Sunday, July 12th 2009

We are enjoying summer here, even though the weather hasn't been great. I started not one, but two, new jobs a couple weeks ago-waitressing, so it's been interesting. I tell you I have a new respect for the people who wait tables-it's tiring! I've been a bit slow keeping up with my emails, I have 80 unread emails right now...yep!

Hannah has been busy swimming, and doing lots of crafts around the house. She has been working with perler beads, which you make then iron together. I will have to take a photo of the girls with all their designs, they have MANY. It's addicting, I've done some too.

She had a few doctor's appointments last week. We met with the orthopedist who thinks (like her oncologist) that her foot pain may be from her osteoporosis combined with weakness in her feet. They both recommended physical therapy, so we are coordinating that now.

Hannah also had tutoring for math two days a week. Her teacher is really making it fun for her, so it hasn't been too bad. Hannah declared the first day that she wasn't going into the school, but it's been ok so far.

Colby finished her lacrosse camp last week, and really liked it. There were a couple days that she had lacrosse all morning, then basketball at night, so she was pretty tired. Ahh to be young again, she took it all in stride.

We are on the countdown now for the Auctions for Sarah. Hannah is still pulling things out of her room to put on auction, she is keeping me busy. The ebay auctions are starting next Sunday, July 19th. Thank you to those whom have already delivered items to us for sale, emailed items and plan to list yourself. I am still accepting items, both in person and online, please please consider including something for sale to help Sarah and her family. You can contact me at kprokop@optonline.net or 631-298-3580 if you need directions for drop off.

If you are listing your own Auctions for Sarah on ebay, please email me, I have the text to include for your auction so that it can be identified as one of our group auctions. Thank you!

Give from your house, Give from your heart...LET'S HELP SARAH!

Kim

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Recap of Information:

The sale is now scheduled for the week of July 19th on ebay. When listing your auctions, please plan to start them on Sunday, July 19th for 7 days, ending on Sunday, July 26. Of course you can use the Buy it Now option also.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. I can list your items for you. There are two ways we can list your items on ebay.

1. You can drop off your items at my house, and I will take it from there. Please drop them off here as soon as possible, so I can get started on all the auction listings. I have 17 things I am listing myself, and have started some of them, using the same template for all.

2. If you do not live in town (or you do and want me to list your items, but you can package and mail them yourself) here is what I need for your ebay listing:

1. a picture/pictures of your item via email
2. a description of your item including these:
is it new or used
if used, what condition is it in-as accurate as possible
what is the item (clothing-size, etc, camera, tickets to a game, etc.) Please be specific and as descriptive as possible.
3. I will then take the information and list it on ebay
4. Once the item is sold, I will contact you to advise you to send it, with an address.

Money is always good too, you can send a check to me, made payable to Kim Prokop so that I can cash it and send it with the rest of the money for Sarah. Even easier, consider sending money to me directly via paypal, it's FREE. My paypal address is my email-kprokop@optonline.net

More information:

Through all of my web site connections to other kids with cancer, I have come across the most adorable little girl-Sarah- and her family. You can read Sarah's story HERE. This little girl has Familial Mediterranean Fever a rare incurable life threatening disease. I was just drawn to Sarah and her family, and read all of their blog updates. Sarah has suffered so much in her young age. Her family lives in upstate New York, in a very remote area. Neighbors and supporters are few and far between. Their only fundraiser organized by friends and family brought in minimal amounts.

Sarah's health care costs are numerous, and are rising. Her father's wages are already garnished, so the pay he does bring home is not nearly enough to cover her medical costs. Recently, the family was struggling to even buy the simple necessities, including Tylenol for Sarah. Sarah has not been able to go to the doctor lately, again due to costs. My heart really goes out to them. Cancer is not the only thing-by far-that our kids suffer with. No one deserves or should ever be in this position.

