Today a friend put a post on facebook: 

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For Keagan's "Me" project he had to describe the worst thing that ever happened to him. He said it was when his big brother got cancer. Josh still took care of him when he was sick, though. 

Keagan's older brother is a Leukemia Survivor. Josh endured over 1000 days of treatment.

​Cancer affects everyone in the family. Siblings will feel the affects of the treatment that their brother or sister is going through. St Baldrick's Foundation discusses the Ripple affect of cancer. 

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Siblings may experience: 

• Feelings of burden as they assume greater responsibilities and chores at home
• Conflict about having their own needs
• Fear of upsetting parents with worries related to cancer
• Feelings of isolation/exclusion
• Loss of companionship with their sibling, the pediatric patient

rBut here we are, in Childhood Cancer ACTION Month... What can you do? How can you help? 

Alex's Lemonade Stand offers wonderful resources to help Siblings: 
MD Anderson Offers Tips such as: 

• involving the sibling
• Setting aside special time with the brother or sister
• Allow the children to express themselves
• Maintain as much normalcy as possible
• Seek Support

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How can you help with the things above? 

• Instead of saying "Let me know when you need something" Just say "We are going to the movies, does Billy want to come?"
• If you are in an educational setting, be sure others are aware of this students situation, and be sure that they are given the time, space, and resources that they need. 

Did you know that there is a Wikipedia page completely devoted to Awareness Months? I'll bet you didn't know that there was an Egg Nog Awareness Monthen.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commemorative_months . 

Why do I hate awareness months? I hate them because what happens during the rest of the year? Why do we need to be told that it's February, and this is when we learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Why do we wait until October to remind people about Breast Cancer? Do we think people that have lived though breast cancer forget? 

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Here we are, Aug 31st 2016... 5 years ago today Patrick had his first brain surgery. 5 years ago today, Aunt Jenny and Aunt Betsy sat at a car dealership when we found out that those tumors were malignant. 

Just because I hate Awareness Months does not mean that I will not spend this month reminding people about the realities of Childhood Cancer. As these posts appear, please feel free to share them. Let's be sure to paint this world gold for all of the children and for all of the families. 

This year I have started on a plan to knit 52 hats in 2016. It has been a busy week at wok, so that means I have had lots of time on conference calls to get knitting accomplished, so why not knit a couple of hats. 

As you may know, Aunt Betsy is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, she also spent a number of years in the theatre industry. Needless to say, the loss of Alan Rickman has hit me very hard. Last night I decided it was time to cast on a  Slytherin house hat. I have not "officially" been sorted, but I consider myself a Gryffendor. But I think right now, we are all Slytherin, in honor of Professor Snape. 

I made a simple house beanie, with green and grey stripes. This will likely fit a small school aged child. I have cast on a second one already. 

This is not my favorite yarn on the planet, but it makes an okay hat. I got it SUPER on sale at JoAnn Fabric one day. I have discovered that the best way to knit with this is to hold it with another yarn. I typically use a basic acrylic. 

This is a short row hat. I used this pattern to make this hat, and I LOVE it. I have used it many times, and I will continue to use it many times love. It allows lots of options for colors and weights of yarns. 

This year for Christmas, I gave Patrick and his daddy a new map of the United States. My goal was for them to fill up the map with pins showing where hats come from, and where hats are delivered. . . well, it gave me a wonderful idea, and our goal for 2016.

Yup, you read it correctly. Our goal is to deliver at least 50 hats to all 50 states. 

​So, how can you help make this happen. 

Make Hats !!!

Of course, Make Hats!

There are 2 ways to get your hats to children in need: 

Deliver the hats yourself:
If you would like to deliver the hats on your own, you can fill out the form in the link below. We will send you tags that you can attach to your hats. These tags are small business cards that you can attach to the hat with a piece of yarn or with a safety pin. 

​Fill out this form and we will send you some tags

Send your hats to us:
You can of course still send hats to PatPat's Hats Cental. Gigi and Buppa are always excited to receive new hats. 

