There are currently at least 368 other posts already written about Anissa. (Scroll down to the bottom to see the Mr. Linky.) I haven’t written a post yet because honestly, I haven’t really been able to process it all. I’ve been reading, obsessively checking for updates on her CaringBridge site, contacting friends in the Atlanta area and praying.
So many people have written so eloquently about Anissa. So many people knew her better than I did. But here’s my little post about Anissa, who is truly a wonderful person.
A few I found out that there was a blogger in my circle of friends who was moving to Georgia. Curious, I added her to my twitter feed and I instantly fell in love with the oh-so-adorable-and-hilarious @AnissaMayhew.
Right before BlogHer in July, it looked like her childcare was going to fall through. Being newish to town, she didn’t have a whole lot of options, and I tried to help her find someone to help with the kids. We emailed and DMed about some possibilities but, I never expected her to remember me; there were a lot of people trying to help her figure out a plan.
But she did remember me. I introduced myself to her at BlogHer, and I immediately got one of her signature smoosh-you-in-my-bosom hugs, and a “ohmygodthankyousomuch for helping me try to find help with the kids”.
And that’s the end of my Anissa story. A chat here, a comment there. Not much. But enough. Enough to know that her family has been through the ringer a few times: Anissa had her first stroke when she was 30. Not long after that her baby girl was diagnosed with ALL. Peyton celebrated one year cancer-free just last week. And now…well now the shit has hit the fan again. And it sucks.
No, Anissa and I are not close friends. But I miss her often-irreverent yet hilarious tweets. I miss how she’s talk about bunnies just to flush something out of her Twitter stream…so that her mom wouldn’t see it. I miss new pictures of her kids.
She needs help. Go here to find out what you can do or click here to give a donation to the Mayhew family.
(I couldn’t get the button to work, so I just put a link to the HelpForAnissa PayPal account.)
If you’re one of my Atlanta friends and would like to help this family, please fill out this form.