Here is where the CALL FOR HELP comes in. I have decided to put together an online fundraiser for Sarah and her family through ebay. I have been scouring my house for things I can sell on ebay to bring in money for their family. Some of my things are new, some are not, but ebay is good for both. This is like an online yard sale!

I would like to ask that you all do the same-look through things you would like to offer up for sale. Possibly you have season tickets to a Mets/Yankees or Red Sox (oh my) game that you donate to be listed. Perhaps you have other things like:
  • clothes
  • games
  • artwork
  • collectibles
  • your house...just kidding, you know you can sell anything on ebay these days

Do you sell something for a living like Mary Kay, Isagenix, Arbonne, or ??? Everyone surely has something they can donate to this very worthy cause. Can your company help, will they match any funds donated?

Here is how it will work:
  1. Please look around your house and collect the items you would like to donate for the ebay sale
  2. You may list the item(s) yourself on ebay, or send me a photo(s) and a description and I would be happy to list them for you. If you would like me to list something, please email me directly and I will provide you with a list of description items I need for the ebay listing.
  3. Donate monies raised to Sarah and her family. This can be done directly via paypal at NO COST. Old fashioned checks are always good too.
There are a few other details such as how we get the money to the family, when will our ebay sales will start and end, etc. Since this post is very long already, I will be posting again very soon with some more of the details. But for now...go look around your house...PLEASE!

That's it! I know the economy is still not great for many of us, but I am hoping that we all can come together to help a family in true need. We may not be able to give cash (but if you can, that would be GREAT too!) but, if you can find just a few items around your house, even ONE item in your home that could be donated to help another family, that is our purpose. Please look around now!

The ebay auction will be starting within 2-3 weeks (hopefully) so let's get started! Please email me with any questions. Sarah's mom Kim is fully aware of the fundraiser but I'm not sure if she is still online again-not enough money to keep their online service, so please contact me instead.




Sunday, July 5, 2009

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!
Our weekend was enjoyable, but pretty uneventful. Colby and Hannah both had friends over, here are some pictures of us at the beach one night. For some reason, everything not bolted down or too heavy went right into the water! We searched for beach glass and shells and just roamed up and down the beach.





We are busy preparing for the Auctions for Sarah. Colby and Hannah both selected items of their own to put on ebay for the sale. Please consider donating some goods....or making a cash donation...to help Sarah and her family. Our ebay sale is the week of July 19th, and will be here very soon. Thank you to those whom have already delivered items to us for sale, and if you have items you would like to include, please feel free to drop them off. I do need some time to prepare the auctions for listing on ebay, so please drop them by as soon as you have some time. You can contact me at kprokop@optonline.net or 631-298-3580 if you need directions

If you are listing your own Auctions for Sarah on ebay, please email me, I have the text to include for your auction so that it can be identified as one of our group auctions. Thank you!

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Recap of Information:

The sale is now scheduled for the week of July 19th on ebay. When listing your auctions, please plan to start them on Sunday, July 19th for 7 days, ending on Sunday, July 26. Of course you can use the Buy it Now option also.


If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. I can list your items for you. There are two ways we can list your items on ebay.

1. You can drop off your items at my house, and I will take it from there. Please drop them off here as soon as possible, so I can get started on all the auction listings. I have 17 things I am listing myself, and have started some of them, using the same template for all.

2. If you do not live in town (or you do and want me to list your items, but you can package and mail them yourself) here is what I need for your ebay listing:

1. a picture/pictures of your item via email
2. a description of your item including these:
is it new or used
if used, what condition is it in-as accurate as possible
what is the item (clothing-size, etc, camera, tickets to a game, etc.) Please be specific and as descriptive as possible.
3. I will then take the information and list it on ebay
4. Once the item is sold, I will contact you to advise you to send it, with an address.

