to not work and I spiraled into terrible pain. They told me that the medication had stopped working and I had to go to Emory immediately. Little did I know I would be there for 3 weeks and have to start chemotherapy, blood work, platelet infusions, x-rays, cat scans, every test there is under the sun… and then find out that my cancer had turned to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, one of the most dangerous forms of Leukemia.  I found out that I would need a stem-cell a transplant from a random donor in order to live long-term. I was in and out of Emory every 5 out of 21 days, for three months, for chemotherapy. My husband, Jonathan, was in school full-time at the University of Georgia, and trying to take care of everyone. Luckily we had a strong support system. 

We found a stem-cell donor in February. I am told she is 22 years old and lives overseas. I really hope that we get to meet very soon. The stem cell transplant itself was not a big deal, but the total-body radiation and the last doses of chemo literally killed my immune system to make room for the new stem-cells. It has been a long and painful road but I know that because of a person who donated through Be the Match, my life has been saved and I will be able to see my little girl grow up.

                     Please considers donating, volunteering, or participating with Be the Match. You can save a life! 

http://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/TR?fr_id=1731&pg=entry

Hello,

        I'm sure some of you have heard me talk about the be the match race. I'm really excited about it because a lot of people of are training just for this race and getting into shape! Don't worry, you can walk too. I'm going to do to the 1 mile walk with Evalyn. I'm trying to get as many people on my team as possible. It's call "run those stem cells out!!". I would love for some local cross country teams to run for this cause also. I believe that teams have lower registration fees. Please free to pass this on!! If you can't participate consider making a donation under my team. This organization saved my life!

                 We are also hoping that I have will have some more media opportunities and don't forget, you can always volunteer at the race. I will put up a printable flyer as soon as I figure it all out!  

What to wear, what to wear, where's my hair

On Monday, I was contacted by Be the Match to see if I was available for an interview on channel 11. Luckily, I already had a baby sitter and know a lot of people that can drive. I'm not restricted from driving but since I'm so tired all the time, it really wears me out. So later last night, I relieved an email about the interview that it was a live show I was going to be called Atlanta & Company. I immediately changed my mind about what I was going to wear the next day. Mr. Frank Reeves was my driver for the day and it was great to have his positive energy around. I wasn't very nervous. I think that everything that has gone on, I don't have time or energy to worry about being perfect or looking all that great. Not that I didn't, for someone bald. :)  I have told my story so many times that I could say it in my sleep. Now... putting on makeup with no eyelashes or eyebrows... that was interesting. I met Tiffany from Be the Match and had a great time talking with her about my upcoming transplant. The host, Christine , was positive and made us feel very comfortable. I think I would like to be on more shows, but as a survivor next time.  Click HERE to watch the video. I'll have some pictures up soon!