From A Mother’s Heart
By Sherri Blevins
Thanksgiving is the time of year when families reflect on all the blessings of life. One local family has chosen to be thankful even when life is not what the family had planned. Lori Cleveland, the mother of Plainview student, Blake Cleveland, who is currently battling cancer. has taken this approach.
Cleveland eloquently expressed her thanks to members of the community for their outpouring of love shown to Blake during his illness, in a letter to the community she sent to Mountain Valley News. Below is her letter.
“We received the news Blake was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his right femur on September 6 of this year. Blake is 14 years old and is in the 9th grade at Plainview High School. This event changed our lives immediately. Just like cancer does to most families..it’s a forever change.
Blake has been doing treatments for three months now, at TC Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger and has been so strong throughout. We pray for continued strength for us and especially Blake, to keep up his fight. We owe a lot to the best support system that has been behind us from the beginning. Our families, friends, his school, our co-workers and church families have all been amazing. I want to mention several that have gone above and beyond in helping us during this time. Plainview School and Touchdown Club have been so great, along with our football team family that stepped up and outdone themselves tremendously. They did several fundraisers and set up an account for Blake at First State Bank to receive donations. A few of the surrounding schools donated as well, which were Fyffe and Sylvania. We are so thankful for their support also. Derrick’s work, Ferguson Enterprises in Fort Payne, did several fundraisers, including a softball tournament in honor of Blake. Also, they’ve done several other small fundraisers that have continued throughout. Topher’s Wings in Rainsville, where I work part-time, has been so good to us as well. They set up a donation bucket, sold bracelets for Blake, and have been so supportive. A lot of local businesses are still selling the bracelets, and some had donation buckets too, so we’re very grateful to each of them. We are so blessed even in this circumstance because many others have given to us and helped in all different ways and it has humbled us so much. We hope everyone knows how much we are thankful for all the love shown to us, and if I left anyone off please know we say “thank you” from the bottom of our hearts. Last note, God is under control, and we are all fighting this together, and the victory is ours!
Thank you
The Cleveland Family
Derrick, Lorrie, Blake, and Ava
#believeforBlake ?
From A Mother’s Heart