Elliott Quinones – Owner CF Deprivation
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 5 and was in the hospital for 4 days. I was devastated seeing her in a hospital bed and felt helpless and lost. After only a few hours of being in the hospital the first person through that door was Lisa with a Scarlett’s Closet care bag. She came and sat with my daughter and prayed with her. it was the first real response we had seen from Elliana all day. There was not a single thing in that bag we did not use and I am so thankful that she came in that day. At that moment that small gesture made me feel like everything was going to be O.K.
A Testimony of Brantley’s Battle
My seemingly healthy and super active 5 year old grandson, Brantley was diagnosed with Stage 3 High Risk Neuroblastoma Cancer on December 12, 2016 (he was 4 at the time) and on that day we were rushed by ambulance from Phenix City, AL to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, 3 hours away from home where testing and treatment was started immediately. We had no time to prepare and even if we had time, we didn’t know HOW to prepare for this life changing event. Our hearts were racing and our heads were swimming. How do we do this?
My daughter, Kari rode in the ambulance with him while I stayed behind to care for my 2 year old granddaughter and make arrangements to take her to her other grandparents so I could make the 3 hour drive to Children’s to be with Kari and Brantley. The days to come would be filled with treatment plans, Oncology Team meetings, scans, tests, surgeries to place ports in his little chest, tubes in his nose so he could eat and the heart wrenching decisions needed as we tried to make sense of everything and tried to plan how we were going to move forward and how we were going to help Brantley understand what was happening to him. We couldn’t breathe, frozen, helpless.
Word traveled quickly and so many asked, “What can we do for you?” We didn’t know how to respond other than to ask for their prayers. The need was great, but how do we ask? Then I was approached by Lisa Fountain of Scarlett’s Closet. She didn’t have to ask anything because she already knew what we needed before we even knew. We received travel assistance, gas cards, Visa cards for essentials that we didn’t know we were even going to need yet, snacks for the long hospital stays, and cash donations from love gifts given to the foundation by supporters of Scarlett’s Closet. We were so overwhelmed; all we could do was weep out loud. Lisa had never met our family and we had never heard of Scarlett’s Closet because we had never been inside the “cancer circles”, until now. We were standing in the middle of that circle, spinning out of control, but Lisa gave with her whole heart, unconditionally to someone she had never even met.
God placed Lisa on our path as a guide and a comfort, a prayer warrior and a friend. Lisa was someone who understood where we were because she had traveled this road with her sweet Scarlett just a few short years before.
During one of our trips back to our home in Phenix City, Lisa reached out and said she had a love basket she wanted to bring to us to take back to the hospital with us in Birmingham. When she arrived at the house, I felt as if I had known her all my life, my sister in Christ and fighting back the tears, I hugged her with all my might as we shared a bond of struggle and love and deep understanding. These were tears of joy, relief and praise to God for allowing us to be so blessed. We are humbled by the generosity of Lisa and Scarlett’s Closet and can only say a much heart felt thank you for giving to the Lord.
With grateful hearts, we THANK YOU and God bless you.
Love,
Simi, Kari, Brantley and Emory
TEAM BRANTLEY
David and Kristin Morton
Another sweet testimony from one of my Scarlett’s Closet families, the Mortons. They are very dear to my heart. I prayed with their middle daughter to receive Christ two years ago and was able to see the whole family get baptized at our church. They have been faithful supporters of Scarlett’s Closet and never dreamed they would be one of our families. Here’s their story
We met Ms. Lisa shortly after moving to the Columbus area just over 2 years ago at the church we were attending. She has to be the epitome of a true, Christian woman. We learned of her ministry and what it does to help families during the most tragic times of their lives. We donated here and there, attended Crossfit fundraisers, listened to other families testimonies never truly understanding exactly what Scarlett’s Closet did for families. And then April 20, 2019 happened.
It was the day before Easter Sunday, my husband was outside doing yard work, I was in my kitchen prepping dessert for the next day while putting the current day’s dinner in the crockpot, my teenage daughter hiding out in her room, my 9 year old daughter and 3 year old son outside playing. The two younger ones were riding a miniature ATV being stored at my home by a neighbor who had recently moved. There’s a safety on this thing so my husband allowed my 9 year old to drive the 3 year old around the back yard. It doesn’t go faster than 5 mph, what’s the harm?
For a whole 60-90 seconds, my husband stepped away to ask me what’s for lunch when my 9 year old came running to the back door in a panic, unable to form words. My 3 year old son did not follow, and by the tone in her voice and fear in her eyes we knew something was wrong. My husband and I both ran around the yard looking, calling out for my son, David. No response. We found him laying on his side next to the ATV that had crashed, a puddle of blood surrounded his head (which had quite the gash in it), no movement, no response to our voices. Our hearts sank, our screams could be heard for miles. My husband fell to his knees and tears ran down our faces as we thought the worst, felt the worst, that we had lost our son.
“Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise”. (Jeremiah 17:14) By the grace of God, our son had responded with a yelp when my husband touched the wound on his head and in that moment we felt relief, but also fear. We knew he needed medical attention right away and despite our best efforts, we were unable to control his bleeding. His face was swelling and he was in and out of consciousness. My husband laid him down between our cars in the driveway while I called for paramedics. Our town only has a volunteer fire department and thankfully, there were men there able and willing to take the call. Their response time was incredible eight minutes!
Due to the extent of my son’s head and facial injuries, that EMS crew decided it was best to call in a life flight. We met the flight crew at the fire station and they chose to fly him to CHOA and felt it best we drove to meet our son there. The longest 2 and a half hours of our lives were spent on the highways from Fort Mitchell, AL to Atlanta, GA.
By the time my family arrived to CHOA, David was in the PICU and we were unable to enter due to shift change. It was there we were met by our extended families and Ms. Lisa’s friend employed by CHOA, Janine. Janine had greeted us with three Scarlett’s Closet bags, a warm smile and a big hug.
We spent a week in the hospital with my son. We left our home with nothing, and possibly a wide open back door! Scarlett’s closet gave us what we needed to survive, to keep clean, and to keep our faith! It also gave us hope, answered prayers and a vision of God’s work.
“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord”. (Jeremiah 30:17) I am happy to say my son is recovering and expected to be 100%! We’ve learned that he punched the gas on the ATV when his older sister let go and the safety failed, sending them flying into the privacy fence. He’ll have scars, but the good Lord blessed him with no internal injuries or brain damage. I truly believe God rode that ATV with my children, spared any injury to my daughter and stayed the week with my son in that hospital bed.
Shakana Borders Testimony
After my son was moved to the PICU at Egleston Children’s hospital, I merely went into the break room for some coffee when a fellow parent came in telling me about why she loved this hospital so much. She said people were so kind and they were always giving away things for free to the parents of the children in the PICU. She asked me if I had gotten my bag and I said “what bag?” She then went and got a bag from under the desk, and gave it me. As I looked in the bag I was more and more touched because it had a notebook, toothpaste, and a bible, as well as some other things that I appreciated. I came across the note which had Psalm 46:1 on it as well as information about Scarlett’s Closet. The young lady who offered me the bag told me
a little about the story, however I heard God tell me to find out more on my own, to find this lady and to tell her thank you.
When I found Scarlett’s Closet on Facebook the first thing I saw was a collage of pictures with baby Scarlett on them and the founder of the ministry Ms. Lisa Fountain. I didn’t know until then it was actually Scarlett’s birthday. I then saw a picture of one of the bags that I’d received. I commented about how it blessed me to know that someone understood because I loved to read the word, and write my thoughts. I also told Ms. Lisa how my son was in the hospital suffering with seizures when I received one of her bags. I let her know how I felt
urged to come find her to tell her thank you and to let her know to keep doing what she’s doing. Even though it doesn’t seem like a huge gift many women like me are blessed to get something like that. She went on to let me know what happened to Scarlett, and when she told me that Scarlett was so little when she died I felt for her. She also let me know what day her granddaughter had died May 13, 2011. This stunned me because my son was born on May 13, 2016. I feel like I was supposed to reach out to Ms. Lisa I was supposed to get one of her bags. And even though both me and Ms. Lisa was going through so much at the same time; she and I both agreed that God was showing us he was there for us in this very BIG way. To me she had summed it up pretty nicely on her own by putting the scripture in the bag in the first place. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble.” I reflected on that scripture a lot for myself, and for my son. I asked myself questions
like, Have I really taken refuge in God for this? Have I asked him for strength? Do I believe he is present with me in this time of trouble? Just the fact that I’d gotten in contact with Ms. Lisa and we encouraged one another proved that the Lord had heard both our prayers at the same time, and answered them. Ms. Lisa told me she prays over each bag, and it felt good to know someone she’d already prayed for. Ms. Lisa doesn’t know me very much but I am actually a woman who comes from a line of Pastors and Teachers. My husband is a minister and the Word of God is heavily valued in our household. She didn’t know who she was praying for but
at the present time when I’d gotten the bag I was deeply discouraged in my walk with God. Our circumstances had gotten way out of hand with our bills and our health and I was desperately seeking an answer from God.
Seeing the scripture was a reminder that I wasn’t alone, my prayers had been heard, and God hadn’t forgotten me in the least way. I have hope now, and if it’s not for anything else it’s to believe that The Father is my refuge strength and an ever present help.
