The Story of Alexxa, A Breast Cancer Survivor!!

When we dreamed up Annie & Isabel, we had hopes of providing comfort and dignity to those that are sick and dealing with difficult diagnoses. We have felt honored to be invited into the lives and stories of so many inspirational people. Even though we deal with sickness every day in the hospital, we find comfort in coming home to our beautiful families and appreciate the health of our family and friends. As we all know, cancer does not discriminate. It affects the young and old, men and women, and children of all ages. With all that we know and see, it is still so easy to believe that cancer will never come into our safe little neighborhood. So when we found out that our friend, Alexxa, was diagnosed with breast cancer we were stunned.

Alexxa and her family often sit in front of us at church on Sundays. Our cars pass each other as we drop off our kids at school. Alexxa is part of our "safe" world. Her diagnosis made us uncomfortable with the realization that this could happen to any of us.

A close friend and breast cancer survivor purchased The Elizabeth gown for Alexxa as she embarked on her hospital journey. Here is what Alexxa had to say about wearing her designer hospital gown:

"I am a proud mommy to three girls, ages 9, 7 and 4....so naturally, we have a lot of pink around the house. I did not realize how much the color "pink" would impact my life until this past June, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. From date of diagnosis to surgery was 13 days! Before I underwent a double mastectomy a dear friend, and fellow breast cancer survivor, gave me one of Annie & Isabel's hospital gowns...The Elizabeth, which was fitting in honor of their Grandmother and her battle with breast cancer. I cannot tell you how much hope and faith this gown brought me, on a day otherwise to be considered frightening. My mother told me I was barely out of surgery, still quite groggy from the medications, and I had her help me change out of the standard issue hospital gown into my beautiful Elizabeth Gown for the remainder of my stay.

I am proud to say that I am cancer free today. I am still in the midst of chemo-therapy with radiation on the horizon (which my Elizabeth Gown will accompany me to as well). All of this preventative treatment will give me the best possible odds to rid this horrible disease of ever impacting my life again.

As a side note, Anna is a close friend to our family, her love and support...and checking in on me, is a bonus I am fortunate to receive."

If you want to learn more about Alexxa's inspiring story you can follow her on her blog at www.alexxafaithorfear.blogspot.com