Jess McClenahan’s blog started out as a fun way to share snapshots and memories of their new daughter, Cora Paige.
There is Cora as a cow at Halloween, and an angel in the church play, and a red-faced newborn at the hospital.
But in a heartbeat, parents Jess, 27, and Joel, 28, McClenahan of Elbing went from mobiles to IV bags when their 11-month-old daughter was diagnosed with stage-four cancer.
The McClenahan’s lost their only child to complications from treatment of neuroblastoma in February, just two weeks after she was diagnosed with the disease.
Although Cora’s life was brief, through her parents’ blog, it touched hearts across the globe and promises to make a lasting impact on the Newton community.
Since Cora was diagnosed, the McClenahans’ blog has had 800,000 hits from people in 50 states and 17 countries.
In lieu of flowers, the family urged family and friends to donate to a playground project at Grace Community Church.
The family also has raised money through Etsy, a Web site on which independent vendors sell arts and crafts. More than 150 Web vendors have joined in donating items to sell to benefit the Cora’s playground project, and even more people have written comments and condolences to the McClenahans through that site.
More than $31,000 of the $45,000 needed for the playground has been raised, and many of the items on the Etsy site have sold out.
Kris Reed, children’s ministry director at Grace church, said she thought what had touched so many people was the honesty and faithfulness of the McClenahans’ blogs.
“I think it has been her gift of writing,” Reed said. “Their faith is evident in the hospital day by day. They would quote some kind of scripture that had carried them through. I think God is using them beyond anything we can imagine.”
Just an
ear infection
Jess and Joel McClenahan were just two concerned parents two months ago.
They thought they had a healthy, happy baby girl. Her mother described her as having a fun, loving personality with a smile that would melt your heart.
“She had big chubby cheeks,” she said as she cracked a smile behind tear-stained cheeks. “She was a real happy baby.”
They brought their daughter in for a routine follow-up with their pediatrician for a series of ear infections.
They had noticed a few unusual things about their daughter — a tight abdomen, unexplained black eyes, a lack of appetite.
But the couple was unprepared for the news they were about to receive.
Their pediatrician, after a series of tests, including an X-ray, came into the exam room with tears in his eyes. Cora’s liver was enlarged. It might be cancer, he told the couple.
By the end of the day, the couple was at Wesley Medical Center, preparing for their daughter to have surgery.
The McClenahans started their blog when Cora was born and continued to post to the site after Cora was diagnosed with cancer to keep friends and family updated on her progress.
“She was our whole life the 11-months we had her here,” Joel McClenahan said with a gloss of tears in his eyes.
In addition to a laundry list of the procedures and notes on the ups and downs of Cora’s treatment, the McClenahans included Bible verses they felt brought them strength.
Jess wrote in her blog shortly after Cora’s diagnosis, “Joel and I can’t make it through this on our own, but we know we can with the Lord walking with us each step of the way, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,’ Psalm 46:1”
In addition to the quotations of scripture, the McClenahans included daily lists of praises and prayer requests.
But while other parents would be lifting praises for first words and first steps, Cora’s parents lifted praises for good electrolyte levels and asked for prayers that Cora would get enough nutrients through her feeding tube.
Jess McClenahan said the experience was like writing the worst chapter of a very good book.
“We had to know that God was in control, and that is what is getting us through,” she said.
Messy bows,
pink shoelaces
Those select few friends and family who first knew about the McClenahans passed on the site to an every widening group of people who reported being touched by the struggle of the tiny patient and faith and strength of her grief-stricken parents.
Before long, comments were coming in from across the nation and the world.
Jenchristians123 wrote on the Etsy site, “Cora has brought so much change to my life. I know that Jess and Joel would rather have their daughter in their arms, but know that Cora’s story has brought about changes in people that are greater than you will ever know.”
KhaosCat wrote, “My son’s classmate, Carmen, passed away two days ago at the age of 8 from cancer. We are all in shock and full of grief. My heart goes out to this family and any others dealing with a child’s death. I will purchase something to help build her playground.”
The McClenahans said they were touched by the outpouring of concern and sympathy from their blog.
“Through the time in the hospital, so many people left loving comments on the blog and prayed for us,” Jess McClenahan said. “It was amazing to see the overflow of love.”
Joel added, “I feel God’s love through these people who have given time and talents to support our family and support the project.”
A woman in California learned of the McClenahans’ ordeal through their blog. Touched by the story, she set up a sale of her Messy Flower hair pins to sell on Etsy to benefit the Cora’s Playground project.
The pins sold out almost immediately, and she quickly was joined by dozens of other Etsy vendors.
Jess and her mom, as well as some local friends, started making items to sell on Etsy to benefit the playground.
More than 150 vendors eventually joined Cora’s cause.
In addition to the Etsy project, the basketball players at Berean Academy, a Christian high school near Elbing, wore pink shoe laces during their season to honor Cora, including the boys’ successful sub-state championship bid, which they dedicated to Cora.
Cora’s legacy
The McClenahans said the idea of the playground project came as they wanted to do something lasting for children in Cora’s memory.
They said they wanted to do something that would bring children to Christ.
“She was so little. She couldn’t even talk. But she brought us closer to Him,” Jess McClenahan said. “There are a lot of little kids who come to this church and will learn about Christ and be surrounded by these things so they will know Christ’s love.”
The proposed playground will replace a playground on the south side of Grace church for children nursery school age through 5 years old.
It will be a fenced in 1,428-square-foot area with new surfacing, age-appropriate permanent equipment, a new surface and a shade canopy.
Cora’s project will take donations through March 30 for the playground. Donations can be taken online through a bank account at www.gcc-online.org or mailed to Grace Community Church at 1600 S. Anderson St., Newton, KS 67114. These donations are tax- deductible.
Non-tax deductible donations can be made by credit card at corapaige.com through a PayPal account.
Items also can be purchased at Etsy.com.
