Relaunching & Paying It Forward

Giving the 'Stress Talk'

If you know anyone that has been through any sort of medical journey, you know or can associate with the financial burden that treatment over an extended period has or can have.  As a result I had truly been seeking direction on what it is I needed to do to help my family's financial bottom line.  I started reaching out to former colleagues and Managers about the possibility of going back into the conventional workspace.  I've had the opportunity to be at home with my children for the last 10+ year and I've enjoyed it very much. The thought of going back to the Corporate environment was even more of a concern when I considered having to find something that would allow me to make enough money to cover the expense of having my children cared for and still allow me to take care of the obligations that need to be addressed.

Many of you know or may recall I had a growing Spa and Wellness business that afforded me the opportunity to go into the home, workplace and community to share the importance of eliminating stress and give the 'gift of relaxation' through an amazing and relaxing spa experience. I help others 'de-stress and increase face value' through the education of proper skincare and the essentials of taking care of ourselves.  I have not been been able to pursue this business over the last few years as we've dealt with my daughter's illness and ongoing treatment.  I have been affiliated with and representing this company for a long time.  Connecting with people and helping others is my passion. Whether it is through providing solutions to issues, giving people permission to take 'the pause' or through helping them make changes in their lives by taking advantage of this opportunity for themselves and their family.   I pondered and prayed about what I could do, and the Lord continued to instruct me to 'use what is in your hand'.  Several months ago, my daughter was transitioned to the maintenance phase of her treatment and a few weeks following that, I revived and relaunched my business.  To connect with me or learn more check me out at www.facebook.com/beautispava

   

I work with an amazing group of people and have never been more excited about this business until now.  About 4 weeks ago I was at a Leadership Conference in Dallas when a BIG announcement was made.  Let me preface the announcement by saying, BeautiControl has an amazing Foundation, W.H.O (Women Helping Others) www.whofoundation.org that has granted over 5 million dollars to community focused charities and organizations serving overlooked women, children and families.  I have seen dollars from the W.H.O. Foundation granted and serve the Richmond area several times over the last 10+ years.  I was at a loss for words when BeautiControl unveiled their partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation. I sat in that meeting sobbing as a Wish Family came out and shared their journey to victory over illness. Understanding their plight and knowing first hand how tremendous this is for families made me PROUD of this company I represent. Our collective mission in one month was to share this opportunity with 4,500 people. My personal desire was to do my part to make this happen by sharing it with everyone I could. The reward of going out and working on behalf of 'Paying it Forward' and blessing others for me, was bigger than any other reward the company could give.

Incidentally during a break the day before, I took a detour to a bathroom off the beaten path and ran into this beautiful lady. Obviously, she got the black and coral memo.  We chuckled, decided we had to take a picture because what were the odds amongst 2000 women you would 'happen' to run into someone in a long bathroom line dressed just like you.  Nothing happens by chance....she lives in Pennsylvania and her brother happens to be a Veterinarian in Glen Allen, Virginia (a short 20 minutes from where I live). We messaged one another a few weeks after our meeting in Dallas.  I shared with her my excitement for the Make A Wish partnership and she shared with me that she sat in the audience that morning in tears because her family was a Wish Family and her daughter has been in treatment for the last 3 years with a brain tumor. The odds just increased and I know without doubt our paths were intended to cross on that day.

Our lives were more connected than we could ever have imagined

I'm also so proud to say not only did we meet our goal, but we surpassed it and were able to share this opportunity with over 4,900 people.  The impact this will have on and in the lives of these two families is immeasurable.  I am thankful for opportunities that have opened up for me and people that have embraced my decision and helped me thus far in and through the process.  Together we can make a difference and the best is yet to come!! 

Make A Wish Radio-thon

#TeamBolton had a great time hanging out with Melissa Chase @ 103.7 (The River) for the Make-A-Wish Radio-thon.  Mireya is a Make-A-Wish kid and our trip was one we will treasure forever. We loved visiting the station and sharing our story, our experience and our love for the Make-A-Wish foundation.   We hope you had a chance to tune in and support this wonderful organization.

Supporting the Cause - 36 Hours for Kids

 #TeamBolton had an amazing time with Q94's Kash and Lite 98's Kat Simons for the 36 Hours for Kids Radio-thon. Originally I thought the interviews would be simulcast on both stations, but we actually ended up doing two separate interviews. Both a little different, but all to support the Children's Hospital of Richmond (CHOR) and Children's Miracle Network. We loved being able to share our story and encourage listeners to become Miracle Makers.

