Wordy Wednesday

My typical Wordless Wednesday has been derailed today. Today, I need words.

Today, on this Wednesday, there’s a lady in Atlanta, Georgia that has taken over my brain. A lady I have never met. A lady I have never even spoken to outside of light, silly banter now and again on Twitter. She’s a blogger with decent-sized following. Her blogging days started as a creative outlet and outreach for the difficult times her and her family faced while dealing with their daughter’s leukemia. Just last week, Peyton celebrated her first year cancer free, at age 5.

It wasn’t even Peyton that drew me to Anissa’s blog. It wasn’t Peyton’s cancer. What drew me, was when I clicked her link that day over a year ago, I also found out that Anissa was a Mayhew – as am I. She’s a Mayhew by marriage; I am one by birth, but it’s not a common enough name to just let it go unnoticed. I started reading, she started grabbing at bits of my heart through her humor, her passion, her vibrancy, her talent and I’ve never stopped reading. In reading, I learned that childhood cancer isn’t the only cross she’s carried. No, in July 2005, at age 31, she had a stroke. But, she recovered (minus those blasted buttons) and she has stepped into the hearts and lives of so many people through her quiet friendship, her loud friendship, her amazing writing and her fire and zest for life. Some of you might know her through her collaborative website Aiming Low, or her new personal site #Free Anissa.

Now, it’s important to note, she doesn’t even know I exist. But, that’s okay. It’s really okay, because I know she does and while this “relationship” of ours is one-sided, it’s still there. Maybe one day I’ll be a BlogHer rated blogger, but for now, I’m a reader. A reader who feels like she has a connection with a complete stranger.

Which brings me to my derailment. You see, yesterday, Anissa, age 35, the mother of 3 beautiful children, ages 11, 8 and 5, the wife of a man named Peter and the friend to more than most of us would ever dream, had another stroke. A massive stroke. A put-you-in-the-ICU-while-on-a-vent-and-are-unconscious sort of stroke. The updates have been appearing on Aiming Low, and her online friends have spent much of their time today updating each other, praying, laughing (because really, what else can they do?) and finding ways to help the family through this difficult, impossible time.

Only, it’s not impossible. Many people don’t get my love of the internet and the relationships I treasure therein. Some of those friendships have become the lifelong friendships that have carried me through and will continue to carry me through the crap of life. This is the power of such a tool. The people behind the words we read are real. We have strokes. We have kids. We have escapades and stories to tell. And we have the compassion to love and help and unite with a power I don’t think I’ve ever seen before in my offline life, and I’ve seen it today in a way I never thought possible. It’s moving and beautiful and amazing – like Anissa.

And for people like her, for situations like hers, for friends like hers, I needed words today. Words to say, “Oh my god,” and “this is so unfair,” and “please let her be okay,” and “how are her babies doing?” Words that for now anyway, are comforting us more than her, but in time, as she improves, they’ll be words that will heal her as well.

Oh, and she will heal. I truly believe she will. When someone has been lifted as high as Anissa has today – lifted by the love of others – there really is no other option but to fly.

Anissa’s family will be at the hospital a lot in the coming days and weeks, if not months. They’ll be eating out a lot. They’ll be hosting out-of-town family members to come help with the kids, to come sit at her bedside, to do those things one does when the mother of the house is out of commission. So, they’ve set up a paypal account for donations. At the Aiming Low site you can also find ways to send gift cards to local restaurants to help them through this long road to recovery.

I know most of you don’t know Anissa either. But you know the human condition, so if you’re in the financial place to donate money or gift cards, or anything, please visit Aiming Low for more information, or click the link in my right sidebar. Thank you.