Read personal stories from our founder and Jennifer's mommy, Libby, along with other Warrior Moms and news from our Unravel team.

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Love4jlk

September 2, 2014

I can’t believe its already September. I can’t believe a year ago I didn’t even know this month was pediatric cancer awareness month. Seriously I look back and it seems just unreal to me that I had no idea about the things that are so ingrained in me now I can’t imagine not knowing.. not living it.. or surviving it as the case may be.

A year ago .. we were just a regular family of 6.. A year ago cancer was a word I rarely said.. now I say it multiple times everyday. I should count once how often I say it. A year ago I had no idea my time as her Mama was about to end..

Jennifer..

sweet baby girl of mine.

lunch with my girls after working in her classroom

lunch with my girls after working in her classroom

Shhhhh… its fluttering time! Here is what it looked like in our home.

The boys were so excited to come out from quiet time to get to put the dragonflies together with me. The stakes had stickers on them that I just tore off and left the white reside.. Jonathan so like his father took the time to scrape it off the best he could.

nicholas

nicholas

They looked at the causevox page I set up to ask for donations for the researchers trying to find a way to save kids.. I have already sent it to my siblings and some friends that didn’t order their own fluttering kits. Jonathan is very intrigued by this portion of it. I think I am going to talk to him in a few days about the flittering option to see if he has any interest in doing that.. He likes to give out our business cards so this is a another option for him.

We pre-filled out everything we needed to on the paper work and stuffed the envelope for tonight. Both boys wanted to be the ones to clip the giant clip on the envelope… I am going to have to figure out a way to split up these prep jobs a bit better! Doing this I was once again humbled and energized by the people donating their time and love to make this whole campaign a reality. My friends brought it to life.. were the team that made it happen and so many people are now putting it into action. People we know and people we have never met.

Jonathan

Jonathan

on the front porch!

on the front porch!

Tonight while pumping gas a lovely woman came up to me.. mostly just to shake my hand and say she knows… and she cares. I will always hate it.. hate that she has a reason to know me.. but I am eternally grateful for all the people that chose not to turn away, that choose to lean in when they could easily change the channel.

I don’t know if I would have. I was the person that turned away from St. Judes commercials.. and frankly those are a whole lot cheerier than what I write about… than the facts Unravel is sharing..

thank you.

for caring. for saying her name.

Jenniferstyle

So tonight we gathered everything up and walked in jammies to a neighbor a few doors down from us. They run a day care. We don’t know them… and I have no idea if they know the horror a family across the street and a few doors down faced in February. I was surprising resistant to doing it.

I have been so excited by the whole campaign that I was surprised when I could tell I just didn’t feel like doing it. Walking there though all of that faded away and I felt a little giddy about the whole thing. We whispered and held hands the whole way there. We

nicholas.

nicholas.

had to be super quiet so they got a surprise when they opened their front door in the morning.

We talked about how we don’t know these people and hopefully this surprise makes them happy and they learn some new information for the paperwork we gave them. Hopefully they are able to donate and send us to another house tomorrow. We talked about the money we are raising for Unravel going to the drs working to find a cure for kids with cancer.

Then we got there and just had fun. Tip toeing so quietly around trying to find the exact right spot to place the dragonflies. At one point Charlotte squealed and was reminded by Jonathan that we have to be quiet.

I was the one who put the envelope on their front porch. I felt super nervous to do it.. but walking very quickly away I imagined how much she would have loved it. The secret.. the present for people at their home and doing good deeds. I blew a kiss in the air and said

this is for you sissy. Then we headed home.

flut5

our surviving trio

our surviving trio

I think we will finish out this week and then give our friends we are sharing the kit with a chance to flutter. Maybe Jonathan will go with them one time.. I hope to spend one day driving through town looking to see if we can find the kits. . A way to show the boys how many people are with us in this fight.

There were Love4JLK magnets when she was still here. She absolutely loved seeing them on cars around town. I keep notes in my phone.. for things I want to blog about .. Some I will never get a chance to write about .. because the time I thought I had to explore those emotions passed…

…so quickly.

That’s one of them. .. How she felt and the things she said seeing her initial on cars.. At first I think it made her nervous.. but then one day she just loved it. So much. We see them now and my boys get excited and point them out. I hope seeing dragonflies throughout our town has the same impact on the. I hope they feel the support..

the Love4jlk. .. that we know has also morphed into love for all the Kranz’s.