Mireya's current reign as a Miss Chesterfield Princess will soon be over, due to health challenges she's had to miss a number of events with her pageant sisters.  It was really fun to don the crown/sash and make the appearance official.  Thank you for all the calls, texts, emails and posts.  We appreciate you tuning in and supporting us and this event.  The Radio-thon will be going on until Sunday.  Be sure to tune in and hear all the wonderful ways CHOR and CMN are making a difference in the lives of children and families daily.

We promised the girls a train ride once we were done.

In case you missed todays interview, #TeamBolton will also be LIVE on-air next week for the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Radio-thon on 103.7 (The River) and Hot 100.9.  Can't wait to share our heart and love for MAW....making dreams and wishes come true for children all over the world.  Truly amazing!

The Wait Isn't Over

Our follow-up appointment this week was not as favorable as we would have liked.  The biopsy last week was a 'fail' and as a result will have to be repeated.  My heart sank after hearing this news.  They were able to remove a good bone chip sample, but apparently there was not enough of the marrow substance available to do the in-depth testing needed.  From what they could see, it was determined there were no 'blasts' present on the slides from the aspiration of her bone marow.  When a higher than normal ratio of blast cells are found it is usually indicative of the common blood-related cancers.  This is a discussion 'first' for us as it pertains to blasts, but we know certain medications taken during our treatment plan can increase the probability of certain blood-related cancers, so it was good to speak and rid ourselves of any additional madness.

It is disturbing to imagine having to go through another bone marrow biopsy.  It took a lot to sit in the room while they performed the biopsy. Thank goodness Mireya is anestisized.  Sitting through it again is not high on my list of things to do, so perhaps I'll 'sit out' of that particular portion of the procedure when/if it is necessary to repeat. Mireya's counts have also decreased this week.  We were hoping to see some sort of rebound and that her cell lines would increase if only in small increments. Without the sufficient test results, the medical team is at a loss of what is causing these problems. We were pretty much off the Aplastic radar and placed in a rotation to ride this out for another few months, remove the Hickman and then come in for routine follow-up to track our success. The fact that her counts have decreased and there is no evidence of a virus or infection is puzzling.

Upon further review of Mireya's labs over the last several weeks, and the downward trend of certain counts, the Head of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, decided she would like to first give Mireya a IVIG infusion to see if possibly that will jump start her counts to increase.  We did two rounds of the IVIG close to a year ago with no success, but at that time Mireya's body was not producing or holding any counts consistently without continual transfusions.  Dr. Godder believes it could be ITP.  ITP was the initial thought when all this started until about two weeks later when we saw significant drops in her white and red cell counts. It wasn't until after those results that she was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. We're not 100% convinced it's ITP as ITP only affects platelets, especially with the dip this week in her hemoglobin count.  We are open to trying the IVIG and see if it makes a difference before repeating the Bone Marrow Biopsy.

Many of you know Mireya's Medical team submitted her to the Make A Wish Foundation.  The Make A Wish Foundation is an incredible organization that grants wishes to children battling life-threatening illness.  Mireya was approved for a wish and would like to go to Disney World to meet Princess Aurora (a.k.a Briar Rose and ultimately Sleeping Beauty).  This trip is scheduled within the next several days.  It has not been determined if we can still go.  Based on this new turn of events, the ability to travel for now is up in the air literally a day or two before we're to board the plane.  Mireya's health is the of the uttmost importance.  We consciously decided not to tell the children about the trip when we found out several months ago. One, anything could happen (tada) and two I really didn't want to be asked daily 'is it time yet'.  However,  Make A Wish and a awesome company in Chester, Cellular Sales  threw Mireya a 'Send Off Celebration' a few weeks ago. Mireya, is now fully aware she's scheduled to go to Disney World shortly after her birthday and is really looking forward to it.  I definitely have a lot to share about the Send Off and how amazing Celluar Sales in Chester is.  Ironically, this entire downward sprial began the morning after that celebration and I've not had the chance to share how incredible of a night that was for us (more to come, so look out for that post soon).

The IVIG is scheduled for tomorrow on Mireya's birthday.  Not the way you want to spend your birthday, but trust me we will celebrate BIG when she gets home.  Reya will have to be retested with 72 hours following the test and we will go from there.  If there is no significant increase in the counts, the team plans to repeat it a second time. It is not uncommon for a patient not to respond after just one treatment. This is where it may get tricky as far as travel timing.  We do not want to have issues that require medical attention or transfusions while we're out of town, nor do we want fatigue to be an issue for her with a hemoglobin level that is dropping.  It is possible to give Mireya a blood and platelet transfusion prior to going to Disney to tide her over through the trip. We're believing we'll have positive results next week.

