I was sent an email and to direct it to Taylor so this is what I wrote... I had 3 hours sleep so I pray it makes sense and well written to connect our journey through the soundtrack of Tays music: Dear Taylor, Sweet Taylor, Its difficult to write and express all you have meant to my daughter through your music in the years since Stellas original diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Stella dreams of someday meeting you and her projects to support that dream on her Facebook page (Stella Swift - Help Stella Record with Taylor Swift) have kept her distracted and dreaming as only a child should during her medical hell. Stella was a little girl listening to you earlier albums as we went to medical appointments in February 2011. She was getting sicker and sicker and as her sweet little voice sang along with songs like Tear Drops on My Guitar and The Best Day would have me silently in tears wondering why my sweet Stella was getting sicker and sicker without answers from our medical appointments. Our entire journey with Stellas Leukemia as mother and daughter is followed by a soundtrack of your music. I have very strong memories embedded into my memory of the times weve been through and your songs are the only ones playing along. Stella was thankfully able to see you at your Speak Now tour stop in Buffalo NY because Ryan Miller, formally of the Buffalo Sabers, would provide a suite to the kids fighters from Roswell Park Institute. Stella was memorized by the whole experience. She didnt acknowledge my cousin; her aunt Wendy who is a huge fan too and me. She had just spent her 8th birthday with a fever in the hospital. She was pale with sunken eyes but her sparkle was there as she intently sang along. Stella would make her own videos based on your songs and post them to JeffsKids YouTube channel and then we also started her Facebook page to try and have her dreams of meeting you and as a small girl could only dream; to also have a chance to sing with you. Stella Swifts Facebook page is a mix of you (Taylor), kittens and also things that happen in her treatment schedule. Stella was in treatment for 844 days for her original diagnosis of Leukemia. She finished on June 22, 2013 and on July 7 we road-tripped from Buffalo, NY to Pittsburg to see you play to 50,000 fans at the Heinz Stadium. Her theme song was 22 and even though she was 10, those words translated to her experience and her joys of finishing treatments. I actually ordered tickets to this concert with my laptop on Stellas hospital bed while in the post recovery room from a spinal tap with Chemotherapy. She was still under sedation and I would have to keep a secret from her as she dreamed of seeing you in concert again. We gave those tickets to Stella inside a Taylor Swift singing greeting card and thats all she was given for her 10th birthday and you would have thought she won a million dollars. The gift was also to celebrate then end of treatment and Stella and I had a wonderful roadtrip driving 5 hours and only playing every song ever created by you and singing loudly and taking selfies on our stops. Stella made a sign saying I beat Cancer with music notes adorning it and when flipped over it said Now Im feeling 22. She walked ever so proudly the 5 blocks from our hotel to the stadium with the most surreal crowds flanking the sidewalk cheering and clapping as if she was the grandmaster and only person in such a personal parade. Police officers said way to go! and Stella beamed! Outside the stadium, Stella approached every radio stations tents telling her story, dream and handed them all her personal business cards with my cell number on it saying Call me Taylor. She was fearless and brave and confident we would meet you. Stella had the most amazing time dancing and cheering and singing along with you the whole concert long. Afterwards I allowed her to try and see you backstage but to no avail. I, as a mother, have not at all been upset shes not met you because you are so kind and we see you visiting hospitals and singing along with kids just like her with Chronic sicknesses, I, as a mother, can not stop trying to get Stella in the same room as you and have that magical experience that shes dreamt of all these years, Today is actually day 29 of Stellas new course of treatments for relapsed Leukemia. Shes 11 and shes smarter and has more fears but just prior to her re-diagnosis your song Shake it Off came out and its Stellas new anthem. She fears todays bone marrow biopsy will tell the oncologists if she can continue on chemotherapy or if she has to have a bone marrow transplant. Shes facing the unknown as we will be traveling to NYC in a couple weeks for collection of her TCells to bioengineer them into Killer TCells with Sloan-Ketterings cart19 TCell trials. It takes 6 weeks for the engineering of her cells. I cant tell her how it goes but its a miracle they will take her for this therapy trying to forever kill the Leukemia Cells. Stellas little brother is not a match and has taken it hard that he cant help his sister beat this disease. Stellas chance of survival is maybe 40% down from 90% because of this relapse. I plead as a mother, and I can only try as best I can to make the best memories we can out of this horrific experience. I ask for you to please consider meeting Stella even if for a few moments and give her all the hope she needs for surviving this beast of Childhood Cancer! I pray you can understand why I have been trying for years to make this dream happen and this time around is more important than ever to promote that beautiful spark we see less and less of as time marches on. Please feel free to contact me on Facebook as... Best Wishes, Jen Usiak; mother to Stella Swift, Leukemia fighter
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 10:36:39 +0000
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