Marissa

When Em and I got home from being up north I caught up on all of my caringbridge "friends".  This little cutie is Marissa Monroe.  Her dad, Randy, rode on the Loneliest Road tour back in September.  Him and 6 other dads rode from California to Washington DC to raise money and awareness about Neuroblastoma.  

Marissa and her family traveled to MSKCC in New York for more treatment, and when they did scans they found that Marissa has taken a terrible turn for the worse.  Her scans show that her body is full of cancer, and the doctors don't feel that there is anything that can be done.  They took Marissa back home to Michigan to make her comfortable and are utilizing hospice care.  If you want to look at her site, the address is: www.caringbridge.org/visit/marissamonroe   .  Feel free to leave her parents a note.

I have kept up on Marissa ever since her diagnosis, which was right around the time of Lillie Boyte's diagnosis... Lillie was from near Greensboro, somewhere around the area in North Carolina.  I actually found out about Lillie through someone involved in Relay for Life at UNCG who was one of her babysitters.  I was devastated to have just done the Relay in memory of Liam, only to find that one of the members of my committee knew a little girl who was dx with NB.  Lillie was adorable.

There is a picture somewhere of Marissa, Lillie, and Grace Oughton (who's dad also rode on the Loneliest Road).  In the picture is also Marissa's older sister Mackenzie and Lillie's older sister Hannah.  I keep thinking about that picture..and about how Lillie and Grace are probably waiting for Marissa so that they can play together forever up in the clouds.