Inspiring Teenager Smiles Through Her Challenges ~ The Story of Ellie

In December of this last year we received an email from Erin, who is the mother of a 17 year old daughter named Ellie. Ellie was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor when she was younger and has had many complications. In the last year alone, she has endured 13 brain surgeries. She also had surgery to her back due to a mass which left her with a paralyzed leg. She has spent far too many days in the hospital. Throughout all of this, her mother explained that Ellie has always kept a positive attitude and can mostly be found with a big, beautiful smile on her face.

Ellie with her mother

The reason Erin was writing to us was because Ellie had found our website and had been saving up to purchase one of our hospital gowns. Erin hoped that we might make her a part of our "Feel Better Campaign" as she was not yet able to purchase one of our hospital gowns, and she knew this would brighten her daughter's time in the hospital. At the time of her email to us, Ellie was hospitalized and about to undergo more surgery.

We couldn't think of a better person to receive one of our "Feel Better" hospital gowns to, so it was an easy decision for us. We sent her our "Annie" designer hospital gown and a few days later we received another email from Ellie's mother that made us both cry. The email contained step by step pictures of Ellie opening the hospital gown that we sent to her. Looking at the pictures made us feel like we were right there with her as she was opening up our gift...... and it was powerful! You can see for yourself in this short Flipagram video:



We have always known our hospital gowns can make a big difference in the life of anyone that has to spend time in the hospital and Ellie confirmed this, once again, for us. She is yet another reminder of why we started this business and why we continue to move forward with Annie & Isabel.

Ellie in her "Annie" hospital gown

After Ellie received her "Annie" hospital gown she wrote us a very nice thank you note and we have included some of that here so you can see what a sweet, thoughtful person she is:

"Most teenagers are worried about how perfect their hair and make-up look, or which party they will attend over the weekend. For me, it's a little different. I just want my hair to grow back completely so I can do different things to it. Forget weekend parties, I just pray to stay out of the hospital for the weekend. You see, in the last year or so I've had over 13 brain surgeries, 55+ spinal taps, at least 15 hospital admissions, countless nights in the PICU, and several ER visits & ambulance rides. I've been diagnosed with multiple serious chronic illnesses throughout the last few years. As a teenager it's been hard spending more time in the hospital then at home. Nurses and doctors are more of my friends than people my own age. But it's also taught me so much. I can't wait for the day when I'm able to attend college and follow my dream of becoming a pediatric oncology nurse. My passion is helping people and I love volunteering in any way possible when my health allows me. I frequently have surgeries or am in the hospital for extended stays. I try personalizing my room and bed up a bit, but to have a gown of my own just means so much! Anna & Selena, thank you SO, SO much for choosing me as your feel better campaign recipient. I truly an so honored, and grateful to be part of something so amazing. I can't thank you enough for the smiles and the happy tears you have brought to me at such a hard time. You are both wonderful people with amazing personalities and I just really can't put into words how much all of this means to me!!! Thank you, truly thank you!! ~ Ellie" 

We gave Ellie a small gift, but the truth is, she has given us a much greater gift. She has shown us how to stay positive in the face of so many obstacles, to live life to the fullest, and to always dream big. We are the ones honored to have Ellie as a "Feel Better Campaign" recipient and we can't thank Ellie and her mother enough for reaching out to us. Ellie's fighting spirit, huge heart, and positive attitude have touched us deeply.

Now we need YOUR help! Ellie has recently been re-admitted to the hospital and could use some good thoughts and prayers.

We would love if you could write some words of encouragement on our Facebook post as Ellie follows along. Ellie is always one to smile, even when she is feeling down, but let's help make that smile much bigger by letting her know there are people thinking about her! It just takes two easy steps:

1. "LIKE" our Facebook post because we feel like each LIKE is the same as giving sweet Ellie a nice big hug!

