Hey There! I’m Alexandra!
I have decided to go through the bookmarks I have saved (99.9% crafting, of course!) and see which ones I really want to follow up on. It has turned into a two-week long project so far because of course, I find one crafting project I like and then have to check out the rest of the DIYs on that page, which then leads to hours spent on one blog/website instead of just five minutes. There are so many talented and inspirational people out there, and I hope to be one of them someday.
A lot of blogs I’ve visited were …blogspot.com so after only seeing about a million of them, I decided to check it out. I’m super excited to get started with this, and hope it helps not only for me to grow as a crafter but others too.
I began with needlepoint on plastic canvas (thank you Aunt Arlys!) about six years ago, making anything I could get my hands on or brain to think up, from masks for school plays to picture frames and small trinkets but recently (less than a year ago), I’ve gotten into jewelry making and working on my crocheting/sewing/etc.
Blogging and crafting are my true passion, and I’m hoping to take this adventure to the next level, and make a career out of it. Keep your fingers crossed!
So, this will be a blog of me. Great things, bad things, mistakes, tips, suggestions and whatever else I can think of both in life and in my crafting. My goal is for this to keep somewhat of a journal of my adventures along the way.
I chose the name EyeLoveKnots in honor of some family members of mine that are affected by Retinoblastoma, cancer of one or both eyes, and often first occurs in young children. There are approximately 350 new diagnosed cases per year in the US and affect about one in every 15,000 births. Although children may be born with retinoblastoma, it is rarely diagnosed at birth. As a rapidly growing cancer, studies of the bones, bone marrow and spinal fluid are also performed upon discovery. If the tumor is contained within the eye, more than 95% of patients can be cured. For those children with tumors in both eyes, close to 70-80% of the eyes can be saved, although many of them need radiation therapy, or possibly even chemotherapy.
I grew up very close to my cousin Tiffany who was one of five children but the only that had retinoblastoma. Now I won’t go into details other then she has a glass eye (due to having to get one eye removed) and only peripheral vision in her other eye (due to a large now non-active tumor). She grew up like the rest of us though and as a young person I never really understood what she faced. She went to karate and received her black belt alongside of me, rode a bike, could take the bus anywhere, went to school and held a job among other things, only with a few more doctor appointments than the rest of us. It wasn’t until she had her first child that I really learned about this retinoblastoma.
Her children had a chance to be born without it completely, with a not-so aggressive case of it, or a very aggressive case. No one could say one way, or the other prior to the children being born.
One had a not-so aggressive case being that after minor laser surgeries, there has not been any activity, and vision won’t be affected much. The other, however, was born with a rather large tumor in one of the eyes, and very short after birth had to begin chemo. It’s since being stabilized. One eye has full vision, and the other has peripheral vision (due to a large in-active tumor).
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