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"I haven't cried through a treatment in a long time…. I could barely see her little eyes through the plastic but what I could see was her tears dripping down into her ears and she kept pleading with me 'Mommy, please take it off, I don't love this mask, please take it off!' Once the mask for chemo was hardened, they connected it down to the table so that she was completely immobile, after having strapped in her little arms and legs to the table. It made me sick inside to look at her like that, so trapped and scared, I can't even imagine how awful it was for her." - Anissa Mayhew, May 31, 2007.
Anissa Mayhew recounts just a few of the abnormal moments a family battling childhood cancer goes through in her daily blog at the Website www.hope4peyton.com. The little girl in question, 3-year-old Peyton, is undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Anissa has had to leave her job to become a full-time chemo parent. To help the family pay for medical and travel expenses, a fundraiser will be held Saturday, June 30 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Baylife Church, 1017 Kingsway Ave. in Brandon.
The day will include a bake sale, raffle and auction items and a yard sale. There will also be fun for the kids: a petting zoo, bounce house and face painting. Food, drinks and snow cones will be on hand for consumption. As a special treat, the Florida 501 Troop of Star Wars Storm Troopers will be attending for photos and to interact with visitors.
"God has blessed us through her cancer; our eyes have truly been opened in ways we never dreamed," says Anissa. "Peyton is currently undergoing the roughest part of her treatment to date, a combination of the harshest chemotherapy drugs and cranial radiation. Yet, we have met the most amazing kids and families that we never would have had a chance to get to know otherwise. She's gotten to be a Miracle Network/All Children's Hospital telethon poster child, she's on the cover of the Children's Cancer Center flyer: she's just touched a lot of hearts and we've had our lives forever changed for the better."
To make the event as successful as possible, organizers are requesting help from the community. Donations of raffle, yard and bake sale items will be accepted on Friday, June 29 at Baylife Church from 9 a.m.-12 Noon and 5-7 p.m. For more information, please contact Lisa Bedrosian at 653-9678.
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