2. COMMENT on our Facebook post so she can read each message and feel the love and support surrounding her.

You all have always pulled through for our Annie & Isabel warriors so I can't wait to see us all do it again and imagine Ellie smiling with each message! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts (and Ellie's too).

Prayers for Lidia - #OhSoPoshStrong

There are some people in this world that just make other people better. I found somebody just like this a couple of years ago and have followed her through Facebook and Istagram ever since then. Her name is Lidia and she is a breast cancer survivor and she also has a daughter who has overcome her own health issues. She has taken her own hardships and used them to show others how strength, passion, faith, and love can get you through your darkest moments and even push you to use those life experiences to help others. So, it was extremely heartbreaking when I saw on her Facebook page, Oh So Posh Photography, that she is currently hospitalized and facing a probable recurrence of cancer.

Lidia with sweet daughter, Isadora
{photo credit - Oh So Posh Facebook page}

Lidia has touched the hearts of thousands of people including mine. She uses her talents to give selflessly to others through an organization that she founded, The Tiny Sparrow Foundation, in which she and other photographers photograph children who are facing life threatening illnesses. Through her Facebook page and blog she always looks for ways to help inspire others to be better people…..and she does.

It is her amazing way of touching others that is now working to help bring a huge amount of support her way. She is surrounded with love and prayers by thousands of her followers….most of whom have never met Lidia. We wanted to help bring more love, prayers and support her way.

We are asking all of our Annie & Isabel followers to band together again like we have so many times in the past and show our support for Lidia. Please help us by doing the following:

1. LIKE our Facebook post HERE to help share her story and continue to surround her in our love.

2. Leave a comment of support on our Facebook post to Lidia as she needs as much support as possible right now.

3. Send Lidia a real card. I can tell you from experience that receiving a card in the mail via snail mail can do wonders in lifting a person's spirits!!

Lidia Grigorean
9720 Coit Rd, Suite 220-222
Plano, TX 75025

4. If you use Instagram send her a message with the hashtag #ohsoposhstrong. She is reading all of these and has already said how much every message means to her.

We have made Lidia our latest "Feel Better Campaign" recipient and are sending her our "Evelyn" designer hospital gown in hopes it will bring a smile to her face, comfort while in the hospital, and strength to take on and kick cancer's butt again! We know sweet Isadora will love her Mommy's beautiful hospital gown and that alone is....everything.

To help understand what a special human being Lidia is, please read a post she wrote a year ago which talks about her struggles and how she has used those to make her a better person. It is a pretty powerful post:

"I Made Her Because I Love Her"

Lidia…we want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and you have the support of all our Annie & Isabel warriors!!  Take in all the support you are receiving and let it help bring you strength as you prepare to fight once again.

Newest Feel Better Campaign Recipient, Tim, Needs Our Prayers

Every once in awhile we ask our community to pull together and wrap our arms around someone in need of our thoughts and prayers. So far, you always come through. This is the reason why we always boast that we have the best fans ever. WE NEED YOU ALL AGAIN!!

Tim is our latest "Feel Better Campaign" recipient. Tim is a 35 year old young man who, a couple of weeks ago, had everything going for him. He serves our country in the United States Air Force and also works in a job he loves, as a firefighter. He loves serving others and helping people in need.

He has a beautiful wife, Lacey, and three precious boys.

In the course of one week, Tim's life changed drastically and he is now fighting for his life. Last week, Tim was having some abdominal pain, so he went to the ER. What he thought might be a bad virus turned out to be much more serious. He ended up requiring emergency surgery and was told he had cancer that had spread throughout his abdomen. 

Tim and his family need our help! We are asking you to help us make this post go viral so we can send Tim a ton of thoughts and prayers in hopes that he can be provided with the strength to win this battle. He has way too much to live for…….

 and these sweet boys need their daddy.

We donated one of our men's camouflage gowns to Tim so that he can fight this battle in style and with dignity. By the looks of this picture, we don't think cancer stands a chance against Tim!