Money is always good too, you can send a check to me, made payable to Kim Prokop so that I can cash it and send it with the rest of the money for Sarah. Even easier, consider sending money to me directly via paypal, it's FREE. My paypal address is my email-kprokop@optonline.net

Recap of information:

Through all of my web site connections to other kids with cancer, I have come across the most adorable little girl-Sarah- and her family. You can read Sarah's story HERE. This little girl has Familial Mediterranean Fever a rare incurable life threatening disease. I was just drawn to Sarah and her family, and read all of their blog updates. Sarah has suffered so much in her young age. Her family lives in upstate New York, in a very remote area. Neighbors and supporters are few and far between. Their only fundraiser organized by friends and family brought in minimal amounts.

Sarah's health care costs are numerous, and are rising. Her father's wages are already garnished, so the pay he does bring home is not nearly enough to cover her medical costs. Recently, the family was struggling to even buy the simple necessities, including Tylenol for Sarah. Sarah has not been able to go to the doctor lately, again due to costs. My heart really goes out to them. Cancer is not the only thing-by far-that our kids suffer with. No one deserves or should ever be in this position.

Here is where the CALL FOR HELP comes in. I have decided to put together an online fundraiser for Sarah and her family through ebay. I have been scouring my house for things I can sell on ebay to bring in money for their family. Some of my things are new, some are not, but ebay is good for both. This is like an online yard sale!

I would like to ask that you all do the same-look through things you would like to offer up for sale. Possibly you have season tickets to a Mets/Yankees or Red Sox (oh my) game that you donate to be listed. Perhaps you have other things like:
  • clothes
  • games
  • artwork
  • collectibles
  • your house...just kidding, you know you can sell anything on ebay these days

Do you sell something for a living like Mary Kay, Isagenix, Arbonne, or ??? Everyone surely has something they can donate to this very worthy cause. Can your company help, will they match any funds donated?

Here is how it will work:
  1. Please look around your house and collect the items you would like to donate for the ebay sale
  2. You may list the item(s) yourself on ebay, or send me a photo(s) and a description and I would be happy to list them for you. If you would like me to list something, please email me directly and I will provide you with a list of description items I need for the ebay listing.
  3. Donate monies raised to Sarah and her family. This can be done directly via paypal at NO COST. Old fashioned checks are always good too.
There are a few other details such as how we get the money to the family, when will our ebay sales will start and end, etc. Since this post is very long already, I will be posting again very soon with some more of the details. But for now...go look around your house...PLEASE!

That's it! I know the economy is still not great for many of us, but I am hoping that we all can come together to help a family in true need. We may not be able to give cash (but if you can, that would be GREAT too!) but, if you can find just a few items around your house, even ONE item in your home that could be donated to help another family, that is our purpose. Please look around now!

The ebay auction will be starting within 2-3 weeks (hopefully) so let's get started! Please email me with any questions. Sarah's mom Kim is fully aware of the fundraiser but I'm not sure if she is still online again-not enough money to keep their online service, so please contact me instead.

Give from your house, Give from your heart...LET'S HELP SARAH!

Kim


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Our fourth day of SUMMER vacation and it's been 50/50 with rain, ugh! Colby is now officially out of the elementary school, she had her "moving up" ceremony last week from 6th grade. There is moving up for everything now. We didn't have that when I was growing up, we just went from one grade to the next and saved it all for the big hurrah in 12th grade.
Hannah started with tennis lessons this week. She wouldn't go on the court when we first got there, and was hiding off to the side. One of her good friends was in the class, but she still wouldn't go in. Her words to me were "I'm not good in groups." I don't know if she got that from me, or if she surmised that by herself. After a bit of trying to convince her to go in, I finally was quiet. Just quiet, letting her take it all in. I walked out in the court myself, got a ball and waited for her to come in. She did, then eventually went into the mix. She came off the court saying IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! She really enjoyed it. It's a good thing because it continues for the week.


