Pillow Talk

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of visiting Daviess County Middle School and speaking with Mrs. McCollough's 7th Grade Family and Consumer Science classes!  My friend Kirsten Horsley (from the American Cancer Society) and I were on hand to collect 127 pillows the classes made for breast cancer patients.

We were completely blown away by the teamwork the students displayed and their amazing productivity!  The students had an idea of why they were making the pillows, but Kirsten and I explained to them just how beneficial these pillows would be to post-op breast cancer patients.  We explained to the students how painful breast cancer surgeries and treatments can be and how those pillows alleviate that pain and truly make a difference in the comfort of the patients.

I was very impressed by these kids.  Not only did they work their behinds off to create these pillows (they even had built-in quality control!!!  Inspector 12, anyone?), but they listened with open ears and absorbed every word we had to share.

In fact, I told them about my friend Sarah.  Sarah and I grew up together and attended Daviess County Middle School.  I shared with them some of my favorite memories of her, including the time she dared our friend Jimmy to eat about 10 green peppers and then chase them with a pint of milk!  Jimmy did it, then vomited all over the DCMS cafeteria!  Mrs. McCollough's class thought this was hilarious . . . and it was.

But they were saddened to learn that Sarah is no longer with us.  I explained to them how Sarah, not even 40-years-old, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and eventually lost her battle. I told them about how several classmates and I traveled down to a live-in hospice facility in Nashville to visit Sarah in her final days and how strange it was to see a friend, just 39-years-old, slip away and succumb to this terrible disease.

We don't give our youth today a whole lot of credit.  They get accused of sitting in front of video games, not caring about much, being lazy and disrespectful.  But these kids care.  And they are pro-active!  While they may not fully understand the scope of breast cancer and what it means to battle it, they completely understand the need for us to support those who have to endure that battle.  And these kids . . . these awesome 7th graders from Mrs. McCollough's Family and Consumer Science classes at Daviess County Middle School . . . have done something to help!  And, in doing so, they have truly changed lives.