Dear Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation supporters,
While I will continue on for one more week to train our new program director, I am reaching out to you today to personally tell you that last Thursday, Feb. 28, was my last official day working at the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation.
Ten years ago, I had the most amazing experience. I had an epiphany. I knew in one precise moment what I wanted to do with my life and refused to believe it wasn’t possible. I wanted to serve families with a child battling cancer.
On the floor of my incredibly tiny apartment, I created the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. I never thought I would leave, but life has a way of changing on you sometimes and your plans are well — no longer part of the plan anymore.
I have said this many times and it still stands true: The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life (next to falling in love with my husband and having two amazing children). Teddy Bear has been a core part of my life and in its own way my first baby.
And while I feel like a part of me has died inside, I also know how incredibly fortunate I truly am to have experienced Teddy Bear. So many people go through life existing, never to know how it feels to follow your passion, to have a vision or dream and turn it into a reality. I not only have had this honor, but Teddy Bear has made my life fuller than I could have ever thought possible.
The things I have witnessed and learned these last 10 years have changed who I am as a person today and forever. They have molded me and changed how I see life. I have seen more good in people than I ever knew existed. I have witnessed more strength than I thought humanly possible. I have been in the room with some of our Teddy Bear families and felt more love then any one heart can hold. I have seen and shared their tears, pain, joy, challenges, victories and losses.
I will always be a part of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, and while this is a bittersweet time in my life, I know great things await. Whether it’s creating a new nonprofit, starting a business or being a part of something I never dreamed of, I know life will continue to amaze and teach me.
To all of the people who have been a part of this journey with me, who have let me into your lives and who have become part of mine, this quote is for you: “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” — Flavia
» For all future Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation program-related inquiries, please contact Program Director Kayla Howard-Anderson directly at 805.308.9941 or kayla@teddybearcancerfoundation.org.
» For all other Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation-related inquiries, please contact Executive Director Lindsey Gurrero at 805.563.4740 or lindsey@teddybearcancerfoundation.org.
Nikki Katz, founder
Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation