Colleen Kueter 1968-2008

I didn’t know Colleen personally but after reading about her and her life I am sitting here with a lump in my throat and a deep sense of sadness.

I learned about her from a notice of her passing on the homepage of a website I belong to called Ravelry. It's for knitting, crocheting and fiber enthusiasts. I didn't know her, but I feel like I could have known her…turns out we have so much in common.

I found out she was only 40 years old and died of an aggressive form of liver cancer on October 17, only two months after having been diagnosed. She had two children 5 and 2 yrs old who both had birthdays just weeks before she died.

I read her blog Spiffy Knits and found that she loved to knit and dye fiber and spin her own yarn. After reading portions of her blog I could feel her excitement about her yarn dyeing and spinning and how much she enjoyed being a WAHM (work at home mom). She was also an "older" mommy like me - she had her children when she was 35 and 38 years old and they are almost the same ages as my two children.

She left the corporate world to do what she loved - work with fiber by spinning, dyeing and knitting it under the name "Spiffy Knits". Just last year, almost a year to the day when she would die from liver cancer, she formed a little internet business called "Tiny Lady Cooperative" with two other women so that she could sell her hand-dyed yarn and fiber.

Through the magic of Google I was able to see her Obituary, her LinkedIn page, her Amazon wish list and her family's Flickr page. I saw photos from when her two children were born (2003, 2006), of her working on renovating her house and re-modeling her kitchen. I could tell from her smile and light in her eyes that she was an energetic, happy person. Her wish list on Amazon gave a glimpse into where her interests were and what was important to her at different times in her life - it varied from books on "How to Be Your Own Literary Agent" - marked in 2004 to "Nourishing Foods for Cancer Survivors" marked days after she was diagnosed in August 2008. In between those dates were books about motherhood and knitting; knitting patterns, books about color and about dyeing with natural dyes grown yourself. She seemed to have a zest for life, that much seems painfully clear.

My heart breaks to think of her family without their mommy and their wife. Her little boy, the two year old, will likely not remember her at all. My son will also be two in January and having that point of reference is almost too much. It all makes me want to cry. I cried on the way from my office to the train thinking about it all.

Her story moved me enough that I am going to make a donation to the college fund that has been set up for her two children. I feel like that is the least I could do for someone that I didn’t know but sounded so much like me and someone I wish I had met. There is a fundraiser going on at Celebrating Colleen organized by the internet cooperative she formed with two friends last year.

I guess I'm hoping that word will get out and maybe the fundraising activities will be successful and at least her children will have some sort of college fund of substance for them since they won't have their mother.

UPDATE November 6 : I just found out that I won one of the raffles I entered in Colleen's fundraiser! I'm so excited - check out the gorgeous basket of sock yarn . Even more exciting is the fundraiser brought in $12K for Colleen's children's college fund - I'm so happy that I was able to participate and it makes me feel so good to know that so many people cared about her and her children to try and help.

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

A friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. She went through surgery and chemo, lost her hair but has come through it and is healthy now. She also did it with two children under the age of 6 at home.

She is participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk which starts on Friday. We made a cash donation but I also wanted to show her a little extra support, so I knit up this hat. I love how it turned out! I can't claim design credit though - I found the pattern on Ravelry.com and it was designed by Carissa.

No one in my family would humor me and put the hat on their head so I could get a picture of it on someone - my 18 month old was crabby, my daughter just stared at me with her thumb in her mouth (I do not like it when she does that) and my husband said (in a very un-husbandly manner) "I don't want to show up on the internet wearing a pink hat!" Even when I told him I wouldn't take a front on picture with his face showing for heaven's sake...sigh... And me, I have a giant head and I didn't want the pattern to get all stretched out, so a self portrait wasn't an option.

Instead I opted for a upside-down vase. It's not the greatest model, but you can get an idea of what the hat will look like on someone. Or atleast someone that has a flat head.

Spread Animal Kindness Contest

Whoo hoo! Midwest Greyhound Adoption (the organization I volunteer with and also adopted both my greyhounds from) is in the finals for the "Spread Animal Kindness Contest"

You can vote for them by clicking HERE

Hurry! Voting closes on July 20 and the winner will be announced on July 31!

St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital

My 3-year-old daughter participated in a Trike-a-thon on Friday to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. This is her 2nd year riding in this event and she had a great time (just look at her careening around this corner!). She topped last year's fund raising by about $10 and collected $152 for St. Jude's!

Uh oh, someone (or two!) is catching up!

This is a particularly meaningful fundraiser for us because 2 1/2 years ago we were parents with a baby that needed highly specialized medical care. When my daughter was 9 months old we discovered she had a mysteriously detached retina and at 11 months old she underwent surgery to re-attach it. Thank goodness for our local children's hospital, Children's Memorial, and her fantastic retina surgeon from Northwestern (there are only two or three doctors in the entire Midwest that even do such surgery on infants).

We are eternally grateful for these specialized children's facilities and the doctors and nurses that helped us through such a scary time. So if we can pass on the word (and help out) another wonderful children's hospital, like St. Jude's, we like to do it.

If you don't know much about St. Jude's here's a little history. It was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas and opened in 1962. It is a non-sectarian, interracial facility that covers the costs of care beyond that covered by insurance.

Located in Memphis, Tennessee, it is one of the world's premier centers for research and treatment of catastrophic diseases in children, primarily pediatric cancers. The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to find cures for children with catastrophic illnesses through research and treatment.

More than 4,000 patients are seen at St. Jude yearly, most of whom are treated on a continuing outpatient basis as part of ongoing research programs. The hospital also maintains 56 beds for patients requiring hospitalization during treatment. To date, St. Jude has treated more than 17,000 children from across the United States and 60 foreign countries - from Argentina to China.

Doing a Good Deed with Goodsearch

Have you heard of http://www.goodsearch.com/?

It's a search engine powered by Yahoo but with a philanthropic twist. Each time you use them for a search they donate 1 cent to the charity of your choice. That doesn't seem like much, but it adds up and as you know for many charities every penny counts!

I came across it through the greyhound adoption group I work with - Midwest Greyhound Adoption. In the few years that MGA has been participating in Goodsearch they have raised a couple of hundred dollars for the greyhounds and through no extra effort other than asking their members to type in http://www.goodsearch.com/ when they are looking something up on the web.

The challenge is getting people to use it and CONTINUING to use it. If most people are like my husband they say "Google is faster and how much money am I really going to be able to help contribute so why bother?" To which I roll my eyes and say "if you don't use Goodsearch you won't contribute anything, so at least give it a try it, OK? For the dogs??? Please?????" Personally, if I don't find what I need after using Goodsearch I will go to Google, but at least I start with Goodsearch.

This is such an easy way to help - why not do it? If you don't find a charity that you support already listed with Goodsearch please consider supporting the greyhounds - Midwest Greyhound Adoption.