A note from Linda Myers, who runs Windows of Hope, our oncology support shop:
Windows of Hope just received a wonderful donation of handmade scarves for us to give away to cancer patients along with a lovely monetary donation. The scarves were made by the staff of Deaconess 4-inpatient psychiatry and the psych consult nurses as a way to support cancer patients.
A staff member wrote to Linda:
We have all had our lives touched by this illness either through personal experience or by the experience of loved ones or colleagues, and it was decided that the "pink scarf project" would be a nice way to be supportive, serve as a rememberance, and as a tribute to the survivors in our lives. It was great fun. Some of us perfected our knitting skills -- there was a healthy competition for the " most knit" by two nurses -- some of us learned to knit, with a few tears and dropped stitches, others had their mothers or their daughters do the project. A few contracted the job out and some who couldn't knit perfected their shopping skills or bought the scarves so a donation to Windows of Hope could be made. All in all, it was a rewarding experience. WE WISH YOU WARMTH AND PEACE AS THE PINK SCARF KEEPS YOU WARM.
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This is such a nice sentiment that I think it deserves top billing on this blog for a few days. So, for that reason and as part of my continuing personal effort to avoid addictive behavior, I am going to take off a week or so off writing entries for this blog. I will still moderate comments, though, so please feel free to send them in.
At 39, my best friend survived an aortic aneurysm. Over the next dozen years, she fought through dialysis, a kidney transplant, and endocarditis. When she turned 53, her husband, a fit, energetic tennis player was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As with everyone who loved them, I felt helpless so I started knitting caps. I convinced myself that if I kept knitting, he could not die. He particularly like one of them, an oatmeal Irish fisherman's cap; she liked a similar blue one. I knit a lot of caps before he called one Saturday to say that she had had another aneurysm--and died. Though devastated, he survived for another year, longer than his prognosis. We knitters believe in something greater than yarn and needles.
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