A letter from Dawn...
When my daughter, Sadie, was diagnosed with chronic illness and rare disease at age 4, our worlds were forever altered. She’s 19 now and over the years, we’ve met countless illness warriors, dedicated parents and families, and supportive siblings who were forced into an unpredictable lifestyle driven by the impact of illness.
We learned that each group was on their own journey, experiencing life altered by illness from their own perspective… yet, there was one recurring theme amongst them all… feeling isolated, unseen, unheard, gaslit, and exhausted by the unrelenting challenges of daily life with illness.
Another reality of life while sick is that nothing good comes in the mail, (well, rarely anyway!). It’s all medical bills, insurance statements, and collection notices.
So, we set about to change that with simple, retro snail mail.
There is something powerful about a card showing up unexpectedly in an isolated illness warrior’s (or caregiver’s) mailbox. It is tangible proof that they are NOT alone and when it sits on a bookshelf or hangs on their wall, it’s a powerful reminder on the dark days that someone sees them and is thinking about them.
But we can’t do this work alone, and I am thankful to have a small but mighty team and sponsors that make this work possible.
Together, we can share a beam of light in times of darkness.
- Dawn Veselka
Caregiver, Founder, and Executive Director