Her cancer is back

You may remember a few years ago, I did a post asking for help for my friend Christina Small who needed a bone marrow transplant to battle Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a rare blood cancer.

Well, she had the transplant in April 2010. She was given a 30% chance of surviving the transplant. She pulled this off, made it through all the chemo, the side effects of the chemo, the long hospital stay, etc., etc.

And Christina's had two amazing, great, glorious years with her husband and two kids (daughter is now 13 years old, son is 11). 

Sadly, depressingly, frustratingly, (I can't think of a strong enough "ly" word, well, at least not a word that I'm comfortable using on this blog), the damn leukemia is back. For the third time.

Christina has two-three months left to live.

I can't believe I just typed that.

Two-three months.

What do you do with news like that? 

Well, Christina wants to spend more fun, happy times with her husband and kids. In keeping with that spirit, we're raising money to send the Small family to Disneyland for a few days and nights (any extra money will be used for spending money, a hot-air balloon ride and something to do with horses or whatever grabs Christina's fancy). If you'd like to help, click here to donate.

If you live in the San Diego area and would like to help with dinners, click here. Sign up, then type in The Small Family. (They live in the RB area.)

If you want to keep up with Christina's story, she posts here.

And if you could possibly do whatever it is you do--pray, meditate, send positive thoughts, all that will be greatly appreciated too.

The Small Family

My Town Monday: Feral Cats at Disneyland, Anaheim, CA

(photo credit: google images. I would never get this close to such a scary looking cat!)

Every night, after the park closes, Disneyland unleashes 200+ feral cats who prowl the Park and keep the roden population under control.

During the day, these cats lead a, well, dog's life. They live in well-maintained cat houses, dine at the five or so hidden feeding stations, have access to health care (shots, neutering, spaying, no botox though :) ). The cats are kept under wraps when the Park is open to guests, although rumor has it you might be able to spot a cute tabby face from the Jungle Cruise ride.

How did Disneyland end up employing dozens of our feline friends? In the late 1950s, the Sleeping Beauty castle underwent a major renovation. Guess who construction works found squatting inside the castle? Over a hundred Orange County alley cats. Along with a huge number of fleas! Disneyland tried to evict the cats, but to no avail. And then a bright Disneyland employee mentioned how they weren't having the problems with rodents that once plagued the Park. And, voila, the furry workers were hired! Without an interview!

What I'd like to see is human Park employees herding the cats back to their barracks at the end of the nighttime shift. :)

So, there you have it. The cat's out of the bag now on what goes in Disneyland after the last guest leaves! (Surely you knew I'd squeeze in a cat idiom or two!)

(photo credit: google images, once again. Although I would happily get close enough to a cute cat like this to get the shot.)

And I leave you with a photo I did take. It's of Child #4's winning graveyard cake. It took first at her school's Halloween Carnival this past weekend!

Please check out the posts by the other My Town Monday participants by clicking here. Happy Halloween!



sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/02/business/la-fi-cover-disney-20100502
http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20111017-the-secret-world-of-disneyland
http://mikecalahan.com/?p=392