Three Inspiring Women

One of our favorite things about this business is the amazing women we get to meet and work with. We are especially inspired by the moms who, when faced with trauma and adversity, channeled their pain into helping others. Today we are highlighting three of these moms who turned their unimaginable grief into action. 

Yvonne lost her only daughter, Britney Lee, at 18 years old when she was killed by a 99-year old driver going the wrong way on a divided highway. Understandably, Yvonne “went down a dark path and lost her will to live”. She found strength through her husband and eventually through Britney herself when friends and family started reaching out to let her know how much Britney had impacted their lives. Yvonne founded the Britney Lee Foundation out of heartache and hope. Their mission is to continue to spread the love and sunshine that Britney Lee brought into this world - specifically charities that encourage children who are experiencing heartache, or children that give back to the community themselves. One of our favorite things the Britney Lee Foundation does is making sure families in need have presents and baskets at Christmas and Easter. To learn more visit the Britney Lee Foundation website or their Facebook page.

Audra and her husband Justin started the MaxLove Project in 2011, after their then 4 year old son, Max, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Facing unimaginable challenges, Audra and her husband decided to be a part of Max’s fight and recovery. They met with doctors, researchers, and other cancer families to find out what they could do to improve his pain, energy, and future survivorship.The MaxLove Project’s mission is to ensure every family fighting childhood cancer has access to therapeutic resources such as optimal nutrition and sleep, as well as physical activity and stress management. All of these have been shown to powerfully impact quality of life and long term health. We love the focus on the “whole” kid - body, mind, spirit - as well as the family and community. To learn more about the MaxLove Project, visit their webpage and check out their Instagram.

Debrah and Antoine’s son Leo was just two years old when he was diagnosed with INAD (Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy). INAD is a rare, genetic, neurodegenerative disease described as “Parkinson’s mixed with Alzheimer’s, for kids”. Leo will eventually lose all of his mental and cognitive abilities, resulting in his death likely before he is ten years old. Since there is no known treatment or cure, Debrah and Antoine are working to fund research for this devastating disease to not only help Leo, but others who suffer from INAD as well. Their foundation is called “Bisous for Leo” and aside from a social media campaign getting people to post pictures of kisses (bisous in french) to raise awareness, there is also a store and even a book. All proceeds go to INADcure Foundation to fight this horrible disease. Our favorite is this fun video compilation they made for “kiss inspiration”. To learn how you can help, check out their website and Instagram.

These three mamas have faced every parent’s worst nightmare, and despite their pain, they are working towards raising awareness, finding answers, and helping others. We cannot imagine anything more inspiring.