365 Hats? Day 17 . . .

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Hello there, again. =D

I've been lurking in the background of the Crochet Business Blogger Challenge by Sara Duggan of MomwithaHook. I'm getting the emails and I'm reading them and I'm getting all excited . . . then I stop and think. I don't really have a "business". Sure, I sell a few things at Christmas or when someone wants a baby item, but do I qualify? I'd like to have a "business". So yes, I will jump in with both feet and see what this is all about!

 Well, lo' and behold, I have to make a blog post every day?!?!? For 31 days?!?!? What the what? I do good to make my weekly blog post and it's a struggle to make it something interesting. Guess what? That's what this whole challenge is about! It's to kick me out of that hole I'm in and help me get better at what I am falling in love with doing; blogging about crochet. And yarn. And whatever-else I happen to be happy about. 

Well, after thinking more on it, and stumbling around in my dust-bunny-infested brain, it finally hit me. I know what I'm going to do for this challenge and not only will it help me with blogging it's going to help keep me motivated in my own personal challenge.

 That's right. The 365 hats I want to make and donate to the local cancer center. Are you ready? Here's some statistics that I picked up by just talking to them:
  • They can have up to 200 patients in one day
  • They're open 6 days a week
  • Most patients are there for chemo but some are there for other treatments
  • Their patients are all adults

 =====================================================================

 Here are some more statistics for the state of West Virginia:

 Top 5 Leading Cancers among Men are:

        1. Prostate
       2. Lung
       3. Colon
       4. Urinary Bladder
       5. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

 I was kinda shocked to see that Lung cancer wasn't number 1. Why? Because my state has a high incidence of Black Lung and other Pulmonary problems related to the coal mining industry. (I am by no means knocking the mining industry - I am a coal miners' daughter after all)
Top 5 Leading Cancers among Women are:

        1. Breast
       2. Lung
       3. Colon
       4. Uterine
       5. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
=====================================================================

 You see that #1 cancer up there, the one for women. That's leading force behind my drive to make 365 hats this year. My grandmother (MaMaw) died because if it. My middle sister has had a lump removed because of it and is now contending with another cancer. And my baby sister has survived malignant melanoma and thyroid cancer. See, I'm the oldest of the three of us. I'm the most out-of-shape, non-exerciser, junk food eating one of us. And I've never been diagnosed with anything that could possibly compare with the two of them. 

 I don't intend for you to read this as I wish it would have happened to me instead of them (although I have gone through those feelings a couple of times). I wish it wouldn't have happened at all. I'm not a scientist working towards a cure, I don't have a lot of money to donate. I know that God's ways are not mine.
But I can crochet. I'm good at it. So it's what I do.
Day 17
22 Hats completed
and #23 on the Hook
   

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