As many of you know, the Deputy family is active in fundraising for Riley Hospital for Children and the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Some of this fundraising is in the form of public speaking to encourage others to join different fundraising efforts, such as Dance Marathon and Team in Training. Well, we went to speak at an event to BUDM last Friday called Reilly for Riley and for the first time, Mickey stood in front of a group of college students and told her story. Jenny and I just sat back and video taped (actually, cell phone and camera recorded to digital media, but you get the picture). Jenny has posted the video on her Facebook page, but since some of you aren’t into Facebook, I thought I’d post it here so you can enjoy it too. So without any further ado:
Yesterday was a milestone at the Deputy household. It was the day of five years cancer free for Mickey. That has special meaning in that this is the day that she is considered cured, not just in remission, but cured, done, finished with cancer. She had a very surprising evening. She is also in ballet class and she had her first recital last night. Unbeknownst to her, but beknownst to us, Jenny had sent out a message on Facebook to let her friends know what was happening. That resulted in a huge cheering section for our little ballerina. We had friends from TNT, friends from Butler Dance Marathon, friends from Indiana University Dance Marathon (even though it was finals week for both schools) Grandma & Grandpa Deputy, Aunt Joy and Uncle Brian and of course the best brother in the world: Brad “Black Belt” Deputy. It was so cute, she came out with her class and was warming up and saw one of her friends and just stopped stretching and her jaw almost hit the floor and the morphed into the cutest smile you have ever seen. After the recital, and after she was showered in 4 bouquets of gorgeous pink roses we went out with Joy and Brian and the Butler Dance Marathon cheering section to Boogie Burger for a cure date celebration of cheeseburgers, bacon cheese fries and ice cream. So Mickey accomplished her goal of “Kicking Cancer’s Butt”, and she did it with the grace and beauty that we have all come to expect from her: touching lives and making a difference in the world.
Today’s post is all about Miss Michaela. We’ll start with last Wednesday. She and I were on Fox 59 News early morning to do a story with our eye doctor about her new glasses. Here’s the link to the video: Mickey and Jenny on Fox 59 News. Here’s the link to the website about the glasses themselves in case you know anyone who would benefit from them: www.specs4us.com On Friday, Christel House had their annual science fair. She planted bean seeds and watered them with either salt water, plain water, sugar water or Diet Coke to see which would grow the best. She hypothesized that the plain water would work best and it did. Mickey got 3rd place for the 5th grade! She was so excited and we were so proud of her. Here are some pictures from her project:
Mickey planting the seeds on day one
About 10 days into the experiment. From left to right – plain water, sugar water (that’s mold on top), salt water, and diet cola.
Mickey and her finished display board
Finally on Saturday morning, after having stayed up late at a church sleepover, Mickey helped lead 3 tours of the cancer unit at a Riley Info Day. All the people on the tour loved her enthusiasm and the obvious love she has for Riley.
…and Mickey was sick. She had a bad cough while she waited for St. Nick. Her ear was all red and she felt miserable, too. Thank you, God, that it isn’t the flu. Her medicine is in her favorite color – pink - and the doctor said she must drink, drink, drink, drink. So now we wait for the meds to do their thing and in the meantime Mickey will Christmas carols sing.
