Fire Creek Supports the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

April 4, 2012 was a day unlike any other.  It would be the day that my husband would be diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).  We would quickly learn that a Bone Marrow Transplant would be his only chance for survival, hopefully a cure.  Just over three years after my husband’s diagnosis, my uncle would succumb to the very same disease.

Throughout these last three years, we have met many with Leukemia and Lymphoma, as well as other blood/bone diseases.  Some who have fought and won the battle, those who are fighting again for the second time, and others who gave it the good fight but lost.  We will always be a family, perhaps a family you wouldn’t choose, but a family you will always cherish and fight for once you have joined.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a non-profit organization that funds life saving research for blood and bone cancers.  Every year LLS holds a walk, Light the Night, to fundraise for research projects.  Research is continuously being done and funded by LLS, to find treatments for those, for whatever reason, a bone marrow transplant is not an option. LLS is funding life saving scientists and researchers, determined to find better and more effective treatment. Treatments that could change the life of someone you love!

I have walked every year since 2013 for the gratitude of my husband’s health, for the memory of my uncle and others that we have lost, and hope for those who may find themselves with a diagnosis. Hope that they will have a cure they will so desperately need.

This year, I designed a small gift tile to help fundraise for LLS and the Light the Night Walk.  I must admit that it took me awhile to decide on a design that I thought would be uplifting, speak for LLS and give hope to those in need.  I finally settled on the Monarch Butterfly in flight. Butterflies often symbolize hope for those who have endured struggles in life. I can say from our experience, the treatment my husband underwent left us exhausted and anxious.  Now that we are on the other side of treatment, life is truly more beautiful and precious.   The Butterfly represents that transformation.  That transition from the bleak, anxious ridden days into days filled with beauty and appreciation.

As I carved this butterfly, it was my intention for it to give hope for those who feel hopeless in their diagnosis.  I created this piece with a wish that more successful research for new and better treatments for this group of devastating cancers will be found.

The 4″ tile is available in my new online store on my website and at any of my shows this summer.  They sell for $30 with 100% donated to LLS and the Light the Night Walk.  The walk takes place around the country and Boise’s walk will take place October 1, 2015.

You can find my fundraising page here. If you would like to give without purchasing a tile, you can do so on the LLS fundraising site in the link above and any amount would be greatly appreciated.

If Leukemia, Lymphoma or any other blood/bone cancers have affected you, please feel free to share your story in the comments section below.  You are family and we support one another. Fire Creek Clay supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I hope that you will too!

Thanks for reading!

Dana