Thank you all for your tremendous response to my post regarding the ebay auctions to help Sarah and her family. I am going to list the information for the EBAY Auctions for Sarah fundraiser at the end of my posts now as a reminder. I will list any updates first, then repeat the information again in detail so you don't have to pull up old entries for the information.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
New Information:

The sale is now scheduled for the week of July 19th on ebay. When listing your auctions, please plan to start them on Sunday, July 19th for 7 days, ending on Sunday, July 26. Of course you can use the Buy it Now option also.

I am working on text that we can all use in our auctions so that it is easily recognized as one of Sarah's auctions. If you plan on listing your own auctions, please contact me for the text.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. I can list your items for you. There are two ways we can list your items on ebay.

1. You can drop off your items at my house, and I will take it from there. Please drop them off here as soon as possible, so I can get started on all the auction listings. I have 17 things I am listing myself, and have started some of them, using the same template for all.

2. If you do not live in town (or you do and want me to list your items, but you can package and mail them yourself) here is what I need for your ebay listing:

1. a picture/pictures of your item via email
2. a description of your item including these:
is it new or used
if used, what condition is it in-as accurate as possible
what is the item (clothing-size, etc, camera, tickets to a game, etc.) Please be specific and as descriptive as possible.
3. I will then take the information and list it on ebay
4. Once the item is sold, I will contact you to advise you to send it, with an address.

Money is always good too, you can send a check to me, made payable to Kim Prokop so that I can cash it and send it with the rest of the money for Sarah. Even easier, consider sending money to me directly via paypal, it's FREE. My paypal address is my email-kprokop@optonline.net

Recap of information:

Through all of my web site connections to other kids with cancer, I have come across the most adorable little girl-Sarah- and her family. You can read Sarah's story HERE. This little girl has Familial Mediterranean Fever a rare incurable life threatening disease. I was just drawn to Sarah and her family, and read all of their blog updates. Sarah has suffered so much in her young age. Her family lives in upstate New York, in a very remote area. Neighbors and supporters are few and far between. Their only fundraiser organized by friends and family brought in minimal amounts.

Sarah's health care costs are numerous, and are rising. Her father's wages are already garnished, so the pay he does bring home is not nearly enough to cover her medical costs. Recently, the family was struggling to even buy the simple necessities, including Tylenol for Sarah. Sarah has not been able to go to the doctor lately, again due to costs. My heart really goes out to them. Cancer is not the only thing-by far-that our kids suffer with. No one deserves or should ever be in this position.

Here is where the CALL FOR HELP comes in. I have decided to put together an online fundraiser for Sarah and her family through ebay. I have been scouring my house for things I can sell on ebay to bring in money for their family. Some of my things are new, some are not, but ebay is good for both. This is like an online yard sale!

I would like to ask that you all do the same-look through things you would like to offer up for sale. Possibly you have season tickets to a Mets/Yankees or Red Sox (oh my) game that you donate to be listed. Perhaps you have other things like:
  • clothes
  • games
  • artwork
  • collectibles
  • your house...just kidding, you know you can sell anything on ebay these days

Do you sell something for a living like Mary Kay, Isagenix, Arbonne, or ??? Everyone surely has something they can donate to this very worthy cause. Can your company help, will they match any funds donated?

Here is how it will work:
  1. Please look around your house and collect the items you would like to donate for the ebay sale
  2. You may list the item(s) yourself on ebay, or send me a photo(s) and a description and I would be happy to list them for you. If you would like me to list something, please email me directly and I will provide you with a list of description items I need for the ebay listing.
  3. Donate monies raised to Sarah and her family. This can be done directly via paypal at NO COST. Old fashioned checks are always good too.
There are a few other details such as how we get the money to the family, when will our ebay sales will start and end, etc. Since this post is very long already, I will be posting again very soon with some more of the details. But for now...go look around your house...PLEASE!

That's it! I know the economy is still not great for many of us, but I am hoping that we all can come together to help a family in true need. We may not be able to give cash (but if you can, that would be GREAT too!) but, if you can find just a few items around your house, even ONE item in your home that could be donated to help another family, that is our purpose. Please look around now!

