Please Help Joey

A 9 year old boy Joey is now battling a very serious form of renal cancer and there is no cure. It has also unfortunately spread to his lymph nodes. He is the very good friend and classmate of my friend Kris's daughter. The diagnoses just came 3 days ago. I'm petrified of something happening to my own kids and I can't imagine what his parents are going through. He is facing surgery and chemo as they attempt to beat the odds and he will be in the hospital at least a month, if not a lot longer.

Last night Kris came up with the idea of having a 100 Good Wishes Quilt made for him and she asked if I'd be willing to make it. I immediately said "Absolutely"! She has posted on her local FCC group (Families with Children From China) asking for contributions of fabric squares and good wishes and I told her that I'd post here too requesting the same from my readers. Hopefully together we can collect enough squares to make him a decent sized quilt to comfort him in the coming days, weeks and months.

Kris has the crazy idea that she is going to pay me to make this quilt and of course that is absurd. I wouldn't take a single dime from her to make this quilt. But I will need to find a long arm quilter who might be willing to donate her services for this one. If not I'll pay for the work out of my own pocket.

So here is what I'm asking of you....please pick out and send to me a 9" square of fabric, something that you think a 9 year old boy would love. He lives in Florida so obviously anything with snow or winter themes is foreign to him but I'm sure there are tons of other possibilities available.

The wish? For those that aren't familiar with this part of the tradition, it is something written to the child. For a baby to be born, it would be some sort of wish for a happy and healthy life, much like what you find written inside a new baby congratulations card. For this it should be something more akin to what a young boy would appreciate but please keep them happy and upbeat. It can be a wish, a funny story, a poem or just a note telling him that he is in your thoughts and prayers.

Please write your wish on card stock paper instead of inside a folding card as Kris wants to put them all in a scrapbook album for Joey to keep with him, so he can go through and read the wishes any time he wants to. You can make it fancy with lively scrapbooking flair or keep it simple, totally up to you.

Obviously time is of the essence here so if you want to help please let me know and I will email you my address. If you can help spread the word I would be eternally grateful. No child should have to face something like this. I don't know how long he has but I'm sure knowing that so many people care and are sending him wishes for recovery will help keep his spirits up and the hope high.

Thank you one and all!

Update: To clarify for those that have asked and everyone else that will read this, I am requesting just a square piece of fabric, not a quilt block. And Joey does not yet know that he has cancer. The parents are waiting until they get more test results back and have more information before they break the news to him so please keep that in mind when you write your wish.