Welcome to Team Awareness Beads: Mercedes Caskey and Awareness Beads GA!

Awareness Beads is BRANCHING OUT!

That's right, when we re-open this spring, there will be TWO branches of Awareness Beads!

Jordan and I are still in charge and we hold down the fort here in Goldsboro, at the MAIN BRANCH, and we take care of all the paperwork and stuff, but our friend Mercedes is now the Main Beader for the branch she will run, AWARENESS BEADS GA!

Awareness Beads GA is our daughter branch located in Georgia. All branches will share this blog, and share posts and updates here and on the main Facebook page, but Awareness Beads GA also has their own Facebook page.

We will stay connected by, as I mentioned earlier, all using this blog, and by have Mercedes (Mercy) share all of Awareness Beads GA's Facebook posts on the main Facebook for Awareness Beads as well.

The main Facebook for Awareness Beads is the NC branch. Jordan and I are the "mother branch", because we originally started Awareness Beads, and are the Founder and President.

Any other branches started (like Awareness Beads GA) will have a "Main Beader" (Mercy) and "Assistant Beaders" if they so chose.

So far, Awareness Beads GA is the only daughter branch, but keep a look out! There may be more in the future!



So, that all being said....


INTRODUCING THE "MAIN BEADER" of AWARENESS BEADS GA, MERCEDES CASKEY!

Hello.

My name is Mercedes Caskey. I’m nineteen and have a small family that includes my husband and infant son. I’m very friendly, though admittedly a bit shy at first.

I have had a couple cousins with cancer, and a close cousin with juvenile diabetes. I saw that a good friend of mine from North Carolina started this organization and, after checking it out and talking to her, I was touched deeply. Her goal and heart is amazing. I want to help her and her husband, as well as the families they help. 

The branch I’m opening is located in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Our mascot is Magnolia. She is very special to me and I think she is the perfect mascot.

-Mercy

RJ Needs Us to be TOUGH!

RJ Kaufman, one of the many children we follow here at Awareness Beads, is known as a "Tough Guy" on Facebook.

RJ has Neuroblastoma, and just over the course of a few days, his cancer has spread so rapidly that there are no treatment options left for him.

There are two events going around Facebook for him, and I will post the links to those as well as his page at the bottom of this entry.

RJ is going home on Hospice Care to enjoy the rest of his time just being a little boy.

Please say a prayer for "Tough Guy" and his family, and if you are a Facebook user, "like" his page and attend his events.


RJ's Page:
http://www.facebook.com/rjtoughguy

His Events:
"Tough Guy" Out Facebook for RJ
Light a Candle for RJ "Tough Guy" Kaufman

Awareness Beads is Tweeting!

Awareness Beads is proud to announce that we have joined twitter and are working on getting back up and running for 2012!

Follow us for quick updates on where we're at as far as opening the organization back up for mailing, and to see how the kids we know and/or follow are doing!

www.twitter.com/AwarenessBeads

Update on Wes Pak

Hello Awareness Beads followers!  It has been such a long time since our blog or Facebook page was updated, and that is long overdue, but for now, we are here to give you some information about our little buddy, Jedi, Wes Pak.

Awareness Beads met Wes during his very first hospital stay after being diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma.  That was at the end of June, and we met him in the beginning of July 2011.

Since our first meeting, we have kept in touch with Wes' family and have seen Jedi Soldier Wes several times, including a fundraising event for him in October.

Wes has undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and other procedures necessary for his treatment, and today, Jedi Wes had his big surgery.

After being told by the surgeons at CHKD, Wes' home hospital, that they could not possibly remove all of his tumor, Wes' parents, with the help of their friends and family, began to look into more options, ultimately deciding to take Wes to NYC for his surgery.

Wes and his parents flew to New York a few days ago, and this morning, at 7:45am, Wes went into surgery.

Around 6:00pm, Wes was out of surgery and taken to the PICU.  The team in NYC removed all of the tumor they could see!

Wes lost 3 units of blood during the surgery, but it was given back to him and he is stable.  His kidney was saved, however he did lose the tip of his pancreas, but the team says it shouldn't have any effect on Wes.

As part of Wes' Army, Awareness Beads is very thankful to share this wonderful news with our followers.  We will have a post later on about the status of our organization, but tonight, it is all about our friend Wes.

Wes and his family still have a long road ahead, but today was a huge step forward in his journey.


To join Wes' Army, follow him on Facebook at Wes' Fight Against Neuroblastoma.

We love you Jedi Wes!

All our love,
Stormy and Jordan
Awareness Beads

Fly High Kailee

It is with heavy hearts that we announce an addition to the previous list.


Kailee Ours has earned her wings.

Rest in peace beautiful girl.

Just a Quick Update

We will do a better post later, but we just wanted to share the following:


Unfortuantely, we have lost a few little warriors.
Rest in peace Ethan Jostad, Lindsey Steltenpohl, Layla Williford, Lennon Hunt, Faith Fulmer, Kyan Spearko, Caleb Lanz, Emma White.
It is truly heartbreaking to post that many names at once.
We shouldn't even have to post one.



Jordan got to meet Emma Bulich.  He made beads with her and there will be another post just about that later.


Our baby cousin Connor is currently in ICU at CHKD recovering from a 7 hour heart surgery that he had Monday.  We will update on him in the near future.
Our buddy Wes is also in the hospital right now fighting an infection.

Please keep Wes and Connor and all of our warriors in your thoughts and prayers.


I'll leave you with a link to Wes' Journey video that I finished tonight.


Wes' Journey




Until next time,
Awareness Beads

Two New Faces!

Awareness Beads would like to introduce to our supporters two new faces we've started following!

Both new faces are local kids!


This is miss Ashley Burnette.   Ashley is from Greenville, but lives in Raleigh, NC.  This makes her an Awareness Beads local kid!! Ashley is the daughter of Nicole and Hunter Burnette, and younger sister to Olivia Burnette.  Ashley fights Neuroblastoma, and a form of Lymphoma. 

 Recently, Ashley's wish came true.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation surprised Ashley and her sister with their wish trip to Disney World earlier than they had planned.   Olivia and Ashley were very surprised!   To learn more about Ashley, you can follow her updates on her site http://www.ashleyburnette.com/, and on Facebook at Praying For Ashley Burnette.  Awareness Beads has contacted Ashley's parents and we are hoping to be able to make an Awareness Beads Local Visit with her!



Next up is miss Emma Bulich.  Emma is treated at CHKD, the same hospital as Wes, for T-Cell ALL - a form of Leukemia.  Emma has six siblings, but is the only girl her mommy and daddy have so she is a spoiled little princess!  Emma has endured seven hospital stays, proving her strength and bravery.

 Emma was diagnosed with her cancer on Christmas Day.  This heartbreaking fact leads one to appreciate Emma's smile and the sparkle in her eyes a little more, because any person, especially a child, that can get through something as big as a cancer diagnosis on Christmas proves to be among the strongest people in the world.  Emma was discharged from her seventh hospital stay on Monday, but goes back spontaneously for fevers.  She has scheduled clinic appointments for chemo.  To learn more about Emma, please visit Prayers for EMMA on Facebook.  Awareness Beads has contacted Emma's parents and we are working on meeting her for a Local Visit!




Please join us in prayer for Ashley and Emma, and keep checking in on us to see if we get to visit with them!