Hello and Welcome

Hello and Welcome!

I am guessing you have stumbled onto this blog for one of a few reasons: you googled DIPG, you know about our show because you have seen it, or you're one of the cast members of this show.

Well, this post is going to start at the beginning. So, hang on tight.

I've always been a writer, since I was very little. I wasn't able to put things to paper, but I came up with all kinds of stories. When I did learn to write, I began to pencil in different odd stories, mostly about horses to be completely honest. But, I wrote.

When I began to work in the Theatre, my writings turned to plays. I found it fascinating that I could literally bring my work to life. WITH REAL PEOPLE. How cool was that? And when you're a theatre teacher, you get to test a lot of your writing. My kids are my harshest critics. They have turned down multiple stories that I have started writing. I love them, but they're snobs. (Also, when I refer to my "kids," I mean my students. I don't have any biological children).

But, they didn't turn down "Firefly."

"Firefly" is the short name for a show I started writing in 2016. I have always been affected by childhood cancer or really, any rare disease. My cousin, Megan, was diagnosed with a very rare disease when she was only 3. It was so rare, it's named after her. She was given a terminal diagnosis and they were told she wouldn't live very long. Boy, did she prove them wrong. She lived for 26 incredible years.

Megan taught me so much about growing up with a disease you can't control. I was so inspired by her, so I could say that I was easily drawn to kids like her.

But, in 2016, when I began writing "Firefly," I didn't know that while I was writing, the child who would go on to drive the story was being diagnosed. I didn't know that her story would take me on a path I never expected to be writing.

That child was named Parker Monhollon.

Parker was 8 years old when she was diagnosed. She was a dancer. I have danced my entire life. It's as much a part of my being as my love for the color green and the mountains of my home. So, I connected with her story. I came across it by pure facebook accident in January of 2017, and I found myself checking with her often...desperate to keep up to date on her.

Parker was battling a rare brain cancer called DIPG or Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. I have sensed learned that some families are calling it DMG or Diffuse Midline Glioma due to different manifestations. DIPG affects the pons system of the brain which controls all body functions: lungs, movement, etc. But it leaves the child with the tumor fully mentally intact. They can feel themselves losing control, but they feel no different mentally. It's horrific, and unfair and even unimaginable.

But yet, 300 kids a year are diagnosed with it.

And a large percentage of those kids will die within 9 months of diagnosis.

Parker passed in the summer of 2017. And I sobbed. I sobbed for a little girl I had never met. I sobbed for all the kids and their families living this nightmare.

And I began writing. And I wrote, and I threw things away and I wrote some more. And then, I was bold. And I shared a tiny snippet with one of my students and surprisingly, she liked it. 

So I wrote again, and I listened to moody music and I cried over telling this story. I researched and read, and imagined. And then, it was done. It was written and "Firefly" was born.

But, I had named the main character "Maddie." I love the name, but it wasn't right. And it hit me, I had been inspired by Parker. So Parker was the name. But, I didn't want to name our character Parker without permission. I felt stuck, but I got bold again.

In October of 2018, I contacted Parker Loves Life, the foundation set up for Parker in the midst of her illness. And I asked, and she said yes. And so "Maddie" became Parker and it felt like every piece of the puzzle connected.

I would spend the next few months reading over things, editing them and rewriting parts. I began reaching out to other families who were on facebook and fighting (more on them in another post).

And now, here we are. The fall of 2019. It's time. We have an incredible cast and crew and we're ready.

It's time to put on our big girl pants and take on this show.

And so, my characters began to lift off the page.

So begins "The Story of a Firefly"


Want to donate to our cause? Find us at tinyurl.com/storyofafirefly

Future links coming soon

Love,

Cab