We’ve become intimately familiar with these concepts over the past year. And we have struggled with them. We’ve bristled at adjusting our every move to avoid an invisible exposure. It’s been hard to not work and play with abandon. Imagination and discovery have been sequestered by fear and quarantine.
And, let’s face it: it’s wholly unnatural for us to not gather.
But here’s another truth: For kids with life-threatening illnesses, these are notions that have always been necessity. In order to give themselves the best chance for recovery, they are told they must isolate, avoid, heed. To come out the other side of a crisis they didn’t create (and barely understand), they must behave in ways that run counter to their little human spirits.
Sound familiar?
The difference is, they’ve endured this as a personal crisis, not a pandemic.
In late December, Lisa and Mark Albritton traveled from Atlanta to Charleston to participate in a KLH Group clubhouse build, as part of a family holiday gathering. Heartened by a sense of “permission” to comingle service and celebration – and find safe fellowship in a sprawling, festive outdoor space – the couple left wanting more. And wanting to share that more, not just with their inner circle, but those that rippled out beyond it.
The Albrittons returned to Atlanta, but kept in touch with us while they drew in those concentric circles. Reaching out to friends, neighbors, and local businesses, they set in motion a contagious call to action. In short order, they had the commitment of 40 participants and seven sponsoring companies for a local clubhouse build. The community had been truly galvanized. And within that community were three kids incredibly deserving of their own clubhouses.
Four year-old Emma Gray was recently diagnosed with a (treatable) malignant rhabdoid tumor in her pelvis and is halfway through her chemotherapy regimen.
Eight year-old Collin Rogers (who happens to be Emma’s neighbor) has fought kidney cancer (Wilm’s Tumor) while facing additional fronts: autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, and suspected Charcot Marie Tooth Disorder.
And at just four years old, Kenni Xydias has been through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy in (successful!) treatment of an illness exceedingly rare in children: ovarian cancer.
EMMA GRAY
Collin Rogers
Kenni Xydias
Under a gorgeous Georgia sky on March 27, our inaugural “community clubhouse team” assembled at Line Creek Brewing Co. in Peachtree City. By the time the first drill bit was spinning, there wasn’t a stranger on the crew. As the construction hustle progressed, kids played in a curated “camp,” Southside Church served up lunch, and Line Creek offered cold beverages. At the end of a day no one really wanted to end, the sweet new handcrafted spaces were hoisted and transported to their new homes, open for the restoration of unfettered play for a trio of truly amazing kids. And Mark and Lisa, the first Ambassadors of our new affiliate-style program, felt unshakably lifted by the network they created… and the sight of what that network created.
Unmitigated fun. Unsuppressed reward.
Compassion that can’t be contained.
Unity that can’t be distanced.
How wonderful that we don’t have to reach the end of our collective crisis to have these back – and to restore them to the little warriors of more solo battles.
