The New Cello

Check out the pic of Michayla with her new cello!

Seems ABC World News Tonight will be doing a piece on the Baker family, and it may be on as soon as tonight. Here's the latest update from Dan over at the Facebook page:

Acelloformichayla Hi Everyone, quick update, looks like ABC wanted to do an interview with the family for a more in-depth story, and the latest I've heard is that it'll air on World News Tonight at 6:30, so be sure to tune in! Also, we've got some pictures of Michayla and her brand new cello! Good work folks, let's keep the help coming.

Update: Here's the ABC piece!

Another Cello Update, And The Lowdown On Stress And Healing

Here's the latest news from the Acelloformichayla site:

Acelloformichayla: Big news, thanks to everyone's quick donations and help spreading the word, Michayla will be featured playing her brand new cello in time for a piece early next month on NBC news! Obviously, great visibility for a great cause.

Pretty cool, huh? I think bringing the story to the national stage will inspire a great many people, and the subsequent outpouring of love and well wishes will work wonders for the family. Support and positivity can be just as important to patients and their families as the medical care itself.

Stress has never helped anyone get better. As a matter of fact, it can be very debilitating. It's a known fact that increased levels of psychological stress can affect the body's immune system. There's an interesting article about it here on the National Cancer Institute's web site. While there's currently no definitive link between stress and cancer, there is between stress and obesity, heart disease and depression. Knowing that, it's not such a great leap to think that a person under a lot of stress will probably have a hard time coping with illness, or coping with the fact that a loved one is ill.

So, let's continue to work at lifting some of the weight off of these good people's hearts and minds, and let them get down to the business of healing.

Update - A Cello For Michayla

A cello is on it's way!

Dan, a great guy from over at Appswell (gotta give him a plug, he deserves it!), has ordered a cello for Michayla, opened up a Paypal account and a Facebook page, Acelloformichayla, and we're off and rolling. Thanks Dan, great job!

The cello was purchased from Soaap Music, and once they found out more about the story, they offered to upgrade the cello to a better, larger model at no charge. Way to go Soaap! Any proceeds collected above the cost of the cello will go directly to the family, or the charity of the family's choice.

So, now we just need to get people to donate. I know these are uncertain times, If you can only give a buck, that's fine. If you can't do that, you can show your support by sending out the link to the Facebook page to all your friends. Any and all help is appreciated, and don't be afraid to be creative. If you know someone at a supermarket chain that might want to fill their pantry, or at a bank that might want to pick up a mortgage payment or two, be sure to share the story with them. You just never know what might happen.

I was really touched by this story, and I see a lot of you were also. It's heartwarming to see people coming together to help a family in need. Total strangers helping total strangers because it's the right thing to do. Nice. There's just not enough of that going around these days. It reaffirms my faith in human nature to see it happen so spontaneously. My faith was beginning to get a little tarnished lately, so thank you all for helping me with that.