I'm pretty sure every single person I know has been affected by cancer in some way.
Either they, a close family member, or friend has been diagnosed
and battled cancer at some point in their life.
I had a dear friend in middle school/high school, Heba,
who battled cancer and died our sophomore year.
My sweet mama was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001
and died in 2002 after battling it for 9 months.
I have had countless friends diagnosed and battle cancer,
some winning and some losing and some still fighting today.
I myself even had a diagnosis earlier this year.
I was lucky mine was caught early and only required surgery,
not chemo or radiation but so many do.
If you have walked with someone who has had chemo,
you know the process and side effects are terrible and brutal.
My heart truly broke for my mama when she had chemo-
she was so very ill and had so many awful side effects.
For my birthday this year I had friends and family donate money
so that I could make chemo bags for our local Cancer Clinic.
I finally finished them up a few weeks ago
(it took awhile because I had to save some additional money in order to include all that I wanted in each bag)
and delivered the 100 bags to the Cancer Clinic.
The bags are from Thirty-One
and each included the following:
(fuzzy socks, small throw blanket, water, lemonade drink mix, granola bar, mints, lotion, keychain, nail file,
puzzle book or coloring book, pencil with positive affirmation on it, bookmark, prints of Bible verses,
and encouraging notes I made and printed out)
They were so thankful for the donation and said I had
no idea how much a treat of some sort made to their patients.
They said that they had about 90 new chemo patients each month
and approximately 100 patients receiving chemo each week.
That number broke my heat y'all and as I drove back to work that day I thought,
"What can I do? Surely I can do something for all those folks each week to remind them they are brave and strong and loved!"
Here's what I came up with.....
I often do little treats for different groups & send them through school mail
& I thought I could do something similar for the chemo patients each week!
Each would just be a little treat (usually something to eat) with a note
that would be tailored specifically for those going through chemo.
Just a fun little something to remind them someone cares and is thinking of them.
Honestly the treat isn't the main thing, it's the fact that
someone is thinking of, praying for, and rooting them on in this battle!
I ran it by the folks at the Cancer Clinic and they loved it.
I then asked any of my local friends to see if they wanted to join me in the fun
and found several willing and excited.
I named our group the Chemo Fairies and got to work creating some printable tags for them.
I delivered the first set of treats on Monday and think they turned out so fun!
I've added the first 12 Chemo Treat notes to my ETSY store
in case others would like to do the same in their town.
The listing includes 12 treat tags, one each for the following:
- Chemo BLOWS {but you are awesome}: Blowpops
- Just keep swimming {You are a warrior}: goldfish snacks
- Chemo is stinky hard, hope this helps you ROLO with the punches: Rolo
- You are EXTRA amazing and brave!: Extra gum
- In case you need a reminder today, you are seriously Marvelous & Magnificent: M&M's
- You are so BERRY incredible and strong!: Fruit snack
- Just be-TWIX me & you....You are amazing! :Twix
- You are MINT to keep fighting so stay strong! :Mints
- Cancer sucks, but don't worry, you are going to LICK IT! : lollipops
- Because chemo is super stinky, you deserve a big BREAK! : Kit Kat
- Hope you are feeling BUTTER soon! Don't lift a FINGER till you're well! : Butterfinger
- You are one tough cookie! : cookies
If you are interested in becoming a Chemo Fairy and want to purchase
the tags you can find them HERE.
These tags would also be great to use for a gift basket for a friend going through chemo.
I made a basket for my sweet friend Peggy's daughter in law this morning.