Maybe thats why she suddenly liked it..

maybe she knew her time was shorter than any of us expected..

and maybe she knew we would be taken care of.

loveforJLK

always!

wave

…until there is a cure…

 

  1. Lorraine says:

    It was exciting tonight. My granddaughter, Allison and I went fluttering to a dear friends house. We picked Megan to be first. We got caught. Her grand kids were just leaving so Allison and I let all the boys help put the dragonflies out. We talked about Jennifer and you and your family. She told me she would write a check out right then, but I told her to enjoy reading the contents if the envelope. She hinted to who she would send us to tomorrow night. How lucky we are to know such caring people. Thank you, Libby, for all that you are doing. We told you when this all started that we would be here for you, Jennifer, and your beautiful family.
    …until there is a cure…

  2. EMailman says:

    Love4JLK….always! always! always!
    Jennifer, every state in the U.S.* has dragonflies in some yard for you this month…and for your family. And for all the other families yet to come, that we are working on a cure for.

    *I’m just going to ignore South Dakota.

  3. melissa says:

    Libby, thank you for this tonight. I needed to read this….your words….you are simply amazing. …for them, because of her. Love4JLK always!

  4. Katie says:

    Is it too late to order a Flutter Kit? I can’t find a link to order one but I would love to! If not, I will donate.

  5. Linda B says:

    We are with you Libby! I am also fluttering! I will try and get as many people as I can to donate or at least make them aware of pediatric cancer. We are in this fight! For Jennifer and for every child after her. LOVE4JLK♡ Always FOREVER 6

  6. Doris says:

    Love watching the kids sneaking around with those dragonflies !! My grand kids go to the daycare. They are such a nice family !

  7. Lyndee says:

    Sending love and big hugs!! #love4jlkalways !!!

    XO

  8. catherine says:

    Love 4 jlk and Kanz family !!!! all of you
    6 of you
    IM so far away, but i really want to help to
    fluttering
    lots of xxxx and love from far away !!!

  9. Emily says:

    Thank you for continuing to share. It is because of you, and this blog, that I am aware of all of the statistics. It is because of Jennifer that I share them with others. I have had more people thank me for enlightening them about these horrors. This is the first step. For them, because of her….and you. 🙂

  10. Rachel says:

    My kids loved seeing the dragonflies in the yard this morning! It was so great to explain to them why they were there, they know about Jennifer and her story so it was great for them to see something happening to help this wonderful cause.

  11. Silvia Cummings says:

    Hi Libby, I think of Jennifer everyday. Something I hear, see my son doing, something always reminds me of her. I saw this earlier today and wanted to share this with you. You are privileged to be Jennifer’s (and Charlotte’s) mommy, but also a mother to two little boys as well http://www.babble.com/kid/what-it-really-means-to-be-a-little-boys-mama/

    Always sending positive wishes and thoughts to you all ~

    Silvia

  12. Anna DePalma says:

    Since I did not get to order the fluttering kit I decided to do a fundraiser with my Origami Owl business and I also signed up for the fundraiser. When I posted some of my posts I also told them to go to uravel and donate if they did not want a locket but wanted to donate. I am honored to be able to do this for Jennifer and I praying for the best turnout as far as sales and donations. Love4JLK is a household name in alot of homes because her story has touched so many lives. I know it has touched mine and when I see her pictures I tear up because she just was so beautiful and always happy. My heart aches that she lost her battle and I am so determined to help this cause to find a “CURE” I pray this a success Libby and that God directs these doctors so they find a cure so no one will have to go through what you and many others have gone through of loosing a child. Your a wonder full MOM that even though your heart is hurting you are showing your 3 children love, compassion and to care. God Bless you as you start this journey and praying that as much as God knows your heart and love you have for Jennifer that he will make this a success for you in her honor. Sending my love to you and your family and best wishes for a successful month with “FLUTTERING”!!!

  13. Kristen Tredrea says:

    Always always always

  14. Leah says:

    Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer. I am really struck by all you are doing for all your kids. It is deeply, deeply beautiful.

  15. Beth says:

    JENNIFER! Always.

  16. Katie says:

    Your posts and feelings made me think of you when I read this part of a poem in class yesterday. It’s from the poem On Turning Ten by Billy Collins.
    It seems only yesterday I used to believe
    there was nothing under my skin but light.
    If you cut me I could shine.
    But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
    I skin my knees. I bleed.

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