#WomenWhoWoosh: Bonnie Collins

At Woosh, there are many women in our orbit who inspire us. But none perhaps quite as much as Bonnie Collins. Bonnie is a mom, a graphic designer, an event director, a social media manager, and the founder of The Live Like Maya Foundation, a non-profit she started to honor her daughter, Maya, who lost her battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) at just 14 years old. September is Children's Cancer Awareness month and, since Bonnie is an inspiration to so many, and we are so proud to have her as a friend and fellow woman who Wooshes, we wanted to share her story. Read on to learn about Bonnie and Maya's journey and what makes Bonnie an unstoppable force in the face of adversity. 

When Maya was in 3rd grade, she started complaining that she was tired and felt crummy.  She looked pale and had become lethargic. We took her to the pediatrician numerous times over the course of 9 months and were always sent home with the advice that she was in too many activities and we should cut back (which we did although we didn't feel like her schedule was overly rigorous).  It wasn't until I was randomly in a public restroom with Maya one day fighting a nosebleed (which had become rather common for her), when a nurse overheard and suggested we take her back to the pediatrician for blood work, which we did.  The blood work revealed that something was very wrong and we were sent to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for more blood work to determine what was going on.  It was there that they diagnosed her with acute myeloid leukemia as well as a rare bone marrow disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which they suspected predated the cancer. She was 7 years old. 

 

 

When we moved to Memphis, we stayed at the Target House, which consists of residential furnished apartments for patient families being treated at St. Jude. I, along with my whole family, fell in love with this amazing hospital. It was our home away from home and we felt so cared for there - the atmosphere literally kept me going at times. I became lifelong friends with the other families there, and the doctors and nurses became our second family. We will always be incredibly grateful to St. Jude.  They told us from the beginning that they were "going for the cure" and that's all we needed to hear. They gave us hope to keep moving forward and when you are in a situation like that, hope is precious.

I didn't know much about St. Jude prior to Maya's diagnosis but everything at St. Jude is completely paid for by donors. Treatments, medications, food, groceries, and housing were completely paid for by the hospital. Families at St. Jude NEVER receive a bill from the hospital for anything! St. Jude believes that the only thing a family should ever worry about is helping their child LIVE. It sounds like a simple thing, but so many families and so many children don't get this opportunity. It's one of the main reasons I started the Live Like Maya Foundation. 

 

 

The foundation is committed to funding pediatric cancer research, providing financial assistance to families of children battling cancer and continuing Maya's legacy of fostering kindness and goodwill within the community. We primarily raise funds for St. Jude, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Cincinnati Children's Hospital and also directly for local families. Eventually, I would love to create a housing facility similar to the Target House at St. Jude for families here in Ohio visiting Cincinnati Children's Hospital from out of town.