I am regularly inspired by the creative ways communities come together to offer support of individuals and families facing a disruptive diagnosis like cancer.
There are so many of you out there and today I’d like you to meet Reagan, an eighth grade student, philanthropist and guest blogger.
It wasn’t fair! How could my uncle be perfectly healthy one day and fighting for his life the next? How could he go from running marathons to barely being able to get out of bed? It was quite the concept for my seven year-old brain to wrap around. I felt powerless because I couldn’t truly help him get better. So, I decided to make him one thousand origami cranes. As I learned from the story of Sadako, making one thousand origami cranes grants you one wish and my wish for my uncle to get healthy was successful. I have since made the cranes many more times, and that’s how I met Chelsea.
Chelsea was suffering from Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer when I sent her a set of cranes. The cranes fostered a friendship between Chelsea and me, and we began exchanging letters. What I learned from those letters was that Chelsea had started her very own charity, Foye Belle, and The Blue Bag Movement.
The Blue Bag Movement was her brainchild, a way for her to help support people going through the same terrible disease she was suffering from. Chelsea realized the need in her community by sitting for hours in an infusion center, observing the many people who did not have the support of their friends and family or the items she considered essentials to ease the pain of chemotherapy. Chelsea decided to provide chemotherapy patients with a Blue Bag of necessities for treatment designed to support cancer patients while enduring hours of chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, this wonderful woman, who thought more about others than herself, lost her battle to cancer. Now, it is my wish to carry on her dream of helping others by continuing the movement.
If you are currently battling cancer or know someone who is, Foye Belle provides bags containing items Chelsea found to help her alleviate symptoms like nausea with ginger candies, blankets for comfort and warmth during chemotherapy and entertainment items to help pass the time.
I urge you to join me and check out https://foyebelle.org/
You can also offer your support of the charity and the thousands of people suffering from cancer. Every penny counts toward supporting people like my uncle, like Chelsea, and like your friends and family, because Foye Belle is a charity created by a cancer patient for cancer patients. – Reagan Exley