Hats can be sent to: 
PO Box 318
Westbook, CT 06498

Do you work for, or have a connection with, a Facility that needs hats?: 
If you work for a facility, or have a connection with a facility, that is in need of hats please let us know! While we have lots of places where we have donated in the past, we are always looking for new recipients. 

Do you know others that knit or crochet in your area? 
Maybe it is at your church, library, or you local coffee shop. If you get together to make hats, you can even make new friends !

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Would you like to deliver hats? 
We may need folks to deliver hats for us, so if you are able to 

We are so excited for 2016 and everything that it has to offer. #50hatsto50states let's see this happen!!!!!

Here we are once again. The Thanksgiving season has passed. The turkey has been made into soup. Our Christmas shopping has begun, and some of us (me) have already decorated. 

I'm not sure how it started, but here we are at #giving Tuesday. 

How can you help PatPat's Hats? 


1. Tell your friends!
Share this post.  Tell your friends about PatPat's Hats and what we do. Tell them why YOU continue to support us. 

2. Make Hats!!!
We are continuing to receive hats on a regular basis. I continuously say that this was supposed to be a one time thing, and here we are still donating hats. We will continue to donate hats if we receive them. 

We have recently expanded how we donate our hats. If you are making hats, you can send deliver them to organizations on your own! Simply fill out the form HERE . We will send you Business cards. These business cards can be attached to your hats (typically with a piece of yarn, or a safety pin) These tags let the recipient know about PatPat's Hats. 

Why is this a good idea?
- By you donating the hats, you can likely receive a tax deduction from the organization. 
- We can expand our reach of children that we support,because hats will be reaching more children. 
- This actually saves funds in shipping. Hats are only being sent once, as opposed to being sent out twice. 

3. Donate to Our GoFundMe
We do have a GoFundMe Page that helps us with expenses. Please know that this is NOT a tax deductible donation, but it does help us with expenses (shipping, printing of tags, hosting of the website, etc) 

We are eternally grateful to all of you. For the time that you have given, for the hats that you have made, for your prayers of support for our family and friends. 

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We can help other families. Some of us can knit, crochet, or sew. Others can donate money. But there are so many other ways that we as a community can support children and families battling cancer.

I hope to share some different ways that you can help.

Support the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

I cannot express how important this organization is. I have two friends who have benefitted from this wonderful place. When your child is in the hospital, you are not always able to be in a hospital near your home. Parents need a place to sleep, shower, and decompress. Sometimes your child has been released from the hospital, but you can't be far away. The Ronald McDonald house offers an inexpensive place for families to stay.

He can you help? Reach out to the house in your area. Find out if they need volunteers. Gather friends, family, Girl Scouts, your youth group... Arrange a night where you can make a meal at the house, many houses offer the opportunity for groups to come in and make a meal for the families staying in residence.

This is the sort of relaxation the Ronald McDonald house can offer. A comfortable space for families to stay that offers the safety of being near the hospital, without being cooped up in a hospital room,

I share this information with permission from this child's mother.

We all woke up hoping this was a nightmare and realized it's reality. Yesterday there was tons of crying, some punching and chair throwing (new to me), swearing and anger. Today brings a sense of numbness and through the pain begins the research...

The conversation we had with Madeline yesterday was so private and deep. I won't share everything she said but I do have to share that at 9 years old she was more concerned about us than herself. But she said she doesn't care what she has to do to make it. I made sure she wanted to do this for herself and not for us. After the 3rd diagnosis much of the plan is a choice, and we decided to give the choice to her.

As it always goes, Madeline and Juju spent the night reminding us not to cry and telling us we were strong enough to do this again. We are all trying to gather what strength we have left although it's hard to even stand up right now.

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At the end of our conversation last night Madeline said to me (after I told her I wasn't ready to share the news yet) "you can tell everyone. I don't care if you tell the news! The more people who know, the more people who will try to save me!"

