I spent most of last weekend knitting, wanting to finish my Antarktis shawl. Once I finished, I soaked and blocked it, asked my oldest son to take a couple of pictures, and then carefully stored it away. It is knit in The Fibre Company’s Meadow yarn (40% wool 25% llama 20% silk 15% linen) in the Bergamot colorway. This yarn is one of my absolute favorites, and this is my second time knitting an Antarktis shawl with it, as I knit one for my sister last year. The resulting shawl is light and airy, a wonderful all season piece. The color is amazing. Seriously, I love everything about this shawl! And while I originally meant to keep it for myself, I’ve decided to raffle it off, hoping to help raise some money for a dear local friend who is battling cancer.
My friend Amy is the beautiful woman wearing the black and white patterned scarf in the photo above. She is surrounded by her husband and twelve children, along with the spouses of her eldest two. I have known Amy for about ten years, having been blessed to participate in an evening Bible study with her. Amy has a way of making everyone she meets feel important, accepted, and loved. Truly, she is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. And I am far from the only person who feels this way about her.
Last fall, Amy was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Cholangiocarcinoma, cancer of the bile ducts. Rather than cave to despair, Amy met the disease head-on with grace and optimism.
Seven rounds of grueling chemotherapy did not shrink her inoperable tumor, and doctors recently decided that the only course of action left would be high dose radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Amy’s eldest daughter, Amy Elizabeth, started a GoFundMe to raise money for this treatment because being out of network, Amy and her husband will have to pay 20% of the cost of radiation, or roughly $50,000. Currently, the fund is just over $20,000 shy of the goal. If less than half of those who visit my blog in a day were to donate just $10, Amy’s radiation treatments would be fully funded!
*update 7/23/16 The fund is now just under $14,000 away from reaching the goal!
So, here’s how you can help Amy, and enter to win my handknit Antarktis shawl: Donate at least $10 to Amy’s GoFundMe. Make your donation HERE. Each $10 donated will be worth one chance toward winning the shawl. (The yarn alone cost nearly thirty dollars, and I probably spent close to 30 hours knitting it. I wouldn’t quite know how to place a value on it.) This is a great opportunity to help someone and possibly win a beautiful handmade item! I would love it if you shared this post and/or Amy’s GoFundMe page either on your blog or via social media to help spread the word. Maybe you know someone who would like to try to win this shawl?
Once you donate, you will be emailed with a receipt. Save that email, because if you win, I will need you to forward it to me as verification of your donation. To enter the raffle, you will use the Rafflecopter widget below. First you login with either your email address or your Facebook profile. The options within the widget after you login are Donate $10 for onc chance, Donate $20 for two chances, Donate $30 for three chances, Donate $40 for four chances, and Donate $50 for five chances. You can select a combination of entry options if you need to. So for instance if you were to donate $60, you would choose the “Donate $10” option along with the “Donate $50” option. Each option can only be selected once per day, so if you donate more than the total options available ($150 per day), you will need to come back the following day(s) and select the options necessary to add up to your total donation. If you have any trouble, just email me (ginnysheller(at)gmail(dot)com) and I will help. The raffle ends on July 28th. Rafflecopter will generate the winner based on the entries received. The winner will be announced here and notified via email. I will ship the shawl worldwide. Thank you in advance for considering helping my friend Amy!!!
And just for fun, here’s a photo from about eight years ago: Nearly all of the ladies in my Bible Study were pregnant at the same time so we lined up for a photo. That’s me on the far right, early pregnant with Beatrix. (Amy is next to me, smiling over my shoulder.)
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Emily says
Done 🙂 What a lovely thing to do, Ginny. My Mum died of cancer a month ago, so this means a lot to me to contribute 🙂
Anna says
So it was nine out of how many women?! So sweet!
Megan says
St. Gianna, pray for Amy!
Nathana Clay says
What a fantastic idea! And the shawl is beautiful. 🙂
nicole spring says
Ginny it looks so close now! within reach for us all, for sure! I am going to donate tomorrow when i can access my wallet (do not disturb the cranky sleeping baby!! 🙂 ) Random question – I remember you knitting a baby hatthat said #12 on it – was that for Amy?
