Over the past few weeks, we have had several opportunities to share Hannah’s Story. The first opportunity was at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin at Froedtert. Honestly, every time we go to the Froedtert campus it brings back difficult memories. As we walked to the entrance of Children’s, we could see the window of Hannah’s room, and it’s just a terrible mix of emotions. Anyway, we had a great time talking to people at Children’s about Hannah, and we are always so humbled as we see the struggles and hurts of so many families. As tragic as our loss is, it began suddenly and ended in a relatively short time, but for so many, their struggles are ongoing. Some of the kids come to the hospital for regular treatment and some have to live there for long periods. Their families juggle “normal” life and problems, but they are also challenged emotionally, financially, and with their time. Their trips to Children’s often mean days or weeks off of work as they stay with their child. They see the fear and pain that their kids are in, but they are not able to take it away. One woman told us that as she sees other people complaining about their busy lives with sports and school, and she often dreams of her life being so simple that those kind of things are her only “problems.” We are thankful that we could go and talk to other families that are hurting. We encouraged them to be courageous and strong. We told them not to let fear control them, and not to live assuming the worst. We all need to focus on the positive, do our best, and leave the results to God. We shared our motto with them. Do Right: Breathe, Take Small Steps, and Keep Moving Forward!
Next, we were at a prominent business in Milwaukee promoting organ donation and sharing Hannah’s Story. This was in conjunction with a blood drive, and we were glad that we could be part of those lifesaving donations. It was great to be able to share Hannah’s Story with people who were already involved in saving lives. Many of them have already registered to become organ donors too. We are thankful for businesses that make these kinds of opportunities available to us and to their employees.
Then, as I mentioned a while back, I have been working on revising the Hannah Story Pamphlet (Still no better name…). As I reread the original version, I realized that it really didn’t share Hannah’s Story in the way that we share it personally. We felt that it needed to be far closer to the story we tell people personally, so that everyone hears the same basic version whether they talk to us face to face or read this tract. After a few weeks of reviewing it, we were able to go to Bearing Precious Seed in Oshkosh and print this new version. It is titled the Gift of Life, and it follows the same basic flow of the first one, but with more detail and a little more concisely. In case you are interested, we do provide these free to anyone who wants them. Whether you are an individual or with a church, these are a great tool for telling people about Hannah and about God’s love. If you want them, please send us a message or email.
Finally, we were able to go to the annual Dillon Mueller Memorial event that is held by his family. We had a good time talking to people about Hannah and about our experience with allergies. We are so thankful for Angel, George, and the rest of the Mueller family that has really used their loss to pave the way for us to be able to do what we do. We were also to reconnect with Dave, the EMT that was not able to help Dillon after the bee sting because he was not able to carry epi at the time. He also helped support the Mueller family as they advocated for Dillon’s Law. He was also with us at the capital in Madison last year as we tried to get all first responders to be required to carry epinephrine. Angel and George are amazing, and through their efforts MANY lives have been saved!!
Thank you to everyone who supports us! All the things that we do are voluntary, and your support is crucial.
We are blessed!
P.S. We can’t do this alone. If you would like to donate to Hannah Helps:
PayPal: paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/5609126
Venmo: venmo.com/u/hannahhelps19
Your support is needed and greatly appreciated!
Thank You!
