This month we’re working with two of the sweetest sisters you’ll ever meet. Lucy was a healthy young woman until last fall, when she discovered that she had aplastic anemia, a very rare, life-threatening disease. A bone marrow transplant is Lucy’s best chance for survival, and her sister Tracy is a perfect match.
These two women and their family are sticking together and working through the toughest time of their young lives, so this month we want to join forces with them and provide six months of insurance payments for Lucy, for a total of $3,000. As a thank-you to our team, the family will be sending out special “Lucy” bracelets to anyone who gives $25 or more.
Goal: $3,000
$4,736.96
Where Your Money Goes
As you can imagine, Lucy has a ton of medical bills associated with her illness. And not only Lucy, but Tracy as well, who has spent all her money and vacation time to help battle through this with her sister. The good news right now is that Lucy still has insurance, but the premium is around $500 a month, and she really worries about making sure she can pay it going forward.
Retaining her insurance is a lifeline to saving all the money she can on medical bills in the future (even though it’s still going to be a lot), so we’d like to ease her mind by paying the next six months of premiums for her. If our team can come together to provide the $3,000 necessary to do that, it will take a huge burden off her mind, and help her focus on getting healthy again after surgery.
Why We’re Helping This Family
We were so incredibly touched by the bond that Lucy and Tracy share. Their love for each other has been evident in every interaction we’ve seen, and we want to do all we can to help them. The fact that Tracy is giving of her own life to save her sister’s is one of the most powerful stories we’ve seen since we’ve been doing Love Drop. We’re proud to be helping them this month.
In addition to the money, we’d also like to deliver 50 hand-written notes or letters of love and support for Lucy and the rest of the family during this time, so they can read her one each day during her recovery period. Please join us in doing this as well.
This episode gives us an inside look into the strength and love that surrounds Lucy and the rest of her family and friends. Her attitude in life has always been contagious, and no less so now that she’s dealing with her sickness. Her steadfast faith that she will work through the pain and come through on the other side has inspired those around her to be stronger, both for her and for each other.
It’s evident how much everyone loves Lucy, which goes to show you the depth of her own character. It’s going to be our privilege to meet this awesome young woman face-to-face in a couple weeks. :)
This is our last video before the big Drop! We cannot WAIT to show up to Wichita next weekend and surprise Lucy, and her family, with everything we’ve gotten for her so far :) As you can see from this video, and the past two, she’s been one strong and altogether POSITIVE person throughout this entire process, and it’s our mission to help her forget about things for a little bit and just be showered with love and kindness.
They’ve witnessed the power of micro-giving in their own fundraising efforts (their slogan: “$2 can make a difference!”), and it’s our job to make an even bigger impact here by teaming up with them and passing on the awesome spirit of Lucy :)
Lucy’s Love Drop was AWESOME!! Wow. What a huge turn out and celebration we had :) You can probably tell from the video, but we literally had 30+ people coming together to share the love and send Lucy off right before her big surgery (she’s currently undergoing it now, as you’re reading this). It was definitely an incredible experience.
All of her friends and family from the previous videos were there, and we think we did a great job shocking her with all our gifts and surprises at the end. I won’t give all of them away here so you’ll have to watch and see for yourself, but I can tell you that we ended up giving her over $4,500!! 50% more than our original goal of $3,000, which will all go toward helping her cover insurance costs. GREAT JOB GUYS!! You did it!!
(Click here to learn more about Lucy and her family :))
Breakdown of everything we gave Lucy: [To check out the pictures, click here.]
A check for $3,736.96! – All from our amazing Love Drop team – well done guys! You crushed our goal of $3,000 to make an even BIGGER impact in Lucy’s health insurance payments – give yourselves a pat on the back! :)
A $1,000 check from Trinnie & Herbie’s Hotrod Ho-Down!– Not only did our team come up with the $3,700 for Lucy, but two of our members even threw a Ho-down in Love Drop’s honor! Complete with music and a car show and everything. Every year their Hotrod Ho-Down benefits an organization they care deeply about, and this time around Love Drop was chosen :) We couldn’t have felt more honored, and we were so glad it could add to Lucy’s money! Thanks SO MUCH Trinnie and Herbie!! This was an incredible surprise at the end!
A new laptop :) A little birdy told us she could really use a new computer during her 2-3 month hospital stay (sad!), so ofcourse we had to go out and get one for her. We can’t even imagine what it would be like so far away from friends and family during these times, so we hope this helps her keep in touch with everybody! And big thanks again to Trinnie & Herbie as they also partnered up with us to provide this as well.
70+ Letters of love and encouragement! If there’s one thing we’ve heard really touches our Drop families over the months, it’s the care and support of other people around the world that they may, or may not, even know. So earlier on in the month we reached out to try and get 50 letters or notes/drawings/etc of love and encouragement, and when all was said and done we actually had over 70 mailed in! Our hope is that Tracy & Lucy can read them together over the next few months in the hospital together, and that it helps ease the burden of the hardships they’ll soon be facing. If it’s any indication of the few we read at the Drop last month, there will be plenty of tears and laughter to be shared. Which is exactly what we want for them :) If you sent in a letter, or email, yourself – THANK YOU! This really really meant a lot.
Bowling shoes!! This was one of the most interesting, and fun, gifts we found for Lucy ;) If you recall the 3rd video we did with her, she mentions that out of alllll the things in the world she wants right now, it’s bowling shoes! haha… So, Nate and I (J$) set out to go find her some, and that we did! It turned out the local bowling alley in Wichita happened to have their shore store CLOSED when we got there 2 hours before the big Drop, BUT they graciously opened it up for us, and helped us find the perfect pair for her. Thanks for helping out our friend, Thunderbird Bowl!!
Bags and bags full of toys & gifts for Lucy — Dozens of stickers, candy, GIANT Gummy Bears! (haha…), games, stuffed monkey animals, and much much more. We’re hoping this helps keep her and her family entertained over the next few months in the hospital! :)
A $250 Amex card (and a bunch of trinkets) — Courtesy of Craig and his wife over at Mr. Rebates – THANK YOU both so much!! This greatly helps them!
A $50 Barnes & Noble card from Jennifer Chadd, one of Lucy’s closest friends :) (For Nook ebooks)
A photo book from GroupStory to capture the entire Drop’s celebrations. You guys are always awesome for that – thank you so much! :)
And lastly, special one-on-one training for Tracy and Lucy on how to continue fundraising online through the wonderful folks at Give Forward– an organization that empowers friends and family to send love and financial support to patients as they navigate through a medical crisis. Tracy and the Lucy Team have done an excellent job of raising funds and awareness on the GROUND, but this will help them continue doing so online, and in a much more streamlined fashion. They will be paired up with a trained specialist at Give Forward, and will hopefully bring in even MORE money to help them through this financially burdening time. We are very excited about this new partnership of ours!
Great job guys :) You really outdid yourselves this month. Special shout out goes to Jennifer White Portraits too for hooking us up with the photography this month! Check out all the pictures she captured from the event – they’re awesome!
We’d like to thank all 1,000+ members of the Love Drop community! It is each and every one of YOU that powers the project and enables us to touch lives and inspire others each month. THANK YOU for everything you do – together we are making a real difference.
Where Your Money Goes
