Tag Archive for: Firstgiving

Why I Run

Day 14 QuoteDay 14
Why I Run…

Last month my marathon coach asked me why I’m running with the ISF Dream Team. I wanted to answer something easy like, “to stay in shape”, or “for the company during a run” or “all my friends are running”. But of course, my answers are never that simple.

Here is why I run…

I run to make her feel real.

It’s been 3 years. After a certain amount of time, it starts to feel like a dream. Some movie that you watched once but you were in it somehow. You had to of been in it because you are somehow in the pictures. I kick myself for taking the pictures and not being in more of them with her. Every once in awhile I catch a picture that someone took of me with her and I can barely breathe because I know THAT moment was real. The one that Angelo took of me with her in my kitchen. Those are real. That is a moment. She was dying and I knew it… but I still was just her Mommy in these pictures. But now, seeing her clothing in the house just feels like costumes from that movie. Even the pink dress I work to her funeral, I’ve tried to wear it on different occasions to get use out of it, but it is now just a costume too that can’t be worn in every day life. I don’t even dream of her. I wake pissed every morning when I have stupid dream about people I work with or some unknown face. Why can’t I see her even when I sleep? Is that too much to ask? I open my eyes each morning and look down the hallway, expecting to see her walking towards me holding her 10 blankies in her silkie pony pajamas. But, that too is just a scene from a movie in my mind. I live my life sometimes, forgetting what all happened in this house. Maybe I have to so that i can continue living because it’s a nightmare. But then I get upset with myself for wanting to forget. Some days I just want to feel her against me. But I know that is a dream that will never come true, so instead I search for ways to feel her again.. and this is why I run.

Things that make her feel real for me:
1. Visiting her site. Nothing brings it right in my face like putting my hand on that name plate.
2. Race day. When you see me, know that I’m probably drinking/drunk. I’m trying so hard to hold my composure knowing how she would of just loved being part of this day.
3. Running with the DreamTeam. Watching people get up at 6 in the morning and put on a shirt with your daughter’s name on it. Some of you knew her and some of you didn’t… and she is impacting your life. I know it sounds corny but I feel her running along side us every time we run. Laughing and singing and giving hugs to us all when we finish.

She won’t visit me in my dreams, so her gift to me is giving you all to me in another form of a dream. The Dream Team.

My goal is to raise $25,000 this year. If I hit that goal, I’m going to run back to back half marathons in November. 26.2 miles in 7 days. Help me hit my goal and give to the link below.

-Isabella’s mommy

DONATE THE CAUSE

REGISTER FOR THE RACE

Erins Shoes

Why People Do Nothing

Day 13 QuoteDay 13
Why people do nothing…

I’ve been writing for 2 weeks and each night I’m blown away at the amount of people that are reading them and responding to them. I wake up each morning and before my eyes are barely open; I’m on my phone seeing if anyone made a donation and what our current number is for race registrations. Every once in awhile I will see a bump in things or a donation will come through my page. But it’s never what I think should be happening.

Childhood cancer can often be like a car crash. You drive by slowly and can’t take your eyes off of it. You read the blogs, you follow the children and then when you close your computer, you go back to your normal life. “Wow, that accident looks horrible, I hope no one was injured”, you say as you drive by slowly. Then once you pass it, you turn your radio back up and continue driving. How many of you would actually get out of the car and see if you can help. That’s what I’m asking you to do. Stop driving by it… get out and do something.

I’m sure I was the same way. When you aren’t affected by cancer personally, the only time you are faced with it is when it’s on the news or you receive your St. Jude’s return address labels in the mail. Occasionally you give the $25 and you use the stickers they send. Or you just look at the family and thank God it isn’t you.

Well it was me. It was us and it was her.

I had to put my child through unspeakable, painful treatments and in the end had to watch her die in my bedroom. I wasn’t able to just drive by like the rest of you and watch from a distance. I had to stare her in the face. Unfortunately, people don’t change until they are forced to. For us, the curtain was pulled back and we were exposed to a world of unbelievable sadness and despair. It changed us forever.

You hate to think that something like our situation has to happen to you in order for you to get up and move, but that is usually the case. Instead of waiting for it to hit close to home, I’m asking you all to do something to prevent it from happening to anyone else. It may not be your child that gets cancer, but someday your child could have a family and it could be your grandchild that suffers. Our goal with this Foundation is so when your grandchild receives that diagnosis, there is a cure and he or she will live.

You will thank us one day for saving someone you know. So ask yourself this question, what if it were your child? What would you do then? How would you respond? So today, do something… take action as if it were your child in the hospital, or your grandchild just received this diagnosis. Cancer doesn’t discriminate and no child is safe so it may be your own family your are eventually protecting.

