Crashing because I thought you would be interested to know this:
Congratulations to Amy Olson, founder and executive director of Savannah's Second Wish Foundation for being named one of the Illinois Jaycees' TOYP recipients for 2006! Amy received this honor at the Illinois Jaycees' Spring General Assembly/TOYP banquet last night. She was nominated by the Woodridge, IL Jaycees.
Here is her bio, from the program book:
Amy attended college at Eastern Illinois University where she made the Dean's list, was an elected member of the English Honor Fraternity and voted the most outstanding junior in her social sorority, Alpha Phi. Amy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
It appeared that Amy had everything going for her. She met Lance in college in 1993, married and had their first child Savannah on June 27, 1997 with Jasmin following soon after on January 17, 2000. Then on December 12, 2000 her world changed when Savannah was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a childhood kidney cancer, at age 3. She was treated at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital, where she formed bonds with the medical staff and other patients. When Savannah completed treatment, she celebrated by taking her wish trip on a Disney cruise and to Walt Disney World. Though in remission for over a year, Savannah's cancer recurred. Savannah declared to her doctors that she would beat the cancer again! She held true to her promise and completed 8 months of treatment. She visited Walt Disney World both times to ease the emotional suffering. Savannah died in the arms of her parents on the 6th day following the return from her last trip on March 27, 2004.
Amy serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Savannah's 2nd Wish Foundation. Savannah's Second Wish, Inc. is a not-for-profit pediatric cancer organization formed in 2004 in memory of six year old Savannah Olson who battled cancer on and off for over three years. Two goals of Savannah's Second Wish are to provide get-a-ways for children at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital whose cancer has recurred and to offer scholarships to graduating high school seniors. (when Amy was introduced at the banquet they said that the scholarships are for students intending to study something related to health care, since Savannah dreamed of growing up to become a nurse.) In 2004, their first year, they raised $15,000 through fundraisers and also awarded their first two scholarships.
Here's a link to the Savannah's Second Wish website, if you want to find out more about that. My Jaycee chapter helped out at the Under Savannah's Big Top fundraiser last year (I worked Saturdays so I couldn't go) and will probably help out again this year.
Alpha Phi Named One of Illinois' 10 Outstanding Young People of 2006!
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