So…help us make his story go viral on Facebook!!

1.  "SHARE" this post on Facebook to help spread Tim's story so we can get more people sending good thoughts and prayers his way.

2.  "LIKE" this post on Facebook. Let's show Tim just how many people are thinking about him.

3.  Leave a message for Tim on our Facebook post. He and his family are following us on Facebook and each message we send to him will help give Tim the strength to battle cancer and kick it's butt!

4. Lastly, Tim and his family are going to incur a lot of medical and travel expenses. Thoughts and prayers are what mean the most to them at this time, but if you are inclined and would like to help with his expenses, please visit his donation site where you can also learn more about his story and receive updates from his family and friends:

Tim's Donation Site

Fight hard Tim!! We are sending you prayers of strength, courage, and hope and there are a whole lot of other people doing the same. Your boys need you back home reminding them how fun yard work can be!!

Feel Better Campaign Recipient Needs Prayers ~ Delivering Baby Boy With Heart Defect Tomorrow

We are so happy to welcome the Marpepp family into our Feel Better Campaign. We learned about this family through a Facebook page we follow called, Enjoying the Small Things - Kelle Hampton. The mother, Jessica Marpepp, wrote the following message on Kelle's Facebook wall:

"Dear Kelle,

I hope you don't mind but I'm going to pour my heart out to you a little bit. From the first day I read your blog, I felt a kind of hope, and peace, and strength. I think, on some level, God brought me to you to prepare myself. I have a typical (and wonderful) little boy who is 2.5 and I am due on February 25th with another little boy who has been diagnosed with two heart defects. From the first weeks of pregnancy, I felt that something was wrong. I bled, he had a scarily thickenened nuchal translucency, it was one thing after another. The doctors kept telling me to prepare for a miscarriage but the universe had other plans, and my little boy and I held on to each other. When they started doing all the tests, I was nervous, but because your blog had introduced so much love and acceptance for all children, I just wanted my child to survive. After the heart tests, the doctors brought me into a conference room - let me tell you - you never want to be invited into a conference room. Once there, they pulled out a diagram of his heart and pointed to the chamber that just couldn't make it work right. Phrases like "long road" were thrown around. I nodded and took notes and held my breath. Then I got home and wept and grieved in the ways I needed to grieve. And then I read your blog and felt hope and love again. I realized that I was ready to walk that long road and that, in fact, I was filled with joy that this child was coming into my life."

Jessica is going to give birth to her second son tomorrow via c-section and her baby boy will have some significant heart defects that will eventually require surgery. It is a very exciting time for them as they will be adding a new little one to the family, yet, it is also very scary because they will not know what to expect until he is born. We would LOVE your help in surrounding her family with love, good thoughts, and prayer.We are hoping this new little baby boy will be able to overcome any obstacles and enjoy a sweet life with his big brother and family.

Mother, Jessica, and Big Brother:-)

So, once again, we are asking for you help in spreading her story by hitting "LIKE" on our Facebook post and by sharing this post to get this to go viral and get a huge number of people behind this family!! We need you to start firing up the prayers tonight to hopefully bring a stable little baby into the world tomorrow. You have done it before so LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!! Please also leave messages of support underneath the Facebook post.  

Jessica picked out the "Isabel" designer hospital gown to wear as she welcomes her little boy into the world and we love why she chose this gown. 

The card we send with all our "Isabel" gowns says, "We Wish You the Grace and Strength of Our Grandmother". Jessica wrote to us saying, 

"My Grandmother was an amazing woman and I felt like maybe this gown would lend me a bit of YOUR grandmother's grace and strength on top of my Grandmother's memory.How could I go wrong with that?" 

We completely agree, Jessica. You have already shown great strength throughout this pregnancy and we know our grandmother and your grandmother will provide even more strength as you embark on this new journey. Hugs!!