Stop reading and watching the car crash… get out of your car and help these kids, because one day it could be yours.

-Isabella’s mommy

DONATE THE CAUSE

REGISTER FOR THE RACE

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Why New York Was Our Home…

Day 11 Quote

Day 11

Why New York was our home…

I have to be honest; the thought of treatment in New York was exciting to me initially. Not only were we going to get the best treatment available, but we were also going to have an amazing experience in the process. I had to been to New York a couple of times but the thought of going there with a child, let alone a sick child – had me a little nervous. Do they have car seats in cabs? Will I be able to get around the city with her? Will the germs and crowds of New York make things dangerous for her? And most importantly, what will Isabella think of New York?

It took some time to get settled. The hospital was huge and a little cold to outsiders. The families in the hospital ran in clicks based off backgrounds and religion. Even the Ronald McDonald House dining room was separated by groups of families that had history together. We were definitely outsiders in this city and we could feel it.

This separation within the world of cancer in New York didn’t stop us one bit. Because we were loners, we took it upon ourselves to take in everything we could in the city. Chemo was given in a backpack so she and I would strap in and explore the world around us. We would spend days as I pushed her in the stroller to Central Park, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Bloomingdales, the American Girl store, you name it. We weren’t afraid of anything. We rode the subways and she hailed cabs. We visited the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero and lit candles in St. Michaels Cathedral. If there was something to see, we saw it.

We met amazing people in New York and developed our own little New York posse. We had people to eat dinner with; people to grab coffee with and even people that would sit with Isabella if one of us needed a minute to ourselves. Isabella loved the people we met and considered them part of her family.

For three months during a brain relapse, we sublet an apartment on 86th street by Gracie Mansion and called New York our home. We were on one of the highest floors and had an amazing view of the city. I specifically remember being there one September 11th and seeing the lights of the twin tower shining up in the sky as Isabella and Grant pressed their noses against the glass in awe. We watched all the documentaries on the couch and everything had a different feel to it now that it happened in “our city”. We made sure to make our way down to Ground Zero that week and spoke about it best we could with Isabella. It was so hard for her to understand. But, it wasn’t the first or last time she was exposed to tragedy and adult situations.

New York was such an amazing city for us because it provided her with the memories that clouded the pain. Nothing we did mattered during the day as long as we could go the American Girl Store and buy a new outfit for her doll. We would try on shoes at Bloomingdales, grab bags of candy from Dylan’s Candy bar and eat at our little pizza place around the corner where they knew Isabella. After dinner we would take stroller rides around before bed and take in the city around us until she fell asleep. These walks would allow us, if even for a minute to forget was happened that day, or what was in store for us that next morning. We found so much comfort in our new home, despite what we were going through.

New York was a gift to us during all the horrible years of tragedy. It’s hard for us to go back because everywhere we turn is a memory of her. We want Grant and Sophia to experience it just as Isabella did and plan to bring them there over Christmas to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and see the Rockettes, just as we did with her. We want them to love the city and know that their sister grew up here, she was a New Yorker and we will always refer to it as one of our homes.

-Isabella’s mommy
DONATE THE CAUSE 

REGISTER FOR THE RACE

Ib In NYC

August Firstgiving Promotion!

Ready. Set. Go!

Ready. Set. Go!

August can feel like December with the ramp up of Back to School – the calendar books up in the blink of an eye and summer seems like a distant memory before it even ends.  Plus, we’ve been busier than ever getting ready for our September 21st 5k (Go to www.5kforkidscancer.com to register!) We can’t wait!!! Those are our excuses for posting our August FirstGiving Promotions almost halfway through August!

We’ve mentioned in previous posts just how important FirstGiving is to ISF. Last year we raised over $100,000 through pages YOU created. We’re officially halfway through 2013, and we’ve already raised $33,000 through FirstGiving – our goal is $100,000 (33% to goal!). We know we WILL get there thanks to the constant support from old AND new friends.  August and September are always our highest giving months so we are excited to see where we will end up!

To thank you for all of your efforts this month, we’ve set up some pretty fabulous prizes – we like to call it the ISF 5K Swag Bag (drumroll, please…):

If you raise at least $1000 on your Firstgiving page by August 31st, 2013, you will be entered to win:

  • A $100 Dicks gift card (did we mention it’s Back to School AND ISF 5k time?? How many tennis shoes are YOU buying this month!!);  Thank you to Dicks Sporting Good for donating this to us!
  • Two entries to the ISF 5k for Kids Cancer; and,
  • Five raffle tickets to use at the race.  You will NOT BELIEVE the items that are coming in for the raffle and silent auction so these could be your winning tickets!

