Don’t get me wrong, I love it that Allen’s job lets us see the country. But there are some things that really suck, like missing  your friends and family, and not being there when they need you the most. 

Our domicile is South Dakota. That’s where we get our mail. Our house is always in the rear view mirror no matter where we go. But we still have a place we call “home” where our family and childhood friends live. Allen and I grew up in the same small town in Ohio.  That’s where we are headed now.

Luckily Allen got a job in Indiana that’s supposed to take a little over a week. It’s only about 3 hours from “home”, so we left Florida Thursday afternoon, dropped the camper last night and headed out early this morning. 

Our best friend Brandi has 2 little girls, Jaidean (6) and RaiLee (4). I’ve been friends with Brandi since we were 11 years old. They call us Aunt Rachel & Uncle Owl-len. Last Thursday Rai was diagnosed with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma). It’s a disease that strikes at the heart of childhood and is in desperate need of a cure. RaiLee was given 3 months to live. 

So we have maybe 2 weeks to be here for Brandi. That’s the crappy part of traveling for work. 

Our hearts are breaking for this family, our family. Earlier this week I started planning a fundraiser for October 29th. That seems to be coming together. I’m assuming we will leave town immediately after that… To who knows where. Allen still has to work starting Monday. I’m going to keep Charlie and Eustace and stay with my mom. Hopefully he can come over next weekend too. And I’m really hoping nothing happens that makes us leave before this fundraiser. 

For now we are going to go to the hospital and try to see RaiLee or Brandi before Allen has to leave to go back to work. 

Please say a prayer for this beautiful, strong little baby. We need a miracle.

If you would like to make a donation, it can be mailed to: 

Bobbi Gillen, 7808 Joseph Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231

Or made on the GoFundMe page. 

You can see more about the fundraiser here. 

Read more about DIPG here.