Ewing’s Sarcoma

Click on the tee to see details

In my last blog entry, Anna Basso’s Impact on Others, I told you about my sister’s 18 year old next door neighbor in Dallas, Anna Basso, who passed away in June from a year and a half battle with Ewing Sarcoma. My brother in law, Mark Hall, along with his ad agency, Firehouse, had set up a website to get 1 million prayers for Anna, www.1millionprayers.com .The key verse in the site was Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” and they wanted people to pray for Anna every day at 12:12 pm.

The night before the funeral we went to Anna’s visitation. She wanted everyone to wear purple (her favorite color) and bright colors to her visitation and funeral. Her friends and family spoke about her life at the visitation. She had so many good friends. I was so impressed with their maturity and love for Anna. One thing they kept saying that night was what a “Rock Star” she was and how she loved music. In fact, Manchester Orchestra (Anna’s favorite band) had flown in from Atlanta to be with her family-they were at the visitation and later at her Aunt and Uncle’s that night to play to a small group of friends and family. That night the singer said he didn’t realize when he wrote “I feel your pain” five years ago that it would be for Anna. It was a very emotional night.

The funeral was the next day. Just like the night before, their church was packed. I was wearing my bracelet that has Pandora beads and Confidence Beads. My friend, Linda Waters, owns Confidence Beads and each bead has a word or phrase on it. I was playing with my beads and reading the words. The purple bead says “Rock Star” ! I couldn’t believe it. It was as if it were made for Anna!

Then, after the funeral, most people went to the reception hall. We followed Mark and Susan (my sister), with the close friends and family, not being sure if we should, but we wanted to stay by them. They were going to be with Anna’s family while they put Anna’s casket in the hearse. As they did this, the priest looked at his watch and said “It is 12:12!”.Then Randy pulled out his phone, and it was 12:12! This was not planned. I don’t think it was a coincidence.

Instead of flowers, the Bassos asked that any donations go to Anna’s good friend, Micaela White, who just had a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. I am just in awe of the type of people the Bassos are. I want to be like them. They have shown tremendous grace, faith and strength. They immediately went to help someone else. They are now keeping us all posted on Micaela’s needs and progress.

Anna's Butterfly tee, click on pic for details

Micaela and Anna have been friends since they were young. You can read about the two of them in this article entitled “Kindred Spirits” posted by the Texas Catholic Youth. Micaela still needs blood products. Every day, in addition to platelets, she is given 1-3 units of blood.

The day after the funeral I went for a long run by myself trying to process everything. I’m still trying to process everything. I was wondering if I should write about Anna and tell others. I was hoping to see a butterfly along the way (Anna loved butterflies) or just see some kind of sign of what I should do, how I could help. Then it hit me! Design a tee shirt in memory of Anna, and have the proceeds go to help Micaela. Happy First has been giving to leukemia and lymphoma research; this is a way we can help someone directly in need affected by leukemia. I got back to my sister’s and she thought it was a great idea! She mentioned it to Carol (Anna’s mom) and Carol said Patrice (Anna’s older sister) had the same idea too. So now Patrice and I are working on a tee together! The tee is includes words from the band Modest Mouse‘s song “Float On” , featured in the video “Dear Anna” created by Anna’s high school friends. If you would like to order one, click on the picture to take you to the Happy First site to place your order. (ps-I am adding this note 8/1-we have had requests for a crew neck, it is now available-picture and info at Anna’s Float on Crew Neck tee)

Then I realized, I already have a cute organic a-line tee that is purple with butterflies on it! It was meant to be! So I have decided to donate the proceeds from this tee too to Micaela’s fund.

I am so happy to help in some way and I am so enjoying getting to know Patrice better. By the way, Patrice has a wonderful blog, it is www.patricesblog.com where she talks about Anna’s journey. I know this fundraising for Micaela won’t bring Anna back, but will help her memory live on and help us in our healing and also help her dear friend, Micaela. I haven’t met Micaela yet, but hope to some day.

Another weird so-called coincidence. When Anna was first diagnosed, my sister and I gave Anna, her mom, and Patrice Happy First necklaces with their favorite charms. In April, Carol said Micaela would really like one too. She wanted one of the charms to be the relic cross. I went to fill her order and realized I was out of the relic crosses. I had lost my own Happy First necklace with the relic cross about 6 months ago. The day I was working on Micaela’s necklace I just happened to find my missing necklace in my closet! Micaela was meant to have my cross! The weird thing is, after I sent her package, I found an extra cross in my stock. I think it is more special that Micaela has my cross and was meant to be.

I keep looking for silver linings and found one with a new friendship. I went to a business conference back in February-Tory Johnson’s Spark and Hustle, and saw Jo Khalifa, owner of MoJo Roast Coffee speak. After the conference we became friends through email and Facebook, talking back and forth, realizing we had lots in common. Then in one of her messages to me she mentioned that one of her daughters had Ewing Sarcoma 17 years ago when she was 8, and is now 25! I immediately called her on the phone and we had a long conversation. I feel like Anna brought us together.

