It's Official

Well, ladies and gents, it's official. McKenna's charity kit is complete and in the Scrap Outside the Box store. It's called "A Mother's Love" and it gives the word "mega" a whole different meaning. Remember that 100% of the proceeds of "A Mother's Love" go directly to the hospital and doctor's bills.

We hope that you will dig deep into your digiscrapping budget and make a little girl and her family very happy.



To purchase the kit, click here.

Thanks,
Dani

Come so far...

Just thought I'd share with you a picture I found in my email folder today. This was McKenna after she had the latham appliance drilled into her mouth. The rubberbands are much like those of orthodontics in that they pull the soft bone of her mouth close enough together so that they can sew her lip together.

After three months and two appliances, they were finally able to sew her lip and nostril together. The result of that can be seen in the header pictures above. On the outside, she looks almost normal other than that small scar and one flattened nostril that lacks cartilage, but the inside of her mouth is a different story. She is missing about 75% of the roof of her mouth which exposes her nasal passage. When she eats, much of her food goes up and out of her nose. Now that she's a little older she knows how to move the food to either side of her mouth so that she doesn't aspirate it. She eats insatiably but remains in the 25% percentile for her height and weight.

The cost for performing these procedures weighs in at over $39,000. Fortunately the Conrads have insurance but a balance remains of almost $5,000. This doesn't include lost wages and their driving expenses. And she has more surgeries to come...

McKenna is scheduled for palate surgery on March 6. Even if the surgery is successful, McKenna may still have to undergo even further operations, including tubes in her ears and dental reconstruction. How much will these cost? That remains to be seen.

And if that wasn't enough, the family attempted to file for medicaid only to be told that they make $9 too much a year to qualify...Something seriously has to be done with health care in this country. But until then, we all must rely on each other and the generosity of strangers.

McKenna's story is not uncommon. One in every 500 babies born are diagnosed with a cleft lip and/or palate. We know that in these times of economic crisis and hardship that there are hundreds of stories like McKenna's, and it's easy to look away and say, "What can one person do? What will my contribution matter?" But hope starts one child at a time. And it makes all the difference in the world...please help bring hope to McKenna and her family.

Thanks for reading,

Dani

Our first donation

We just wanted to announce that we've received our first donation! Thanks, Geoffrey for your kind generousity. But we still need your help. If you are not a digiscrapper and can help the Conrads, please open up your hearts and give. No donation is too small to help this sweet, innocent little girl. It only takes a minute to donate with the paypal button below.

Thanks so much for your kind words and prayers,
Dani

A Mother's Love Almost Complete!

As promised, the Hope for McKenna charity Kit - A Mother's Love - is almost complete. Here's a sneak peak of what the gorgeous kit will look like:

Hope for McKenna Support Blinkie

Add this banner to your email and forum signatures,
blog and social networks to help find HOPE FOR MCKENNA.

Check this out!

My sweet, sweet, new designer, Katherine of Magical Reality made this heavenly layout of McKenna for us! Isn't she the nicest thing!? Thanks, Katherine!

Dani

Welcome to McKenna's Blog

Hi and welcome,

My name is Danielle Fenning, and I am the proud owner of Scrap Outside the Box, an online digital scrapbooking store. One of the things I love most about digital scrapbooking is the remarkable worldwide community of women that make up this group. They are some of the most passionate and caring people I will ever meet. There is something wonderful about creative women sharing their fondest personal moments and even the trials and hardships that they have faced.

So as I was contemplating ways to help my sister with her mounting medical bills, cutting her a check for the full amount she currently owes just wasn't possible since I no longer work fulltime. But in my heart of hearts, I knew that I had to do something to help her.

My second dilemma is the large distance between us. We live almost 10 hours away from each other, so babysitting to help with childcare costs was out of the question.

So finally my other sister approached me and through her diligence to find a solution and by combining our talents of digital design, writing and old-fashioned hardwork, we came up with this "Hope for McKenna" blog where we can share with you McKenna's story. And from that also blossomed the "Hope for McKenna" charity kit.

Let us lastly say that we are not looking for a handout. The "Hope for McKenna" charity kit, which is currently being created, will be a beautifully constructed digital scrapbooking kit that is created with all of our love and passion. We hope that you will choose to purchase it when it is released on March 1st and help McKenna's family find hope for their future.

Thanks and god bless,
Danielle Fenning
McKenna's Proud Auntie
SOTB Owner