Reminiscing Roman's Benefit!!!!

How stinkin' cute are they???

From left to right are my little friends Brody, Roman, Joslyn, Mary Ruth and Megan...

This was in May, taken on our side porch swing. You can see the protective boards are still against the porch wall, protecting the wall from the stack of firewood we keep there through the winter.

All is calm. All is bright.

This is Roman building a castle tower from my cupboard. Because blocks are clearly mundane!

Fast forward two months....

We started noticing changes in Roman. He was bruising easily. Then bruising for no apparent reason at all.

Mom and Dad took him into the doctor who then sent him right on to Golisano Children's Hospital, a wonderful facility here in Rochester.

And that's when the story begins. The new story, that is. The story of one little boy's unknowing fight to live.

Here is a link to their story...

No one should go broke trying to save their kid's life. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. With the help of the amazing "Daycare Moms" (past and present!) we asked permission to have a fundraiser to help Kevin and Darcy battle this disease. While they have insurance for the next few months, Darcy can't work and be with Roman. On top of that, well... there's this:

Darcy and Kevin are expecting a baby boy in January.... A baby who may or may not be a donor for his big brother. Darcy was about three months along when Roman was diagnosed, so she's dealing with Roman's ongoing quest for wellness.... and the miracle of birth within.

We met and planned and ate good food and talked and chatted and ate more good food...

"Confession Time: We ate and talked a LOT during the planning meetings."

And with all that eating, managed to plan a delightful Pasta and Meatball Dinner Benefit with great food...

Wonderful donations and prizes for baskets!!!!

Remembrances....

This is a patchwork "quilt" of love messages and get well cards from Roman's friends here.

Setting up the Silent Auction table....

And cute little kids getting their faces painted and balloon animals while bigger kids performed on stage for an evening of entertainment.  An amazing baked food table as has never been seen before, I think.... An Eichas Family Extravaganza of Homemade Goodness!!!!

Casey and McKenna, wearing the leukemia "orange" tee-shirts to show they're "FUNDRAISER STAFF". :)

Kids Helping a Kid.

Families joining together.

Many hands making light work.

We raised a lot of money. We had fun. We had people coming in from all over and it was wonderful.

We ran out of food at 223 dinners served... TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE DINNERS SERVED!!!!!

And while we felt bad to starve folks, we were so happy to have had such a wonderful turnout that it felt kind of GOOD to run low on food!

People smiled. Hugged. Prayed. Sandy Eichas (Roman's aunt and little Joslyn's mother) made an amazing video showcasing Roman's life... she ended it with this song:

Mandisa's "Overcomer" !!!!

Complete with pictures like this:

It was a great night, for a great cause...

And how I wish we didn't have to do it.

BUT...

We'll do it again, as needed.

Because that's what friends are for.

:)