Tomorrow is nine months since Ewan’s death. I can’t think of a better way to mark it than to spend the evening sharing about him at the Seattle Sports Commission 84th Annual Sports Star of the Year Celebration (thank you, Ralph Morton). Alongside a team of volunteers and some of Ewan’s friends, MIHS hero and former Mariners pitcher, Sean White, will be at the event helping us accept donations for Ewan’s guild. 

Since Ewan was diagnosed, we’ve been fighting leukemia. When he was in treatment, we brainstormed ways to pool resources and help him and others get better treatment, faster and for less cost (thank you, Cindy Hoppner Hennessy, for your thorough research). When Ewan died, we were left with gaping holes in our hearts and a more piercing, pressing need to get better treatment to others because we understand the costs of not doing so. The Team Ewan Guild has been in the works for nearly a year. Its been up and running since his 9th birthday in September. Team Ewan has already raised over $57,000 in cancer-fighting funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital. But yesterday, the final, formal step was completed; we got our non-profit bank account open with HomeStreet Bank. Its a silly step to celebrate but I feel proud and accomplished, like when I was nine and walked into a bank for the first time to open a savings account with money I had made from shoveling snow. On Ewan’s dresser is a piggy bank with change and dollars he’d saved from birthdays and the Tooth Fairy. I haven’t known what to do with the money in that piggy bank. Now, I know. It will be Team Ewan’s Guild’s first official deposit. 

I still cry everyday. I miss Ewan so much. But today, for the first time in almost 9 months, I feel a little bit of hopefulness and joy because we are not giving up. We are continuing to fight leukemia with Ewan by our sides. My gaping-holed heart is as full of love for him as ever and is as full of gratitude for all of you as ever. Thank you Team Ewan Guild Board: Kate Gordon, Dan Kalish, Tammy Yotsuuye Heydon, Julie Olin Duffié and Maggie Tai Tucker. And all my love to Michael Evans Lill.

If you have not joined the Team Ewan Guild yet, here’s where to join: https://www.seattlechildrens.org/giving/guilds/