In January I blogged here about an auction to help offset the medical bills of Ava Cipriani, a three-year-old girl suffering from an aggressive form of cancer called neuroblastoma. I'm sorry to report that Ava passed away last month. I can't even begin to get my head around what her family must be feeling.
To add insult to injury, the Ciprianis are still in the hole for massive medical costs relating to Ava's treatment. Don't even get me started on the state of healthcare in the United States; instead, I'd rather focus on how amazing some individuals are. I know nothing about Ally and Larry Cipriani, but I can guess that they must be incredibly cool people indeed because of the way their community has rallied around them in this darkest time. First the auction in January, and the latest example is a series of teeshirts being produced by 70 Star 7, an organization that screenprints shirts with unique and beautiful designs by various artists and donates a significant portion of the proceeds from each limited-edition run to the charity of the artist's choice. Several artists are on board to support A Wish For Ava (Henry "H" Lichtmann's already got a couple of designs up on the 70*7 site), and a special child-sized shirt and hoodie from Kathie Olivas will be available soon at LA's Monkeyhouse Toys.
I can't really think of a better legacy than having people love you and your family so much that they're willing to put their hearts into doing whatever needs to be done to help you.
(via boingboing)
