Something Easy That Can Make A Big Difference

It's almost Thanksgiving, which means that the Christmas shopping season is nearly upon us - indeed, for those of you who don't wait until the last minute,  you may have already started. Needless to say I've been meaning to post this for a while and kept letting life get in the way.

Anyway. This is about Thelma. Thelma is the sister of one of my friends, Liza. Liza is one of those people you can't help but love and admire and slightly envy and really really be grateful to count as a friend - and although I've only met Thelma once, I hear she is amazing too. She is married and a mom to two beautiful little girls. You can read more of Thelma's story here.

Not to get into all the nitty gritty details of a person you've never met, but Thelma is going through Chemo for the 5th time. She has had, and "beaten," cancer 4 times already, but it is back again. Their family has fought and hoped and believed and despaired and prayed and cried and worried and rejoiced 4 times already. But each time, the cancer eventually came back.

She wants to live. It's as simple as that. She has two beautiful daughters that she wants to raise. She loves her husband. She loves her family. She is brave. She is willing to fight. She is willing to experience the terrible side affects of chemo. She will not give up.

So. What can you do? What can anyone do against such terrible circumstances? Well for starters, pray. Every wish or thought or prayer or heart that flutters with the thought of Thelma, LIVE! is a kind of a prayer. They count. They mean something. Thelma, LIVE!

Second - shop. Yes, that's right. Thelma is going through some "experimental" IV nutrient treatment which is not covered by insurance (the chemo is covered, I believe). It is outrageously expensive but IT IS WORKING. In an effort to raise money, one of their friends (whose spouse works for amazon.com) has set up an amazon.com affiliate link. It sounds slightly crazy but it is legit - if you click on the link for Thelma which routes you to amazon.com, and then do the exact shopping you were going to do at amazon.com anyway, Thelma will get some small payment from amazon.com.

What to Do

1. Click on this link to Amazon.com ***This will take you to the Amazon.com homepage. Although it doesn’t mention Thelma, you should see “gothe-20″ in the address bar. This is the tag that connects your purchases with Thelma’s affiliate account. In order for items to count as referrals, you need to add them to your shopping cart after clicking on the link. Items that have been hanging out in your cart from a previous visit are not considered referrals.***
2. Buy something.

I feel kind of lame putting something out on my blog for fundraising - but hey, its not like I'm selling magazines and you know when my kids get to school age I'll be hitting you up for wrapping paper orders at least once a year. So enjoy this once every several years opportunity to do something really meaningful that doesn't cost you anything.

Live, Thelma. Raise those babies. Be a mom. Be a sister. Be a friend. Be a daughter. Be here, on earth, where people need you and love you. Live.

You can follow Thelma's journey on her caringbridge.com website.