Greatness

In the span of about eight days, Georgia has been recognized as a great artist, poet, leader, and scholar. She received a perfect score on a piece she submitted for an art show and had several poems published in the Ann Richards School literary magazine. 

 Praying Mantis cut from an aluminum can

She was also elected President of the National Junior Honor Society! Oh, and she found out that she's no longer ranked #4 in her class ... she's #2. I mean, really!

We have always known that Georgia was destined for greatness, and the fact that she's accomplished so much in the face of, and in spite of, a cancer diagnosis is such sweet icing on the cake. And being that Sunday was Mother's Day, I believe I'm entitled to brag a bit: My girl is GREAT. So is her precious sister.

Mother's Day lunch with the best gifts ever.

Paying It Forward

Goodness, one week into Georgia's second year off treatment, and we are busy, busy bees! Between the art show, the blood drive, and the lemonade stand, we've raised over $2,000 (and counting!) for St. Baldrick's and helped stock our local blood center with 20+ units of generously-donated blood. And we had a lot of fun, too!

The hambone - sorry, artist - and her work:

"Still Life with Macaroni and Cheese"

"My Little Peony"

"Phoenix Rising"

With our curator, Patty

I always half-expect Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem 

to come tumbling out of the blood bus.

Lemonade in the shade

Healthy and happy.

Georgia on My Mind

What a wonderful day yesterday! At last count, Georgia's victory picture has been seen by over 8,000 people! We're so happy to share the good news and raise awareness about childhood cancer at the same time, so thanks for all of the well-wishes and for spreading the word about our amazing girl!

We spent the morning yesterday at the endocrinologist's office, and the overall word is positive. Although Georgia's bone loss is significant, Dr. Kim was very pleased (and surprised, based on the numbers) that she's only had the one confirmed compression fracture. She wants to be fairly aggressive in stopping further damage and jump starting recovery, so Georgia will begin high doses of Vitamin D and calcium and add weight-bearing exercise in addition to continuing her swimming. At 13, she's in the most critical bone density-building phase of her life, so it's very important that we turn the tide as quickly as possible, and Dr. Kim feels confident that Georgia will be back up to near-normal ranges in no time. We are very happy with the plan and will follow up with more blood work in eight weeks. So glad to get moving in the right direction!

In other news, today is Willie Nelson's 80th birthday, and we hope it's just as special as he is. The second after Georgia was born, we welcomed her by playing Willie's version of "Georgia on My Mind." There wasn't a dry eye in that room, and it was one of the two best birthday parties I've ever been to.

 Happy Birthday, Willie!

And ... BOOM! One YEAR!

(Really) Happy Monday!

Today was Georgia's last monthly clinic appointment! For the next year, she'll go two months between appointments, and they will spread out even further as she gets closer to being five years off treatment. Her numbers were great, and we talked with Dr. Neff about her endocrinology appointment next week. We're all "looking forward" to it and getting to work on her bone issues. Thankfully, she hasn't had any problems since the boot came off, and she promises me she's taking it easy in PE, so hopefully, we'll be able to right this ship without further damage. Yes we can!

In other celebratory news, we received this picture from our good friend, Dianna, the morning that her husband, Will, was sharing his "mission moment" about Georgia with his LLS Team in Training teammates:

It's interesting to see different phases of Georgia's journey all in one place. And we are so thankful that the Bacons have been with us every step of the way - as have many of you! Will is very close to his fundraising goal for the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon, so please visit his page and help fund cures for all blood cancers!

Finally, next Saturday, May 4th, is our fourth annual blood drive! To celebrate Georgia's first year off treatment, and to continue our support of The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas, the big red Blood Bus will be pulling up to our house for donations. We'll have snacks and sundries, plus Georgia and Ivy's World Famous Lemonade, which benefits the St. Baldrick's Foundation. With the recent tragedy in West, Texas, our local centers have been teeming with donors - which is wonderful! But every day is a good day to donate blood, so we hope y'all can join us or donate at your local center. 

To donate at our drive, you must register online and make an appointment. The Center has a new system as of October, so if you have donated in the past, you may have to re-register, but your new account will be linked to your old one.

1) Go to: www.inyourhands.org.
2) Under "Donate Blood," click on "Make an Appointment."
3) Once you've registered and landed on your "Welcome" page, click on "Donate Now."
4) Under "Quick Links" on the left, click on "Search by Group Code" and enter B766 and 5/4/13.
5) Sign up for an appointment time.

Let us know if you have any questions, and we hope to see you and your healthy blood on May 4th! Thanks, y'all!