This week I learned first hand how a person's outlook on life can change in the blink of an eye.  You see, it was this week that I learned my niece has Brain Cancer.  She has been diagnosed with Primary Leptomeningeal Medulloblastoma.  I can’t pronounce it, there is no way I could ever spell it, but I hate it quite possibly more than I have ever hated anything.

Her name is Ellie Runchey.  She is 12 years old, soon to be 13.  I know the majority of you who read this don’t know the Runchey family, much less Ellie specifically, but do this: Close your eyes, think of a time in your life that you were genuinely happy. As you are thinking about that happy time, you will surely start to form a smile and you will begin to feel a flood of warmth course through you.  That is Ellie. 

She is the smile that comforts you and the warmth that heals you when you’re down.  Rarely if ever have I seen her in a bad mood.  More often, she is the one cheering up others.  She is smart, and funny, and pretty and loveable.  She lights up a room when she enters.  She is polite, and curious, and unafraid.  If you were ever to meet her, you would walk away feeling better about yourself, you will know a couple of new jokes and you will wish you could bottle up the positivity she exudes.  I promise she will make you laugh.  And I promise she won’t let you leave without giving you a hug.

To summarize it best, Ellie is a little body with a huge heart.  When she was told about her diagnosis, she was sad because she is going to lose her hair and she likes her hair.  She was mad because she can’t see her older brother and younger sister every day, and she was worried because she didn’t want to ruin any of her cousin’s birthdays that we celebrate in the summer. 

When Ellie recovers from the surgery that was done to find the cancer, she will move into radiation and chemotherapy.  All in, Ellie is looking at 9-12 months of treatment.  Knowing this, Ellie still wants everyone to find the things that make us smile, even when we are sad.

On her Caring Bridge site the first update concludes with three positives that Ellie can concentrate on.

1)      Children’s Hospital has excellent donuts

2)      Her team of doctors are some of the best in the world

3)      She has many many friends and family that she knows will drop everything if she need us


Many of us feel helpless.  We all want to help, but we are not sure how we can.  So, after thinking about what I could do, I thought right now the best I can do is to try and keep her spirits up.  So I would like to create a book for her and tell her to read one page every day.   The book will be called “Three of My Favorite Things”.  As you know, one page a day means I need 365 different people to share three of their favorite things.  I am asking that you be one of those people.  I am asking that if you have a significant other, a spouse, a child, a brother, a sister, a mom, a dad, etc., you ask them to share their three favorite things.  I want Ellie to be able to see that her strength and positivity is contagious.  I want to tell her when I hand her the book that it is something she inspired.

I’ll start.  Three of My Favorite things are

1)      Banana Cream pie

2)      Making it through a yellow light at a traffic signal

3)      When snow sticks to the branches of trees making it look like a winter wonderland

I don't know what the right amount of money is to set as a goal to raise.  Her treatment is going to be at the Mayo Clinic, which is a little over two hours away.  There will be a countless number of expenses over the next 9-12 months that she is in treatment.  There will be travel back and forth, lodging, meals, and whatever else you can purchase to keep a 12 year old's spirit high while she battles this disease.  If you decide to donate, thank you.  If you are not in a position to donate, I would ask that you still share three of your favorite things.  Money will help, but putting a smile on her face each morning when she reads someone elses three favorite things is priceless.  Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your generosity and sharing.

To share three of your favorite things, please go here:

https://forms.gle/e5burnViBTNddJ5TA