If there is not a favorable response, then we repeat the bone marrow biopsy to determine the cellular makeup of her body. Specifically her cells vs those given to her by Jalen.  If all else fails, she will have to receive a 'boost' of cells from Jalen.  This procedure would not require her to go through a full transplant with chemotherpy and the full scope of meds again  It most cases, the 'boost' has proven successful when a bone marrow recipient has exhibited these issues and other treatment options have not worked.  Jalen on the other hand, would have to endure the same process to harvest his bone marrow.  I'm hoping we don't have to go this route because I really don't want Jalen to have to go through this again. However, I realize God gave us Jalen as a way out and we are thankful we still have her brother to draw life from for his sister.   Continue to lift us up as a family.  This has been an emotional pill to swallow, but we know nothing is to hard for God.  Even as our emotions fluctuate and we struggle with finding ourselves in this place right now, we know where our trust lies and our faith has not wavered from that truth.

Be strong, all who wait with hope for the Lord, and let your heart be courageous.  Psalms 31:24

When you Wish Upon a Star

The Make A Wish team came by to meet Princess Reya and begin the process of designing a wish consisting of who? what? where? and when!  That line of questioning took us straight down a path to Disney World to meet none other than Princess Aurora, Mireya's favorite princess.  The volunteer team arrived with a special 'Make A Wish' Barbie doll for Mireya.  She was so excited about this beautiful new barbie to add to her collection.  The kids were on 'all energy' for the entire interview.  You'd think we'd not been out the house much or had very minimal interaction with people. Hmm...sounds familiar?  There were tons of questions to answer.  Mireya's second wish choice was a family beach trip.  We weren't able to take our planned beach vacation this year and Mireya told me repeatedly in the hospital how she wanted to go to the beach.  Can I interject and make that a international beach trip to Turks and Caicos?  I know I continue to digress, so back to making a dream come true for Mireya.

Disney is apparently one of the most popular wishes amongst the little ones.  I've never been but have several friends that have done Disney many times and love it. We had plans to do Disney this past Spring Break, the week of Mireya's birthday, but ended up changing those plans because of a conflict.  We thought about when we could possibly do it again, but hadn't revisited it.  We were in Orlando back when Paris was about eight years old and decided to do Universal Studios and Adventure Island instead of Disney.  Nickelodeon was really big then.  Somehow we were selected for one of those Nickelodeon game show segments and I also got picked out of the audience for an Animal Planet piece that concluded with me and another woman holding an albino burmese python.  I wanted to pass out, but we had a lot of fun at both parks.

Disney would be a first for all of us. Mireya's loves the Disney Princesses, but it wasn't until after she had her transplant that she realized there was actually a place call Disney World.  We'd never mentioned the impending trip to the kids, in the event we didn't go, but if you recall, I used going out of the room to look up all things Aurora as a privilege for getting out of the bed and walking around.  In the beginning we found a lot of animated videos and songs, but one day Mireya saw a little girl meeting Princess Aurora while at Disney World and she was hooked on the notion you could actually go somewhere and meet Princess Aurora.  It will be a treat when she realizes Princess A hangs with a crew of girls namely, Cinderella, Snow While, Tiana, Belle, Ariel and Jasmine.

We're not sure when her medical team will allow for such a journey, but it will be something really awesome to look forward to.  The volunteers left, but the smile on Mireya's face remained well into the next morning when she told me how happy she was to meet Ms. Tammy and Ms. Kim and receive her special wish Barbie.  She continued to tell me all throughout the day how happy she was to receive her wish.  She believes the 'Make A Wish' barbie doll was her wish.  She will be so surprised when the time comes to actually go to Disney and meet the princesses.  I'm super happy for Mireya. What an amazing blessing it is to have something so special planned just for her.

Over the years I've made pledges and donations to the 'Make A Wish Foundation'.  To date over 212,000 wishes have been granted and every 40 minutes a new wish is granted. That is truly amazing!!  I never imagined I would be on the receiving end of a wish come true, but I'm thankful for an organization whose mission is to give hope, strength and joy to a child suffering through or recovering from a life threatening illness.  Thank you Make A Wish Foundation!