KSL News Story: Community steps up to help grieving mother

Here is the link to the online article:
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=31473183&nid=148&title=community-steps-up-to-help-grieving-mother

Here is the text from the article:

PLEASANT GROVE — A community stepped up to help a mother grieving the loss of her daughter. Michalla Beardall, 19, lost her battle with leukemia earlier this summer.

“She had a love of life, had so much energy, artistic, talented,” said Terri Call, Michalla’s mother.

Michalla was diagnosed with leukemia the summer after she graduated from high school. She spent 18 months on and off at Primary Children’s Hospital where she underwent treatment. During her time at the hospital, she was a source of strength for other patients. Her mother told about a 5-year-old girl recently diagnosed with cancer.

“She started losing her hair, and Michalla was already bald, and showed her you can still be beautiful,” said Call.

Beardall drew a picture for the girl of Disney princesses without any hair. At night, Beardall would walk the halls and write notes to each of the children.

“I was just pleading with the Lord, 'How can you do this to all these little kids who need Michalla here?'” said Call.

Call prayed for a miracle, but the miracle she hoped for never came. On June 15, Beardall's year-and-a-half battle with leukemia ended.

“The whole week they just kept telling us she’s not going to get better, just say your goodbyes. But I don’t know how you ever say your goodbyes to a child until the minute she stops breathing, just to still think a miracle is going to happen,” said Call.

The family now has thousands of dollars in medical bills. Mary Lynn Boren, a neighbor, held a yard sale on Saturday to help cover the costs.

“When you really need something, people come,” said Boren.

She said three yards were full of donated items. In one day, she raised just over $6,000.

* Donations to help the Call family are being accepted at any Utah Community Credit Union under the name Michalla Beardall.

** Disclaimer: ksl.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does ksl.com assure that the monies deposited will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit or donation you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

Here are the comments from the online article:

 whowhat
"She sounds like an amazing young woman! I am very sorry for the family's loss. May peace find her family."

aprilmit
"I have a 16 year old daughter that looks just as vibrant and alive as Michalla did. I can't imagine the loss for this family. So glad community is coming together to help. What a beautiful legacy of service and love she left for those kids at Primary Children's."

moldcore
"We just lost our 33 year old daughter and mother of 4 to Leukemia in July. Such a horrible disease. I feel for Michalla's family and the pain they must be going through."

foxgloves
"Heartbroken by your loss, but so uplifted by this story of the community coming to your aid. As a fellow mother of a medically complex child, my heart goes out to this beautiful family!"

Slcmac
"Heaven has a true angel !! What a beautiful soul !!!"

Teri B.
"Thank you all for your kind comments. It has been the love of family, friends, and even strangers that has gotten me through this tough time. Love, Teri (Michalla's mom)"

Birthday Party pictures

As I have been looking over the blog I realized I didn't post any pictures of Michalla's birthday party.

Lilly gave me an angel porcelain doll.  She didn't even know Michalla collected porcelain dolls when she was a little girl.

 Lilly wanted to put some Lillys on Michalla's grave site.  They are really cool.  They are solar and at night light up.

We all wrote messages on balloons to Michalla and let them go.

The funniest thing about this was that the balloons got caught in the tree.

Logan and Clint sang songs at the cemetery.  Logan sang Angel by Jack Johnson for Michalla.

Another Miracle for Michalla

 

 

 

 

Over the weekend there was a neighborhood yard sale fundraiser to raise money for Michalla's medical bills. Our sweetheart neighbor Mary Lynn Boren and her family headed it up.  We had no idea how successful it would be. The amount of community support was amazing.  We had channel 4 news come yesterday and today right after church we had KSL news show up at our house. 

 

We had been home from church for 10 minutes and Mary Lynn came over and said the news crew was on their way to interview me.  We had no time to clean the house or "get pretty" for the camera.  They filmed my messy kitchen and my tear streaked face.  It was already a tear filled day.  I had been fasting all day, which always makes me more emotional.  I also bore my testimony (tears) and right after me Logan bore his testimony (more tears).  He did such an awesome job and it was such a treat for a mother. He is turning into such a fine young man.  I love him so much. Anyway, I came home from church with a face that had been crying all day to a lady filming me for the news.

 

It didn't really matter anyway since I pretty much cried through the whole interview anyway. haha.  Oh well.  With any luck I will end up on the cutting room floor just like Faith did yesterday.

 Mary Lynn and Faith being interviewed.  Faith was super shy but it didn't matter.  They didn't make the air anyway.  The clip was only like 15 seconds long.

 

Just one week ago, Mary Lynn had so few donations that  she thought at best case we would raise a couple hundred dollars. Less than one week later and the result is thousands of dollars raised.  Mary Lynn hasn't given us a check yet as she wants it to be a surprise but it far exceeded our expectations.  Another miracle happened in the course of a week.  The miracle came in the form of Christ Like people from near and far that showered on the love once again. 

Loading up the truck to donate the items that didn't sell to charity. 

 

As I stepped back and looked at the dozens of people of this neighborhood working so hard at the end of an exhausting day and giving up one of the last sunny Saturdays of the year that they could have spent with their own families but instead were spending it with me and my family, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love. I know I say it all the time but PEOPLE ARE SO GOOD!  You all inspire me to want to be a better person, to serve and love more.

Thank you all again.