So, I just had to share Anna’s impact on others. Her life may have been short but she and her family did (and still are doing) more for others than most people do in a long lifetime.

We lost a close family friend this June. I have been wanting to write about all of this since then, I just haven’t been able to sort my thoughts. I am now ready to tell you the story of Anna Basso and her incredible family. It is about how one person’s precious life has affected so many people.

Anna Basso’s family lives in Dallas next door to my sister Susan and her husband, Mark, and their 3 kids. Over the past 6 years I have been going to Dallas a lot more often than I had, beginning with my dad’s diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma — cancer of the plasma cells (in the leukemia and lymphoma family). I would run down there whenever my sister called. My dad passed away in September of 2007. Over that period I really got to know Dave and Carol Basso. They are 2 of the kindest, most thoughtful people I know. When I was in town often we would end up at their home for dinner. They always opened up their home to others. When my dad passed away, my sister’s house was full of relatives, so I spent a couple of nights at Carol’s. She was so thoughtful in preparing their guest room for me, I felt like I was at a nice cozy hotel. My mom lives about a block away and has had a rough time with my dad passing away. The Bassos would always include my mom on gatherings and Carol would dutifully deliver the USA weekend paper to my mom every Friday. She would also take meals over to my mom’s house regularly.

My sister and Mark tried to sell their home in the spring of 2009 to buy a different home about a mile away. Their home just wouldn’t sell. It was on the market for 6 months. I think they weren’t supposed to move away from Dave and Carol. They ended up staying and remodeling. Dave and Carol had 2 daughters, Patrice and Anna. In November 2009 their youngest, Anna, 16, a junior in high school, was having pain around her pelvis. Carol took her in to the doctor. At first they had trouble diagnosing it. I was hoping if it had to be cancer, it would be Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, like I had, which is usually curable. It wasn’t — it was Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft tissue and bone.

The Bassos were going to fight this thing. They set up a journal on Caring Bridge so everyone could keep up with what was happening with Anna. My brother-in-law, Mark, came up with the idea of creating a site, www.1millionprayers.com. He owns an ad agency, Firehouse (by the way, he was instrumental in creating Happy First). Mark and his creative team went to work. They wanted to get 1 million prayers for Anna. This site reached people all across the world. The verse they chose was Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” and they wanted people to pray for Anna every day at 12:12 pm.

The Bassos gave it their best. After a year of treatment, we all thought Anna was ok, but then they found more cancer cells. Treatment again. It was hard to see Anna and her family going through all of that. But she held her head up, was strong, positive and an unbelievable inspiration to others. She was surrounded by her family and friends. Anna loved the Dallas Mavericks, the color purple, music and butterflies. I didn’t know Anna really well: I knew her parents better, so this story is from a somewhat outside perspective. She went to a Catholic high school in Dallas that absolutely loved and embraced her. She was their homecoming queen. Her high school friends made a video “Dear Anna” for her when she was going though treatment that really touched me and makes me think of her every time I hear this song- Float On by Modest Mouse.

I have been back and forth to Dallas a lot this spring because my mom has had major health problems, so I have been at my sister’s a lot. Susan and Mark have had quite a hard time, being so close to Anna and her family, watching everyone suffer throughout her treatment. Since I have been going to Dallas so much, I have gotten to know Patrice better, Anna’s older sister. She will be a senior in college, studying journalism. I just love Patrice and think she is so talented-she is an excellent blogger. Her blog is www.patricesblog.com. It’s now as if Anna is with Patrice in Patrice’s writings.

Anna went to prom and looked absolutely beautiful. It is one of my favorite pictures of her. I know she really didn’t feel well at the time, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. She then saved all of her strength for her graduation day Memorial Day weekend. She had lots of family come in for it. That night she wanted to go out with her friends to see her favorite band, Manchester Orchestra that was in town. Her mom didn’t think she would be able to have the strength, but she did. What Anna didn’t know was that her friends had arranged for Anna to be on stage. The band sang “I can feel your pain” to her. They gave her gifts and took pictures. Anna told her friends and family that it was the best night of her life. Then the website reached 1 million prayers on June 1, 2011 (the first of the month always has a special meaning to me-happy first) Sweet Anna died a week and a half later, on June 8, 2011.

I don’t know why she had to pass away. I know God has a plan, but sometimes it is hard to see. I know she is in a better place, but I am so sad for all of us, her friends and family. Everyone misses her intensely, dearly. I have friends that never even met her that were praying for her, following her story since day 1 of her diagnosis. Anna has touched so many lives. The Bassos have received letters from people around the world that have been affected by Anna.

In my next entry I will tell you about some things that happened that I don’t think were coincidences and also an idea to help someone else in Anna’s memory.