On Monday, October 3 at 1 p.m. CST, I will host a live chat to discuss Donna’s Cancer Story. Those of you who have been with me for a while know just how deep my technophobia runs, so this is kind of a big deal for me.
Since the series has started, the support I have felt from readers has been wide and generous. Almost unfailingly supportive. There are Cancer Parents reading, and young moms, and old moms, and Moms Who Drink and Swear, and dads, and Dads raging battle against Autism, and folks who are simply imagining what it must be like to care for a child with cancer.
As I say to my manager at ChicagoNow on a very regular basis, “I think it’s working.” It being a greater understanding of pediatric cancer as well as folks coming to embrace all the wisdom Donna has to share with us.
With September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, I could have used Mary Tyler Mom as a platform to discuss stats and numbers about cancer in kids — those alone are mind numbing — but I thought it was more powerful to tell the story of a child, my child, my Donna, and her cancer. If you come to know Donna, you come to know pediatric cancer.
Please join me Monday afternoon at 1pm CST. I will address questions about Donna, pediatric cancer, our experiences, Donna’s Good Things, and what it means to ‘choose hope.’ I will give each and every last one of you a huge kiss of gratitude for holding me up this month and spreading the word.
I might even be persuaded to talk about Gwyneth Paltrow. Bring it, readers.
Mary Tyler Mom 
I will reschedule nap time to be there 🙂
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I know this is serious if you are willing to reschedule nap time. I’ll be there.
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I will figure out the time zone differences and be there.
I had a dream last night. I dreamt that Donna was a star in the sky, still shining her light down on us (and yes I fell asleep thinking about her)
~a mom who drinks, swears and is battling autism on several fronts
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I had a dream that Donna at 4, before she lost her hair, was playing with her brother, Mary Tyler Son, and he was naked and kept trying to crawl into her lap, and they were both happy and shiny. Then the same night, no joke, I had a dream that Gwynnie was selling her homemade jewelry at a craft fair. It was bad jewelry. She took a photo with me on my phone and I could not wait to get home to post it for my readers. Dreams. Keep on battling that autism.
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I had a dream that I had a shiny, wispy-haired baby in a papoose on my back this morning. It turned out that I was sleeping face down and my cat sitting in the middle of my back because I didn’t get up to give him breakfast. Anyway! After being touched and inspired by Donna’s story over the past month, it’s going to be too cool to meet you live and in person online in a mere 13 hours!
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Thank you for sharing Donna’s story. I cannot put into words how reading it made me feel. So many emotions all wrapped up. I am a mother of four and life can sometimes be hectic, but since reading her story I appreciate each second even more now, even the stressful ones. I think of Donna everyday and have shared her story on my facebook. Her legacy will carry on in my heart and the hearts of so many! Such a beautiful little Angel.
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Yay! I can’t wait to finally “meet” you! Tonight I explained to my 15yo son about who Donna is and who you are. He was dumbfounded. You have touched not just moms and dads, but teenagers?! Way to go MTM! It IS working!
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BTW, I am a mom from ‘Moms who drink and swear’ on facebook.
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