Keith & I circa 1983- who was crazy enough to let two 21 year olds deliver a brand new rolls royce to florida?
Back in 1983 I met the man I’ve proudly called my husband for the last 25 years. We met on St.Paddy’s Day, yep you guessed it, at a bar. What can I say we both have Irish in our bloods. That was over 29 years ago and I wouldn’t change a thing. We’ve managed to raise four beautiful kids,beautiful on the inside and the outside. We’ve had our struggles and challenges just as any marriage or family does. Many times those challenges were met head on using the talents God had granted us.
This past July after many months of trying to figure out why Keith hadn’t been feeling well, he was diagnosed with stage three color-rectal cancer. We were blessed to have the right doctors put on our team from both University of Penn in Philly and St. Mary’s Hospital in Newtown. After a months rest from his six weeks of daily chemo and radiation treatments, we head to the city tomorrow to tackle step two on this journey, surgery.
Keith and one of our beautiful children, Kayla at her prom.
To say that this journey has been filled with its challenges is putting it mildly, but I think that one of the biggest has been the financial cost. Even though we are fortunate to be able to have good health insurance, like many others it comes with a cost in very expensive co-pays and deductibles. To add a little more humor, our insurance runs August through July, not the January to December like most plans, so you guessed it, all the fees paid up until the final diagnoses in July were wiped out once we began treatment.
Not being one to cry and whine about the hand we were dealt, I began to try and figure out how to deal with the circumstances. Enter Nuero-Sonic’s bottle design contest. A representative from the company came into the graphic design department at the college I am attending, Moore College of Art and Design in Philly. Turns out the were looking to redesign one of their bottles and we would have a shot at it. The best part was that besides a years supply of Sonic water, they were also offering a $10,000 cash prize, enough to cover our growing medical bills. I quickly got to designing my bottle and promoting it to obtain enough votes to make it into the top 10 and be considered for the final prize.
Social media is magical. How quickly can something travel. How quickly can we find out where someone is in need and how we can help. I’ve diligently be promoting my design on all my social networking outlets, twitter, facebook, instagram, you name it. So I thought today as we get down to the end to the end of the contest, why not write my blog around it.
My bottle design for Nuero-Sonic
Here is my design and here is the link to vote http://www.myneurosonic.com/v/810 . The beauty is you can share my message and vote everyday. Investing about 10 seconds of your time to make a huge difference in a family’s future. Although I am behind in the vote count I still believe in miracles and win or lose, I know that God has given me incredible talents. I am daily I am reminded that with those talents my family and I will be ok. Tomorrow as we head into the city for Keith’s surgery, I will carry with me all the support, prayers and love shown to us by our family, friends and even strangers. And in my heart in know everything will be alright.
Gracefull Arts by Pam 