::UPDATE:: After A Near Death Motor Vehicle Accident A Year Ago, Julie McClure Has Come A Long Way

Many of you may remember one of our "Feel Better Campaign" recipients from last year, Julie McClure. She survived a life threatening motor vehicle accident on December 17, 2011, which came very close to taking her life. You can read more about her story HERE. We were very excited to receive an update from Julie recently and wanted to share it with all of you. This last year has been a long road for Julie and she has undergone too many surgeries to count but she is finally walking again and just beginning to continue with her goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. She is an amazing woman with great strength and determination.

Julie with her husband, Michael, last year

We donated our "Annie" gown to Julie as a part of our "Feel Better Campaign" and many of you also helped Julie by sending good thoughts and prayers and some made donations which allowed us to give Julie a second gown!!! She has loved her gowns and she recently wore them again for more surgeries to her arm and leg. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she continues to heal from her injuries.  We hope you enjoy this little update from Julie as much as we did!! Keep up the great work Julie. You are an inspiration to us all!!

"Thank you for taking the time to follow up on my progress! I have thoroughly enjoyed your gowns! I got to use them again just a few weeks ago when I had another surgery on my left leg! I know I was the best dressed patient in that hospital!!! 

As far as my progress... In the last month I have had two more major surgeries. One on my leg and one on my elbow. I had been having trouble walking so they decided my leg had healed wrong and they needed to break it and reset it. Well when they got in there during the surgery they discovered the fracture just hadn't healed! They put in a rod and ever since then I have been gradually able to put more weight on it! I am almost to where I can walk some without my cane!"

Julie with her sweet niece to cheer her up!

"During my elbow surgery they had to free my impinged ulnar nerve and take out all the metal in my elbow because I couldn't move it at all! The surgery, although painful, was relatively successful. The doctor was pleased and expects a decent recovery of motion. I am diligently working to get my elbow moving!"

Julie holding up all the metal that was removed from her elbow!!

"It is a slow process but it is starting to move! I am currently working hard at physical therapy and elbow therapy three times a week to get stronger and stronger! I start back to work part time in January and hopefully I will also begin back to grad school to finish up my Nurse Practitioner schooling! Still praying that will work out!

Thanks for all your prayers they have meant so much!"

~ Julie McClure

You can continue to follow Julie's progress on a Facebook page that was set up for her last year here: Praying for the McClures and their families

Prayers Needed For Our Newest Feel Better Campaign Recipient

The beautiful couple pictured here is Heather and Sean Brown. They were excitedly expecting a new baby boy at the end of October but, on September 15th, 2012, things changed drastically for this family. Sean was serving our country in Afghanistan when his wife, who was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, began to experience back pain and a headache. She went to the hospital, started having seizures, and it was discovered that she had a massive brain bleed.

Heather's sweet baby boy was delivered via emergency c-section and now Heather is in the fight of her life. Heather is in a coma and needs as many thoughts and prayers as possible to help with her healing. Her loving husband, Sean, was able to make it back from Afghanistan and has been by Heather's side. This past week, Sean was able to finally re-unite Heather with their new son, John. In Sean's words, when baby John was placed on Heather's chest, "Heather instantaneously, as soon as she touched John, made a grimace on her face as if she was fixing to cry, like she knew." This has brought great hope for Heather's family as they continue to pray for continued progress in her recovery. 

We decided to make Heather our next "Feel Better Campaign" recipient and, at the request of her family, sent her the "Susan" gown. We hope this gown can provide some comfort and strength to Heather and her family:-)

WE NEED YOUR HELP TOO!! Please join us in sending healing thoughts and prayers to Heather and her family.

Please "LIKE" and "SHARE" our Facebook post to spread the word about her story.

A Facebook page was set up by a friend of the family to help support them and we would love if you would go and "LIKE" their page here -> "Bringing Home the Browns". They have already received a tremendous response on their Facebook page but the more people to support them with thoughts and prayers the better.

Thank you so much for always rallying behind our Annie & Isabel warriors!! We know it means the world to them.