Purple Nails for EMILY!!!

Today, I have a very special post for you!! I have been following the story of a local child who was diagnosed with leukemia. Emily Whitehead has not only become a very big inspiration to me, she has become my hero. Em is the toughest seven-year-old you will ever hear about. She has overcome the odds and her fight has become the fight of not only a small town and surrounding towns, but as you will see later on, worldwide.

Happy Birthday Emily!! (Photo courtesy of Emily's facebook page)

In honor of Emily's seventh birthday, I have organized a worldwide Purple Nails for Emily Day today. Let me just say I was pretty overwhelmed with the response. I wasn't surprised at the local support for Emily. We live in a small town and it's just our nature to want to take care of one of our own. But when I started getting emails from across the country and foreign countries from people who wanted to take part, it literally made me teary-eyed.

I painted my nails with China Glaze Spontaneous. It's a beautiful purple color. And, since Emily's favorite color is purple, it was only fitting to paint them that shade. I added a special message for Emily and a fimo flower with a coat of Hippity Hop from Pam Heil's Girly Bits collection. Here's what it ended up looking like.....

Jaclyn Wechtenhiser - Puppies and Pawlish

Several very talented bloggers have also jumped on board with today's theme and sent pictures of their PURPLE NAILS FOR EMILY!!! They used all shades and brands and some even stamped some awesome designs. Thank you to everyone who took the time out to help me with this post.

Shannon Brown - The Kracked Kat

Patricia Medina - Southern Sister polish

Dana Kurtz - Artistry of the Nail Salon

Jeanie Barbee - Midnight Manicures

Lots of great people from the nail polish communities on Facebook also jumped in and sent photos!

Linda "Red" Stewart

Sheila Lagergren

Several ladies who had never heard Emily's story before have now become followers of her page. If you are interested, check out Emily's page.

Brooke Ritchey

Dana Whaley

Diana Smith

There were a lot of great designs. Some people went with the all purple nail, while others used purple shatter or purple with stamping!!

Donna McCrudden

Araceli Guttierrez

Debbie Taylor

Some people had inspirational messages to send to Emily and even got their kids involved!!

Crystal's daughter

Crystal Kriner

 Everyone's nails look great!! Even people who usually don't like to show off their nails got involved. Like my friend Karla, who's kids go to school with Emily.

Karla Trude Coudriet

Some people got involved through their friends, who may have mentioned it to them after seeing posts up about Purple Nails for Emily.

Michelle

Brooke Silva

Novita Erasma

Some people who participated lost a close family member to this awful disease. One of them was Christine Peterson, who recently lost her brother Derick. She used her most prized polish DS Original for her mani in honor of Emily.

Christine Peterson

There were lots of people who have pledged to send pictures, and I will do a second post of photos once I get them.

Everyone who sent photos wants to send their love and support to Emily and her parents Tom and Kari. As I type, there are handfuls of fundraisers going on to support Em. From T-shirts (here) to ribbon stickers to bracelets (here), thousands of people have stepped up to show their support to this little girl who has captured the hearts of everyone.   I BELIEVE!!

Today, the students at Penn State made a banner, which is to be signed by thousands of students and sent to Emily of the week. There is also an e-card and regular card drive going for Emily. All cards can be sent to

Emily Whitehead

c/o Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

34th St. and Civic Center Blvd.

Philadelphia, PA 19104-4304

United States

Emily also has a Caring Bridge site here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emilywhitehead if you would like to keep updated on her progress. 

Please keep Emily and her family in your thoughts and prayers!

And lastly, there is one thing that Emily loves more than the color purple, and that's her little puppy Lucy. Anytime you see a picture of the two, you can see how much they love each other. So, I wanted to leave you with a picture of my hero, Emily, and her pup Lucy.

Emma and Lucy (Photo courtesy of Emily's facebook page)