The ebay auction will be starting within 2-3 weeks (hopefully) so let's get started! Please email me with any questions. Sarah's mom Kim is fully aware of the fundraiser but I'm not sure if she is still online again-not enough money to keep their online service, so please contact me instead.

Give from your house, Give from your heart...LET'S HELP SARAH!

Kim


Wednesday, June 23, 2009

Time to help...Call to action!

You are all familiar with Hannah's Cans for Cancer program. Now that some of our own personal dates are over (Hannah's BD, Relay, and school-almost) it's time to focus on some new fundraising ideas that have been brewing.

I have not given an update on Cans for Cancer in a while. Briefly, to date, we have raised over $14,000! We are so excited about all of the children and their families we have been able to help. We have donated over $13,000 of that money raised, so our fund balance is currently under $1,000. Hannah has been talking about some other things she would like to do to raise money. Hannah ALWAYS talks about doing things to raise money-mostly focused around baking.

Some of the ideas we have been throwing around are:
  • bake sale
  • car wash
  • "honk" for Hannah-Pam's idea
  • basketball 3 on 3 tourney
  • online fundraisers

We have also been working on organizing Cans for Cancer as a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. This process isn't difficult, just time consuming. We would like to get all of our things in order to be able to do business officially as "Hannah's Cans for Cancer."

_____________________________________________________________________

Through all of my web site connections to other kids with cancer, I have come across the most adorable little girl-Sarah- and her family. You can read Sarah's story HERE. This little girl has Familial Mediterranean Fever a rare incurable life threatening disease. I was just drawn to Sarah and her family, and read all of their blog updates. Sarah has suffered so much in her young age. Her family lives in upstate New York, in a very remote area. Neighbors and supporters are few and far between. Their only fundraiser organized by friends and family brought in minimal amounts.

Sarah's health care costs are numerous, and are rising. Her father's wages are already garnished, so the pay he does bring home is not nearly enough to cover her medical costs. Recently, the family was struggling to even buy the simple necessities, including Tylenol for Sarah. Sarah has not been able to go to the doctor lately, again due to costs. My heart really goes out to them. Cancer is not the only thing-by far-that our kids suffer with. No one deserves or should ever be in this position.

Here is where the CALL FOR HELP comes in. I have decided to put together an online fundraiser for Sarah and her family through ebay. I have been scouring my house for things I can sell on ebay to bring in money for their family. Some of my things are new, some are not, but ebay is good for both. This is like an online yard sale!

I would like to ask that you all do the same-look through things you would like to offer up for sale. Possibly you have season tickets to a Mets/Yankees or Red Sox (oh my) game that you donate to be listed. Perhaps you have other things like:
  • clothes
  • games
  • artwork
  • collectibles
  • your house...just kidding, you know you can sell anything on ebay these days

Do you sell something for a living like Mary Kay, Isagenix, Arbonne, or ??? Everyone surely has something they can donate to this very worthy cause. Can your company help, will they match any funds donated?

Here is how it will work:
  1. Please look around your house and collect the items you would like to donate for the ebay sale
  2. You may list the item(s) yourself on ebay, or send me a photo(s) and a description and I would be happy to list them for you. If you would like me to list something, please email me directly and I will provide you with a list of description items I need for the ebay listing.
  3. Donate monies raised to Sarah and her family. This can be done directly via paypal at NO COST. Old fashioned checks are always good too.
There are a few other details such as how we get the money to the family, when will our ebay sales will start and end, etc. Since this post is very long already, I will be posting again very soon with some more of the details. But for now...go look around your house...PLEASE!

That's it! I know the economy is still not great for many of us, but I am hoping that we all can come together to help a family in true need. We may not be able to give cash (but if you can, that would be GREAT too!) but, if you can find just a few items around your house, even ONE item in your home that could be donated to help another family, that is our purpose. Please look around now!