Even if your name isn’t pulled from the hat, just by raising $1000 you will have access to our Firstgiving VIP tent that will be at the race.  This includes a delicious hot breakfast, piping hot coffee, time to socialize with new and old friend, AND bragging rights for the entire day.

For every $1000 you raise, your name goes in the bucket for these prizes again and again. That’s your incentive to go beyond your monthly goals – how many times will your name be entered??

Remember that raising money has never been easier. Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest – whatever social media site you adore this month to get the word out. Tell all of your friends just how easy it is to set up a Firstgiving page for ISF. Let’s do this together – spread awareness and beat this Big Bad Thing for good.

Thank you from everyone here at ISF and as always, Happy Fundraising!!

July FirstGiving Promotions!

firstgiving

We love FirstGiving!

Can you believe it’s already July?  I know for us with kids, the summer is going way too fast.  Just this morning I took a look at the calendar and realized that the race is less than three months away!  Yikes!  All of our planning is coming together and things are going to be amazing yet again on race day.

One of the things that we like to spend our summer on is the ramp up of our FirstGiving fundraising pages.  FirstGiving has been an amazing resource for us each year with last year topping out our fundraising just over $100,000.  The entire race day brought in just over $200,000 so this is just about half our our total fundraising efforts each year.  Traditionally, year after year we find that the same pages are created by the same loyal fundraisers.  But this year we are seeing a dramatic change in the pages that are being created.  We are so excited to see new faces creating pages and how easy it has been for them to get donations too.  I know what you are all thinking, “I HATE asking people to donate!”.  It’s not an easy thing for anyone to do.  But luckily with social media, email, etc.. the asking part is much easier than the old days of making calls or going door to door.  Now you just put your page out on your FB or twitter status and people just give..  pretty easy.  This year we already have $20,000 raised and we are still 3 months away!  Love it.

vnecks

How cute are these shirts, right?

With summer upon us, seems like everyone I know is relaxing somewhere on the beach (if the rain stays away that is..).   So for our July promotion, we can’t think of a better way to reward you for your help than by enhancing your beach relaxation and showering you will cool ISF gear and gifts that help enhance your summer.  We get so many requests for our cool ISF shirts and merchandise so here is your chance to score it.  And if your fundraising really takes off – we reward you even more!

Without delay, here are our new July fundraising promotions.  Woo-hoo!

1. For anyone that creates a NEW FirstGiving page this month and raises at least $250 by July 31st, we will send you an awesome ISF package complete with our new tank or v-neck for women or polo for you guys out there, along with some additional ISF goodies.  Click here to get started on your page!

2. For our current FirstGiving fundraisers, if your page can reach $500 by July 31st, we you be entered in a raffle to win a new Kindle Fire HD Tablet!  For each $500 increment you raise, you will be entered again too.  So, raise $1500 by July 31st – your name is entered 3 times!  Soak up some of summer rays by reading the newest novel or stick this kids in front of a movie while you enjoy a glass of wine on your porch swing.  🙂  Ahhh.. sounds relaxing to me!

kindle

Soooooo relaxing

3. For ANYONE that donates to FirstGiving in the month of July, you too will be entered in a raffle to win the same Kindle Fire HD Tablet.  We know that some people aren’t comfortable creating their own page but still want to give, and we want to thank them for donating.  This is also a great promotion that you can mention when you tell people about your own fundraising page.  Just by having them donate, they are entered to win.  Pretty cool huh?  Want to give now?  Visit the page created in Isabella’s honor.

 

We are so excited to see this promotion take off and will be watching for progress the entire month.  As always, know that we are here to make things as easy as possible for you so contact us if you would like us to set up your page for you.  Our amazing Development Director, Maitland is just waiting for you to contact her so she can set it up for you.  😉  So email her at info@isabellasantosfoundation.com for assistance and pointers on how to make your page successful.

Stay tuned for our upcoming August promotion as well as details on how you will be rewarded yet again in September by how much your page has raised with amazing prizes, giveaways and VIP experiences.  We are crossing our fingers that we can pass the goal set last year of $100,000 and with your help, we think we can do it.

All of us here at the Isabella Santos Foundation hope that you continue to enjoy your summer.  Be sure to cherish your families and the memories that you are making together.  Don’t forget that the Isabella Santos Foundation 5K for Kids Cancer will be held on Saturday, September 21st in Ballantyne Corporate Park and registration is now open so get your entire family registered today!

Happy Fundraising!