News and Press

"Pumpkin Patch Benefits Cancer Kids"

By John Lowman Published in The Brazosport Facts, Angleton, TX: October 18, 2008.

Proceeds from the patch benefit Big Love Cancer Care, an organization founded after Angleton resident Brooke Phillips succumbed to leukemia following a two-year battle. Big Love helps families of cancer victims with visits and hope, according to information at biglovecancercare.org.

Shop operators chose the charity to help benefit patients at Texas Children's Hospital and other hospitals in which children with cancer are treated, Christensen said. Brooke's parents now live in Arkansas but maintain the Web site and charity. BIG stands for, "Brooke's Incredible Gift," which is one that keeps on giving, The daughter of Chaney and Jessica Phillips, Brooke spent a lot of time at Texas Children's Hospital and her parents identified some needs there, Jessica Phillips said.

But the greatest need anyone has, whether an ill child, parents, friends or family, is love.

"One of the things we learned most about Brooke is she loved us really big," Jessica Phillips said. "She taught us a new way to love. It was deeper than any love we knew. I never knew how to love until I was loved by Brooke."

Phillips remembers a hospital visit during which Brooke saw a sick infant.

"We were waiting and the baby was crying," she said, her voice shaking. "Brooke grabbed my hands and put them together and said, ‘Mommy, pray for that baby.' The way she could see past her own pain to the way others were hurting ... It was very profound. When she passed away, the only thing we could do was look past our pain and help other kids and just love the families through the crisis."

BIG Love gives all young patients the chance to visit a giant toy box after testing, gives gift baskets to children and families, does grocery shopping for families staying with ill children and attends to other needs.

"They do all kinds of things," Sunny Hearts co-owner Ellen Eby said. "Their newest venture is a toy box, and any time a child has any testing done, they can go to the box and get a toy."

The goal of BIG Love Cancer Care Services is to ease the burden cancer kids and families have to endure while providing chances for laughter, happiness and comfort, the charity's Web site states.

At Sunny Hearts and the pumpkin patch smiles are easy to come by, said Christensen, who co-owns the shop with Eby and affectionately calls everyone who works in the place cast members.

"The response has been great," Christensen said on the sunny afternoon. "We don't get seasons here like in some places, so you really don't know until people start putting things out. People are welcome to come by and not buy one. They're welcome to sit with the pumpkins, let their kids play or take pictures. Buying is optional, but we encourage it since it helps others."

When the large fruit arrived from Floydada, Texas, on an 18-wheeler, Christensen, Herbst and their families discovered charity can hurt a little as they unloaded dozens of them. Preparing the patch left Herbst tired, but pleased.

"I've arranged pumpkins, bathed pumpkins and learned more about pumpkins than I thought there was to know," she said as Christensen produced a pair of pumpkin recipes folks can use after the lantern is gone from their Jack.

"There are a lot of unusual varieties, and it's been a lot of fun so far," Herbst said. "I thought a pumpkin was a pumpkin, but it's not."

An article in The Times Community News

Written by Butch McReynolds.Publisher of The Times Community News. Published June 19, 2007

As my wife and I turned off Holcombe on to Fannin, something started churning in my stomach last Saturday in Houston. And then as I turned into Texas Children's Hospital and took the parking ticket stub out of the machine, I remembered I had been here before. My stomach started to churn, but there was no turning back. We were about to hit the beach and the hatch was coming down. And I knew the enemy would be there ready to open fire. The hatch that opened just happened to be an elevator door on the ninth floor of the hospital. No loud bombs going off, no machine gun fire. But you knew the enemy was there. Silent, but deadly. Behind each one of the 36 doors on the cancer floor is where the trenches are and where families dig in to meet the enemy head on. My dad used to tell me that there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. And years later I question "why should there be?"

While some question why a loving God would ever allow this to happen to small children like these, those on the battlefield roll up their fighting sleeves and believe for miracles. Although the miracle stories are few and far between, the battle for survival is real and brutal. While dedicated doctors and nurses parade the hallway with their God-given abilities and talents, there is always hope that cancer research will soon come up with a cure before another life is yanked needlessly away. There is not a family member on that ninth floor who wouldn't carry out God's greatest description of love and friendship. "Greater love hath no man than to lay his life down for his friend." To most of those parents, it would make life so much simpler.

