I havent been on Xanga in a while... I feel the need to be here right now to ask you all for help. Honestly, I am begging for your help.

One of my very best friends, Deidra Scoggins, has a 17 year old daughter named Kelsie. She was just diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and will be spending the next month in St. Louis Children's Hospital.

 (This is our sweet Kelsie.. her picture from Homecoming, 2011.)

 
The definition of AML according to the Mayo Clinic is this:
Acute myelogenous leukem...ia (AML) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow — the spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are made. The word "acute" in acute myelogenous leukemia denotes the disease's rapid progression. It's called myelogenous (MI-uh-loj-uh-nus) leukemia because it affects a group of white blood cells called the myeloid cells, which normally develop into the various types of mature blood cells, such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Acute myelogenous leukemia is also known as acute myeloid leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. General signs and symptoms of the early stages of acute myelogenous leukemia may mimic those of the flu or other common diseases. Signs and symptoms may vary based on the type of blood cell affected. Signs and symptoms of acute myelogenous leukemia include:
  Fever
  Bone pain
  Lethargy and fatigue
  Shortness of breath
  Pale skin
  Frequent infections
  Easy bruising
  Unusual bleeding, such as frequent nosebleeds and bleeding from the gums
 
  (

Those of us that know Kelsie know that she is a trooper! She was born with a cleft palate, has had to have multiple surgeries, and fought reoccuring infections. Despite all of these issues, she is still energetic, a caring person, and has a wonderful personality that is truly all her own. Kelsies latest condition was discovered purely by chance. While being treated for another infection, her doctors discovered symptoms of cancer. Miraculously, it hasnt been present in her system for very long. On top of the Leukemia, Kelsie has bone infection in her palate. Her immune system is exhausted and she will need strong antibiotcs through IVs along with Chemotherapy. This is another complication for her because it is going to take so long for her to heal.

 (this is Kelsie with her friend Emma who came to see her in the hospital. Kelsie's port in her chest is clearly visible.... this is where she gets her Chemotherapy...)

Kelsies loved ones are hopeful. She is a strong person with way to much fight in her for cancer to keep her down!!! With the wonderful attention she will be getting at Children's and with all of our prayers and positive thoughts, she is sure to get through this successfully. That does not mean, however, that she doesnt have a long road ahead of her. It will be quite a task for her family to travel back and forth every day, as she will be hospitalized for the next month or so to recieve antibiotics and chemotherapy. After that, she will be allowed one week at home and then must be admitted again for another month. Deidra is already staying there with her as much as possible... However, Kelsie also has a healthy but young sister at home that needs to be taken care of as well. It is important that we all show her our love and support so that she knows she isnt in this alone. Some wonderful mutual friends of Deidra and I are working together to get a benefit started for this family. One person has already set up a place for immediate donations to help offset the cost of transportation back and forth for Kelsies parents so that they may be with her as much as possible during this time.
 
Cancer is a difficult thing for all of us, as Im sure we all know someone who has been affected by it in some way. We all know how easy it is to let it get you down. Lets not even give it a chance to do that to Kelsie :) If any of you are able and willing to make donations for this wonderful family, PLEASE do so... I understand that times are hard for a lot of us right now... every donation, whether it be $1.00 or $100.00 will be greatly appreciated. If you would like to make an immediate donation to this family, please send it to:

Deidra or PJ Scoggins
C/O Whitney Perdun Wedding
416 East Third St.
Alton, IL. 62002

Here are some more pics of Kelsie... just so you can see how awesome this girl is :)





Im always trying to remember silly little superstitions for some reason, especially the ones about my nose or palms itching. Today after my right palm itched like crazy, I decided to look up which hand was actually the "lucky" one. From there I went on to reading other superstitions that caught my eye. Here are some that I found online that you may or may not know but they're kind of funny. Check them out and see what you think. 

• If your cheeks suddenly feel on fire, someone is talking about you.
• It's bad luck to put a hat on a bed.
• If a bee enters your home, it's a sign that you will soon have a visitor. If you kill the bee, you will have bad luck, or the visitor will be unpleasant.
• If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you will never see each other again.
• If someone is sweeping the floor and sweeps over your feet, you'll never get married.
• To cure a cough:

Take a hair from the coughing person's head,
Put it between two slices of buttered bread,
Feed it to a dog, and say,
"Eat well you hound, may you be sick and I be sound."

• A cricket in the house brings good luck
• If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you. If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.
• If an eyelash falls out, put it on the back of the hand, make a wish and throw it over your shoulder. If it flies off the hand the wish will be granted.
• Throw back the first fish you catch then you'll be lucky the whole day fishing.
• Do not lean a broom against a bed. The evil spirits in the broom will cast a spell on the bed.
• It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
• If the palm of your right hand itches it means you will soon be getting money. If the palm of your left hand itches it means you will soon be paying out money.
• Lettuce promotes child bearing if eaten by young women, and certain types of salad can bring on labor in pregnant women.
• If your nose itches, someone is coming to see you. If it's the right nostril, the visitor will be a female, left nostril, male.
• If you use the same pencil to take a test that you used for studying for the test, the pencil will remember the answers.
• If you leave a rocking chair rocking when empty, it invites evil spirits to come into your house to sit in the rocking chair.
• Rosemary planted by the doorstep will keep witches away. 
• Sneezes:

"If you sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow.
Sneeze on a Sunday, and the devil will have domination over you all week.
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy.
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told"

• A spider is a repellent against plague when worn around the neck in a walnut shell.
• A swan's feather, sewed into the husband's pillow, will ensure fidelity.
• If you bite your tongue while eating, it is because you have recently told a lie.
• Put salt on the doorstep of a new house and no evil can enter.
• Mistletoe in the house protects it from thunder and lightning. It also cures many diseases, is an antidote to poison and brings good luck and fertility
• Breaking a mirror will cause 7 years of bad luck.
• It's bad luck to let milk boil over.
• Unless you were born in October, it's unlucky to wear opals
• If a young girl catches a ladybug and then releases it, the direction in which it flies away will be the direction from which her future husband will come.

 

Probably the most well known superstition is that people will have bad luck on Friday the 13th. Here is a little information about the origin of Friday the 13th for you.

 

FRIDAY THE 13TH - how did Friday the thirteenth become such an unlucky day?

• Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day. 
• There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.  
• There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.
• A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil. 
• In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.
• Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.  
• It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.  
• Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus.

FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is fear of the number thirteen demonstarted?

• More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.  
• Many airports skip the 13th gate.  
• Airplanes have no 13th aisle. 
• Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.  
• Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.  
• On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half. 
• Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue 
• In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.  
• Many Triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.  
• If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.

Some people go to extremes with superstitions and beliefs. Some people follow them because of religious beliefs and for others it can be an OCD issue. Putting too much stock into superstitions can actually be detrimental to a persons health because of this. Some actually believe certain superstitions to be true to the point of stressing over relying on what could possibly happen by not doing what they "should" do in these types of situations.

Which of these superstitions do you actually believe to be true, if any?
What are some superstitions that you have heard or have witnessed people practicing?

*note* information in this post credited to http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html#friday