The reason I share this is because at this point we do need to look high and low. And we will have choices to make. We are looking into any and all options. We have an amazing team of doctors who actually love Madeline and are doing their research as we speak. We will discuss with them options next week. However, I will also be bringing to the table anything else I can find. If it is the best plan, time and distance and other "inconveniences" don't matter right now.

For the facts, Madeline was treated for high risk ALL from 2011-2013. Chemo only. Did perfectly. Dec 2014 developed secondary (treatment related) AML, monosomy 7. No remission after 3 rounds of chemo. Went to transplant with MRD of 2.5. Matched sibling cord/marrow transplant. Sailed through transplant. All went well. Relapse on day +180. Even after all of this she is in wonderful physical health somehow mentally and emotionally ready to fight again.

I assume Madeline would be someone's dream study and we are looking into EVERYTHING!!! Yes, everything. If you'd like to share please be in tune with the description of her illness. Many cancers are very different. I do ask if you are sharing advice that you be as specific as possible. We already have the top docs on this but it can't hurt to share thoughts. Even though I may not have time to respond. I realize I have many doctors, nurse and research friends out there and I don't ever want to regret these days where we are looking for the next step.

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If you know anyone doing research, share this blog post. Ask them if they know anyone doing research in this area. I have direct communication with her mother and will pass on any contact information that can help.

Tonight I went for an evening run. This is a rarity for me, normally I run in the morning. As I approached a bridge that crosses the harbor, the gates came down to let some boats through.

I waited for the boas to pass, and continued on my way. It is such a beautiful night in New England. The inner is in its way out, and my favorite season is right around the corner.

As I came back to cross the bridge again.... You guessed it

Same bridge.... Opposite direction.

As I waited, not so patiently, I turned and was greeted with this.

The beauty took my breath away. I watched the gold flecks dance across the water. For the rest of my run, I was greeted with gold shining in everything.

We are heading towards the end of childhood cancer awareness month. Next month, everything will be pink. Both Gigi and nana are breast cancer survivors. Our family certainly understands the need for breast cancer awareness.

We need to ensure that childhood cancer awareness is spread 11 months of the year!

Four years ago I posted this on Facebook....

It all started because of 1 hat that was too small. That post because this little engine that could.

We are here because of all of you. We are here because you continue to send us hats, and we will continue to be here until the hats stop. After that, I will continue this mission on my own.

I know that these hats spread joy, I know that these hats spread warmth.

Today, tell your friends about PatPat's Hats. Tell them why you follow us. Tell them what you have done. Share this ribbon.

Tell your friends that if they can't make hats, they can still support our mission through our gofundme campaign. They can hp by delivering hats to their local community hospitals, or they can tell their friends.

Help us spread the word about aoreading warmth and joy.

I follow so many pages of so many children battling cancer and other illnesses. In many of these stories, mom is with the child at the hospital, and dad is at work and keeping things running at home. 

Now, I stress that this is NOT always, but it is so frequent. 

The day that Patrick was brought to the ER, his dad was doing just that. He was on his way to Pennsylvania to start a new job. He would visit whenever he could.Ron, Patrick's dad, could not be at Patrick's side during all of his treatments, yet he was, and continues to be, one of Patrick's biggest cheerleaders, and his feirce protector. 

The other day while walking into work, the song Puff the Magic Dragon came onto my ipod. Since I was a child, I could not listen to this song without crying. I have always considered it to be one of the saddest songs. 

As I knew Childhood Cancer awareness month was coming soon, I thought about so many dad's that have stood by their children during treatment. 

The Dad who came running with whatever his daughter wanted to eat. 

The Dad that stayed home with the other children and kept the house running while mom was in the hospital with the child going through treatment. 

The single dad who cared for his child during treatment. 

The dad's who has said goodbye to their children. 

These dads could not protect their children from cancer, no matter how loud they roared. 

To all of the dads out there fighting this battle with your family, we are with you always.