A year ago, Chaney and Jessica Phillips went through the same World War, and held on for dear life as their precious five-year old girl, Brooke, slipped off into eternity. And while Brooke dances all around heaven's gates and tells angels "It's not a problem of it," Chaney and Jessica find themselves roaming the beachfront wondering what happened and why. But somehow, someway, they have been able to take each other's hand and stagger to their feet with the help of the same God who once allowed his only begotten son to be nailed to a cross and suffer one of the most humiliating deaths in the history of all mankind. A guy named MacArthur once promised a group of Filipinos that he would return, and brother did he return. Chaney and Jessica promised God, and themselves, that they too would return.

Saturday's trip to the ninth floor must have brought a lot of smiles from heaven. The B.I.G. Love Cancer Care Services are alive and well. While there remains a great need for cancer research, B.I.G.(Brooke's Incredible Gift) Love reaches out to the cancer patients and the loved ones in the trenches with them. You see, Jessica and Chaney know all about such hospital stays. They know what it is like to see a struggling child hooked to a pole in a hospital room. They know what it is like to sit around for days in a hospital room hoping for the best, getting very little sleep and seeing few faces save doctors and nurses and other warriors in adjacent rooms. They know what it is like eating hospital food and out of snack machines. They know how expensive it is to park at the hospital and how difficult it is to get a change of clothes.

So Saturday, as the newly formed B.I.G. Love foundation does on several occasions during the year, big baskets were taken to each room, this time in the name of Father's Day. In each basket, you could find anything from snacks to flashlights, even a roll of quarters to help feed the vending machines in the middle of the night. Phone cards, toiletries, detergent, cans of coffee, anything to make those visits more bearable.

While the baskets were passed out about mid morning, the sights were all too familiar. Some of the kids and parents were asleep, probably from having rough nights. But one thing was common, that being smiling, appreciative faces from both the kids and the parents.

And while Saturday's festivities were about the kids and their families couped up in those rooms and fighting the real fight, I can't tell you how proud I am of Chaney and Jessica for the work they are doing. And I have no doubt that B.I.G. Love has not tipped the iceberg of the ministry it will be in the future. Supplying meals once per week, parking passes, grocery wish lists for those who cannot leave, along with memorial gifts and get-away retreats for grieving parents are all in the future mix. And kudos to those who volunteered their time to help deliver those God-sent baskets. I know Rep. Dennis Bonnen probably had a lot of things he could have been doing on a Saturday morning, but instead opted to help some old friends out. Bonnen, who went to Angleton High School with Chaney and Jessica, was there as a servant, pushing the carts around and helping deliver the heavy baskets and believe it or not, trying to avoid clicking cameras.

Mother Teresa must have been thinking ahead in a vision of B.I.G. Love when she was quoted as saying, "We cannot all do great things but we can do small things with great love." If you would like to do small things with great love, then you might want to go to the website, biglovecancercare.org. Once there, you can keep track of the foundation's activities and make a donation if you wish. You can also sign up for the newsletter, which comes out quarterly.

Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why doesn't God heal all those folks on the ninth floor of Texas Children's Hospital? I would like to tell you that I had all the answers, but folks with a lot more wisdom than me have been trying to answer these questions for centuries. What I do know is this, that the same God we question is our only hope in death, whether it comes when you are five months old or 120 years old.

And as hard as it is for me to say that good things can come out of terrible situations. Brooke Alyson's life was, and still is, a testimony to that.

"Our Day at the TX State Capitol"

By Jessica Phillips April 1, 2007

House Resolution #1262
Senate Resolution #563

Our day in Austin was beautiful. We felt incredibly blessed and honored. From the moment we arrived, Representative Dennis Bonnen took good care of us. It was also such a blessing to have Madison Brown with us in Austin ... one of Brooke's friends from BMT ... along with her Mom, Dad and Brother. Although, she is still fighting GVHD, she has been cancer-free for over a year. It was our pleasure to include her and honor her along with Brooke. Senator Jackson and Rep. Bonnen both did an incredible job ... and as we stood before everyone in the Senate and House, we tried our hardest not to sob. The feeling was overwhelming! Many times, Chaney and I looked at each other and said, "Brooke would love this." She would have marched right to the front of the House and Senate with her knees lifted high and her little crooked smile.
 
We were also so very proud of Taylor. Many Senators and Representatives came to meet us and hug us. They made a big deal over Taylor ... telling her how brave she was, and what a good sister she had been. This blessed my heart. Although, it was incredibly hard to stand there without the honoree, Brooke, I knew she was watching, and she was proud. I also felt God's loving touch ... letting us know that He has not forgotten us ... and that Brooke's life had, and still has, incredible meaning and purpose.