Ginny says
Yes it was!! She’s pregnant with the baby that I knit that hat for in the photo above. 🙂 Thanks, Nicole!! 🙂
Ginny says
Also–It’s hard to believe that you and I have known each other for so long!! Time is flying.
nicole spring says
I thought so! 😀 Oh my goodness, i didn’t even think about how long ago that was – you are right! <3 Time really is flying but oh what a blessing it has been to know you all these years. I thank you and Grace for bringing me home <3 <3 <3
Karen a fuller says
Done and would love to receive your cozy shawl. Xx
Anne says
Thank you for setting this up to help your friend. What a beautiful family. I will be praying and donating.
kelliinkc says
You are such an inspiration. The shawl is beautiful. I pray your friend’s family will be blessed with having the burden of the cost of this portion of treatment fully funded and the worry lifted off of them. I didn’t know what to put in the box in the Rafflecopter above so hope I did it correctly.
Ginny says
That box wasn’t important, so whatever you put should be fine! I went back and removed the setting that was causing that box to pop up. Sorry about that!
janie says
Just donated. Thanks for helping your friend.
Praying for Amy,
Janie
Cari Sewell says
Ginny,
Such a beautiful shaw for such a wonderful cause!! You truly have a heart of gold!!!
Sue Button says
Donation made. I lost my mum to cancer, so appreciate how devastating it can be. Let’s hope this treatment can help Amy and her beautiful family. Love to you all Sue x
Linda Coyle says
You have such a beautiful caring heart. I’ll lift your friend Amy in prayer too. I’ve just introduced my daughter to your blog (she’s a young home schoolling mum 🙂 Thankyou for your thoughtful blog. Bless you
DeAnn says
Ginny! This is awesome. ?
Peg says
Happily donated and I unite my prayers with everyone for Amy and her doctors!
Jennifer Venema says
What are we supposed to enter in the box after selecting the number of donations in Rafflecopter?
Ginny says
Do you mean after you select your donation amount? I think you just hit enter. Is there another step beyond that?
Jennifer Venema says
There’s a box to fill in but I’m not sure what information it’s looking for. Name perhaps?
Ginny says
I just did it, to see what it asked for. logging in, it asked for name and email–unless you log in with facebook, then I just clicked the donation amount and hit enter, and that was it. Is that what you are seeing? if you keep having trouble, let me know and I can enter for you using your information and donation amount. thank you!!
Ginny says
Jennifer, I’m so sorry. I finally figured out the text box issue! I was only looking at the donate $10 option, not the others, and evidently I had different settings on the other donate options. The text box shouldn’t be there anymore!
Melissa says
Everyone need to check out “The Truth About Cancer”. It opened my eyes. I am sharing this out of love. It is full of wisdom. Wisdom that God provided.
Melissa says
As always I regret leaving a comment. I’m sorry, it seems tacky to leave a comment of this nature but I feel so blessed to have found this information. I try to share it when I can. But please remove it if it offends.
Ginny says
No worries! I really want to watch that movie. It has been recommended by several friends. I bet Amy has seen it!
Amy Whittaker says
I have- it is filled with good information and resources, many of which I have utilized, along with some of the conventional treatments they warn against, which I have been forced to try because I will leave no stone unturned to beat this disease…my parents already lost a son to cancer. If I lose this fight, I don’t want them to live with the agony of what I could have or should have done…God is the one with the ultimate control! My heart rests easy in His loving hands.
Meryl Carver-Allmond says
What a beautiful way to help a friend! (*Crossing fingers to win!*)
Beth J. Beal says
Thank you for doing this for Amy and her family. What an excellent way to give back by bringing this to our attention.
Becky says
Hi Ginny, thank you for the good you do! I am trying to enter…I selected my donation amount…do I now go to the go fund me page to donate that amount, or does the rafflecopter somehow ask for my payment information…? Sorry, I am not very savvy with this kind of thing, but I am happy to take the opportunity to help out…
Ginny says
Hi Becky! You donate on the GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/2bzhx5e4 Thank you so much!!
Becky says
Thank you!
Gill says
I’m pleased to be able to help. I get so much pleasure from your blog and wonderful photos . Thank you for sharing this.x
MarieAnne Branaman says
Thank you for sharing, Ginny. Of course we will pray for Amy and donate with joy.
Monique says
I was really touched by your story. One of my beautiful friends has just begun radiation treatment which is paid for via our medical system in Australia. Hoping my small donation will help to unburden your friend Amy and see her through this next stage of her treatment.
Caroline says
Keeping Amy in my thoughts and prayers. Donated with pleasure.
Bonnie The Part Time Smallholder says
Done with pleasure, how nice to see the internet being used for good this way!
I hope you get plenty of donations – a small price to pay for enjoying your fabulous blog x