100 Days of Cancer

100 Days of Cancer – how many is that in dog years??

Well, it’s been 100 days exactly since life pulled the rug out from under us and we received Kendrie’s leukemia diagnosis. So far I think we’re hanging in there pretty well, if you pay no attention to the empty, jumbo-sized bottle of Prozac on my nightstand. (Kidding, of course.) I’m not sure what the significance of 100 days actually means, if anything. I know Korean babies get a big celebration when they are 100 days old, but we’re not Korean. That’s where the age-old classic, “Bottles of Beer on the Wall” starts. Hmmmm. Maybe it’s just that I’m one of those obnoxious Americans who loves things divisible by ten and yet still doesn’t understand the metric system, so to my small, simple mind, day 100 should be marked in some fashion.

Since a party doesn’t seem appropriate – who wants to celebrate GETTING cancer after all, and my local party supply store was out of confetti anyway, I thought perhaps a list would be better. (Yes, you know me and my lists. They didn’t call me “Queen of the Post-It Note” at my last job for nothing!) What follows are 100 web sites for 100 kids (and a few grown ups, too) who have also been affected by this disease. Not all of the links are for people battling leukemia, specifically. And a few of the precious children listed have sadly lost their battle.

These are the sites of new friends we have “met” online, people who have helped support us on our journey so far; also some who have been gracious enough to visit Kendrie’s Caring Bridge site and sign her guestbook, then have sent me the links to friends’ sites, etc. Caring Bridge is a web-like community and once you get started, it’s easy to find sites of people that you quickly come to care about. I’m guilty of “surfing” CB sites at 2am, and figure if nothing else, it beats online shopping all night when I’m up and worried about things. I know my credit cards (and Blaine) thank me.

What I want to encourage you to do is visit as many of these websites as possible during the next week. I don’t care what method to madness you choose. Pick three or four random numbers every day and visit the sites that correspond. Visit everyone in your home state, or every place you’ve ever visited, or wished you could visit. Go alphabetically, go geographically, start at the bottom and work your way up --- it really doesn’t matter. What’s important is to go to the sites and sign the guest books. Believe me when I tell you how encouraging the notes are. If you don’t know what to say, a simple “best wishes from (enter home state here)” is fine. If you want, just tell them we sent you and say hi, nothing else required.

I plan to leave this list up for one week, and anyone who manages to visit all 100 sites during the week wins a special prize. And everyone who can complete the quiz at the end will also win a prize. I can practically HEAR you all holding your breath in anticipation!!! -------- Ok, ok, so it’s not really a prize, but I will make a donation to Caring Bridge in you or your child’s name. I’m personally going to visit all 100 sites and sign the guest books. I don’t care how much 2am surfing it takes!!

I’d also like to mention one CB site that I left off the list, that of Marcus, a very special little boy on our list serve who passed away last week. My heart goes out to his mother, and I hope she knows how much the rest of us on the list are thinking about her.

Thanks to all, and best wishes,

Kristie ps. I’d love to think I’m so computer-literate that all the links in this list work perfectly, but come on. It’s ME we’re talking about! So if you find a link that doesn’t work correctly, please let me know and I’ll fix it as quickly as possible. Thanks! Remember, quiz at the end!


1. Holly in NY

2. Madie in GA

3. Dianne in MD

4. Duncan in TX

5. Serena in CA

6. Kody in FL

7. Elijah in IA

8. John in PA

9. Lindsay in IL

10. Colin in WI

11. Adam in TX

12. Tyler in OK

13. Melanie in MI

14. Aidan in WA

15. Cheyenne in TX

16. Stacey in TX

17. Jill in NJ

18. Nicky in OH

19. Bryan in CA

20. Maxie in VA

21. Ashley in TN

22. Wil in MI

23. Julia in MD

24. Lindsey in VA

25. Emily in TN

26. Isaiah in MI

27. Cherry in TX

28. Celeste in PA

29. Katie in Canada

30. Chad in WA

31. Tyson in FL

32. Isaac in WA

33. Jonny in MI

34. Alex in CA

35. Francesca in NY

36. Sammy in TX

37. Maddie in MN

38. Mitch in FL

39. Brandon in MD

40. Ronnie (Gooch) in CT

41. Amanda in PA

42. Fisher in VA

43. Andy in IN

44. Chad in NV

45. Julianna in Canada

46. Spencer in CA

47. McKenzie in WV

48. Houston in TX

49. Andrew in CA

50. Dani in IA

51. Logan in FL

52. Kristen in IL

53. Chris in MD

54. Marina in FL

55. Kevin in VA

56. Gemma in Italy

57. Jake in FL

58. Ashley & Ryan in WI

59. Zachary in FL

60. Aizee in UT

61. Jessie in PA

62. Conor in Canada

63. Noah in TX

64. Cameron in LA

65. Chris in FL

66. David in FL

67. Palmer in GA

68. Jessica in PA

69. Linus in AZ

70. Bobby

71. Abby in OH

72. Craig in TN

73. Tayden in SD

74. Jason in MD

75. Lakota in MN

76. Alex in SC

77. Will in NC

78. Jordan in GA

79. Emma in OH

80. Dustin in TX

81. Katia in FL

82. Leah in VA

83. Chloe in MO

84. Jonathan in MN

85. Carter in IL (patient name: cartercarepage)

86. Joey in PA

87. Noah in IA

88. Caleb in WA

89. Michael in NY

90. Jacob in GA

91. Grant in ID

92. Caleb in TN

93. Joshua in TN

94. Luke in FL

95. Sarah Anne in AL

96. Lindsay in NY

97. Ashley in IL

98. Hannah in CA

99. Maddy in ND

100. Lauren in TN

(and one extra from an Angel named Matthew, to wish everyone luck)

101. Matthew in MO



100 DAY QUIZ (probably favors ALL-parents, since we know one another’s kids better through our list-serve, but everyone should give it a shot!)

1. Who is a Philadelphia Eagles fan?
2. Who has a dog named Shadow, er, Sammy?
3. Whose site recently went over 384,000 hits?
4. Who enjoys dressing up like superheroes and got a scary looking Hulk costume for Christmas?
5. Who has a brick laid in his honor at the Soccer Hall of Fame in NY?
6. Who has been in the ring, with THE ROCK?
7. Who loves collecting fancy pencils and pens?
8. Who lives less than ten miles from my parents? (Ok, so those of you who actually KNOW me have a slight advantage with this one.)
9. Who currently loves Crispix cereal, in a steroid-sort of way?
10. Who is taking a bead stringing/jewelry making class?
11. Who had the fire department show up at his last birthday? (And no, not to put out the fire made by the candles on his cake!)
12. Who is our current Karaoke King?
13. Who recently got her drivers license?
14. Who had fun swimming with the dolphins?
15. Who loves playing soccer in her Tinkerbell costume?
16. Who is a competitive swimmer? (this might be hard if you don't already know, since I think her mom took the photo off her web site)
17. Whose doctor has nicknamed this patient, “Wild Girl”?
18. Who is our biggest Frosty the Snowman fan?
19. Who has a diabetic cat named Lulu?
20. Who is the Navy Blue Angels #1 fan?
21. Who just got a new puppy named Bella?
22. Who just won 3rd place in his Boy Scout Pinewood Derby?
23. Who has the “newest” CB site? (Less than one week old!) (actually, there’s a tie between two people, as best I can figure)
24. Who just recently lost his first tooth?
25. Whose mom should really turn her mind to more productive things?