By Amy Gordon (Contact) | Shelby County Reporter
Published Friday, October 10, 2008
CHELSEA — As Elizabeth VanSickle pulls up her sleeve, tattooed on her right wrist is a pink breast cancer ribbon. Below that is one simple word: “Courage.”
The other forearm is adorned with a graceful, blue butterfly. Around her left wrist is a band of beautiful words: “Hope.” “Dreams.” “Believe.” “Live.”
Photo by Corey Nolen
Elizabeth VanSickle, founder of Sock Monkey Ministries, works with a sock monkey to be sent to someone in need. “The butterfly is a reminder to me that there’ll be a life with no pain, no suffering,” said VanSickle, who will be 43 in November. “The ribbon is my badge of courage.”
HOW IT ALL STARTED
VanSickle, who started Sock Monkey Ministries in Houston, Texas, in 2005, was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2001. Her mother died of breast cancer, so VanSickle was always vigilant about checking any abnormality. In 2001, in the midst of moving from Birmingham to Houston she found a lump, then another, and doctors told her they were likely cancerous. She had the lumps removed, but in December, another one formed in the same spot.
In May 2002, she had a double mastectomy, but the cancer had already spread from her breasts to her lymph nodes. “I had my first chemo treatment in November 2002,” she said. “After six months of treatment, I took a break. They did tests, and then we found out it had spread into my bones.”
Elizabeth VanSickle started Sock Monkey Ministries in 2005. VanSickle, who has terminal metastatic breast cancer, talked about what she's learned from the past five years with cancer. She also introduces one of her good friends, a sock monkey named Chemo Sabe.
“Women are dying less of breast cancer than they used to. But the fact is, we’re still dying,” she said.VanSickle’s cancer is terminal — she stopped the intravenous chemotherapy in August, and she takes morphine and oral chemotherapy for pain management.And yet she’s living, not waiting to die.
To turn her pain into something good, VanSickle created Sock Monkey Ministries while bed-ridden in Houston. Her grandmother had made sock monkeys for her when she was small, and the monkeys always brought her comfort. She wanted to do the same for others.The sock monkeys, with their colorful hair and button eyes, are given to children, soldiers and others in need.
“If I didn’t have cancer, we wouldn’t have sent out 10,000 sock monkeys,” she said. “I believe God has taken my cancer and made it something good.”
The family moved back to Birmingham at the end of 2005 and settled in the Chelsea area. They started attending Lakeview First United Methodist Church in Pelham, and that’s when the ministry picked up speed.
The entire article from the Shelby County Reporter is available here.
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