The ebay auction will be starting within 2-3 weeks (hopefully) so let's get started! Please email me with any questions. Sarah's mom Kim is fully aware of the fundraiser but I'm not sure if she is still online again-not enough money to keep their online service, so please contact me instead.

Give from your house, Give from your heart...LET'S HELP SARAH!

Kim

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy Father's Day

Especially to my dad and my husband, two of the best out there. Love you!

We want to share a video that Hannah has been working on with her dad for a very long time. We finally got it finished and loaded on YouTube..enjoy!

Kim

Tuesday, June 16, 2009



NED, no evidence of disease, MRI's are clear.
Whew!

I think the mental exhaustion is now hitting full force and I'm going to bed at 9:30pm, it's a record! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers,

Kim

Monday, June 15, 2009

Very long day today, but not too bad. We took off about 8:30am and had her dexa scan first. The worst thing about it was trying to find the place. Did I already tell you the story? Last Thursday, Hannah and I drove in 2 hours to get to the new place for her pediatric dexa scan. We went to the wrong place, then they sent us somewhere, then somewhere else, etc. etc. By the time I finally reached her endocrinologist by phone (after having to page the doctor because it's IMPOSSIBLE to get through to him) and we found the right place, they already shut down the machines and the techs had gone home. I was so frustrated. We turned around and drove right back home. What a waste of time.

So, we rescheduled for today, around her orthopedist appointment and 4 MRI's. Thank goodness they had a time for us this morning. I felt it was important that we meet with the orthopedist today because of all the foot pain she has been having. Well, got a call on Friday that the orthopedist was canceling! First they told me he was scheduled for surgery all day. When I told them that he could still see me for 15 minutes, they came back and told me he had a death in the family. I was so mad because I had scheduled everything else around this doctor, who is very hard to get into. They were supposed to call me back today, but that didn't happen.

So the dexa scan-the results weren't shocking, almost exactly the same result as previously. She has low bone density, no surprise. I have to wait to analyze the results with her endo doc.

We arrived for her MRI's at 2:00pm, to be told that they were an hour behind. They called us at home. Umm, we live 2 hours away and left at 8:30 this morning. Anyway, we got started after 3, it was long, it was hard for Hannah, there a lot of crying a wiggling. We didn't get the results because everyone had gone home by the time we were done.

Because of the delay, the waiting room was packed. It was hard-there was an Orthodox Jewish family there with a son who was having an emergency MRI. He was 2 and stopped walking a few days ago, Just won't walk. The mom had lots of questions for me about different things like CRP, WBC, etc. that I didn't want to answer. He may have a brain tumor. It was hard to see the little boy come out of MRI limp from anesthesia, and the mom rocking him and just break down crying. I just tried to assure her, it would be ok. No matter what, it would be ok.

There were many other young kids there waiting, but one that we knew from clinic. I never knew his diagnosis, but found out today he had an optic glioma (eye tumor). He has the same oncologist as Hannah. After chemo and surgery to remove the glioma, they found multiple tumors down his spine. He had surgery to remove as much as possible. He was there today because his eye had started to turn in again, not a good sign.

So, we won't know the results until tomorrow, which is a first for me. In for a long night I think. As we left I was checking out the monitor, seeing a big tumor in the back of her head. Good thing that MRI reading is not my thing. Couldn't really ever read those stupid things. After one of Hannah's first post chemo MRI's I popped the disk into my computer and called Dave to tell him she had a tumor. I just can't read them!

Here's to good news tomorrow...I'll leave you with a few more pictures, they are always more fun than text, don't you think! Rafting on Hannah's birthday, Hannah's penguin cake, Grandma and Grandpa, Chester, Hannah's birthday pool party, etc.! Last but not least, here is Tod, the picture of how I feel!!!!!
Enjoy!!

Kim