A true survivor

To all who know about my 7 year old niece Winter and her ongoing battle with leukemia- Thank you for your continued prayers, support, and endless love. It's been a long 9 months (hard to believe its been that long). This weekend was a special weekend for our Winter. She was asked to participate in the Relay for Life SURVIVOR's walk! Even though she is absolutely still battling her leukemia, she is considered a survivor because she has NO more cancer cells! WOOHOO! You that know me know how important she is to me and my entire family. (A little background: my older brother Jacob who is now 29 years old, suffered and battled through the same leukemia that Winter has "ALL". He was diagnosed at 17, I was 12. I'm not sure if either of us remember much outside the hospital during those intense chemo-filled 8 months). I feel a little like a pro at this... When Winter first became sick, the whole family bunkered down and I think we all just knew. It was all too familiar. She was diagnosed almost exactly ten years since Jake was diagnosed. De ja vu? Oh yeah. Petrified? Beyond belief. Banded together? Absolutely. Thank the Lord for my amazing family and the strength that each person has. God absolutely designed my family with the characters it needed to make it through. I see that more and more as I grow up. And, now my family has two AMAZING cancer SURVIVORS! Two heroes. Two of my best friends :).

Back to my story about Winter's weekend.

She walked in a very symbolic and emotional walk that I hated to miss. Thankfully, other members of my fam were there to take pictures. I'm just so proud of her. Thought I'd share these ones with you! Thank you my dear bloggie friends for the support.

This one is very important to see because each bag was lit in memory of a child lost to cancer at CHKD.







This is Winter's nurse and son- and Winter's big brother on the end

I will leave you with this. In the oh-so-wise words of Destiny's Child ;) hehe it fits:

I'm a survivor
I'm not gonna give up
I'm not gon' stop
I'm gonna work harder
I'm a survivor
I'm gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin'