Although they felt as if their world was coming to an end when their mom was diagnosed with Leukemia on September 3, 2012 Tracy’s family bonded together to help their mom fight the life threatening disease.  Tracy or Nay-Nay, as her grandkids call her, was positive from the beginning, assuring her kids that, “everything would be ok,” as they heard the diagnosis with tears in their eyes.
Immediately following her diagnosis, she started getting blood and platelet transfusions daily for three weeks at the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Muhlenberg, PA. 

Every time she was undergoing transfusions she looked up at the IV bag with the donor’s blood in it and called it her “lifeline”. Today, thanks to all those who donated their blood, Tracy is in remission!  She credits her four amazing children and five grandchildren for giving her the strength to carry on, day in and day out.

Even though the family is not sure if she will need a bone marrow transplant in the future, Tracy hopes that one of her three siblings will be a match.  Inspired by the opportunity to give someone a second chance at life, her children decided to get swabbed and register as volunteer bone marrow donors.  Even more determined to give back, her children organized a blood drive in honor of all the units her mom needed, and coupled it with a bone marrow recruitment drive to help find matching donors for other patients in need.  

The drive took place four weeks ago and friends and family immediately showed their support by helping and volunteering their time.  In addition to the drive, the children organized a bake sale, called "tricky tray", and sold Leukemia and Ribbon bracelets to raise money to help process the kits collected at their drive. In the end, over 60 people joined the registry and more than $3,800 was raised in donations!

Katie, Tracy’s daughter, enjoyed organizing the event and said that everyone felt the drive was more like a family reunion.  When Katie was asked to describe her mom she said, “My mom has always been the rock of our family.  She is a loving, caring person that gave up everything for my sisters and I.” Of course with a mom like Nay-Nay, it’s not surprising her children turned out as giving and selfless as they did.