As part of Tri Delta St. Jude Kindness Month, this very special and heartfelt episode is not to be missed. Meredith Davies, Rhodes, welcomes sisters Amanda “Mandi” Posey Paris and Alix Flannigan Hunsucker, both Georgia. Best friends, business partners and advocates for childhood cancer research, Mandi and Alix share how their lifelong bond carried them through unimaginable loss and into building Mandi Paris Designs together. Dedicated to the memory of Mandi’s daughter Mary Elizabeth, this episode explores the power of sisterhood, resilience and what it means to turn heartbreak into hope.
Dedicated to Mary Elizabeth.
Amanda “Mandi” Posey Paris and Alix Flannigan Hunsucker, both Georgia, pledge sisters and best friends from Alpha Rho Chapter, have walked through the unthinkable together, facing Mandi’s daughter’s cancer battle, fear and loss. Today, as they build Mandi Paris Designs—their thriving brand of original art turned luxury fabric, wallpaper and fashion—Mary Elizabeth’s memory is woven into everything Mandi creates. Her strength, joy and fight live on in every pattern, risk and dream pursued.
In this episode, you’ll hear what their experience with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was really like, how Tri Delta continues to shape their lives and why advocating for cancer research is deeply personal. The conversation is heartbreaking, funny, deeply inspirational and by the end, you’ll fall in love with these two women. Most of all, you’ll witness what it looks like when two friends decide they will never walk alone. And you’ll believe that strength, love and purpose truly outlive loss.
[From Grief to Purpose—The Story Behind Mandi Paris Designs]
This transcript was created using automated technologies and may contain errors.
Welcome back to another episode of the Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. I'm Meredith Davies from our Delta Chi chapter at Rhodes College, and I serve Tri Delta as brand support manager partnerships. March is Tri Delta's St. Jude Kindness Month.
For over 25 years, Tri Delta has been a beacon of hope, raising over $100 million to support the life-saving mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Because of our incredible dedication, Tri Delta has been named St. Jude's official partner of kindness. At the heart of today's story is a story about childhood cancer. It's a story of lifelong friendship, unimaginable loss, and building something beautiful in honor of someone unforgettable.
It's a story that will break your heart and then lift you up again. Don't worry, we'll explain it all. Please join me in welcoming Pledge sisters Mandi Paris and Alix Hunsucker, both from our Alpha Row chapter at the University of Georgia. Mandi and Alix own and operate Mandi Paris Design, which features original art turned into luxury fabric, wallpaper, and one-of-a-kind fashion. Currently available at 42 retailers, their flagship store, and, of course, online. Ladies, I truly can't wait to dive into this story, and I feel very underdressed for this occasion. You're both looking beautiful today. Please tell me a little bit about you both for our audience. Okay, I'm going to let Alix go first. Okay, I'm the VFF wingwoman. I am. Oh, wow. How deep? Not that deep. We won't get that deep yet. Okay. I am Mandi’s best friend. We met at UGA as freshman pledge sisters. Class of 91. Anyway, I'm from Augusta originally, and I raised my kids in Atlanta, and now I live at Lake Oconee in the middle of Georgia, and it's great.
And Mandi, you go. Okay. I am originally from South Georgia or Middle Georgia, Perry. Met Alix in college our freshman year, both Tri Deltas. I have three kids, one in heaven that we'll talk about some more in a minute. But one is in Athens and a Tri Delta as well. So that's really exciting.
Yeah, she followed her mother's footsteps, but she's so happy, loves it. Then I've got a senior going to school, going to college. That's a boy, so he won't be a Tri Delta. No, he'll probably date someone. He can marry one. That would be perfect. That's awesome. My mom is also a Tri Delta. I also followed her footsteps into that very intentionally. So, I love it. I love a mother-daughter Tri Delta connection. I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I do currently now live in Greensboro and we're only 40-ish minutes from Athens. So, we're really close to Georgia, which is awesome. And that's one reason we're here, because it just works. And we're together. I want you to take me back to the beginning. Tell me how you met and how your lives began. keep it g-rated okay fine so it was Halloween and we were in our outfits one of us one of okay I was a baby who are you I was princess Leia okay fine anyway I was over served and so I was at a fraternity party that we were having one with tried out in the fraternity and they they found Mandi who I didn't really know no anyway I guess I looked responsible yes she looked responsible it was nine o'clock in the evening and they put me with Mandi and said take her home they made me take her home I took the thing hadn't even started it was just like seven in the evening and Alix is wearing a diaper a pacifier and had a pacifier and I was like who is this chick but we took her home so the party was fun. She wouldn't know. That's how we originally met. That was a very memorable moment. But we'll never forget it. We didn't become like close friends at that moment. But over the years. We lived in the house together. I would go down and listen to Mandi's ghost stories. Yeah, we love that. And then by senior year, we were doing like all our formals together and going out together. Then we did our graduation party together because we put oh we were holdovers together oh that was a great so we were holdovers meaning if you don't make your grades we got at this time they now initiate girls early but back in our day you had to prove you had to show that you had and we were both having too much fun and didn't make our grades together, but then I was a three quarter. You can't go more than three quarters. And I made it. I was the only one initiated the other two girls. And then when I got initiated, Mandi watched me out of the window. Yeah, I did. I snuck, but I had a party to myself. I got to pick out the food and my cat and my aunt came. She was also a Tri Delta. It's great. It's just lots. And then we raised our, we ended up in the same place and raised our kids together who they all became friends. We started Tri Delta play groups. And then we did. Tri Delta alumni things together. But then like everything overflowed. Yeah. So, our kids grew up together. Three. So, she has four kids, as she said, and three of the four, my three and three of hers are the same age. So it kind of I wouldn't say they were like besties, but they grew up. And you were my son, who was the only outliers, first babysitter. I did. That's true. Okay. But anyway, so enough about us. Learn more about us. This is all about you. We're very connected in the best way possible. We've been through a lot of life together and still like each other. Yeah. Yeah. And have fun together. Our motto is that it's not fun. We don't do it. Yeah. Yes. I love that. It's done. Yeah.
Um, I just, I think it's hilarious that Tri Delta brought you two together in the way that Tri Delta did in Halloween costumes. I don't know if you're ready for this, but, um, when I went to college, Alix had, like, I wanted to go. I came from a really small town. I went to a private school with a class of like 50. We all grew up together and we had girlfriends, but they were friends because we grew up together you know I was ready to go on and meet and see what the world had in store so I would say I didn't find my true best lifelong friends until tried out um and my daughter has said the same thing it's so crazy and she went to a big school but she had friends and they're still friends but she said her true lifelong soulmate friends she met anyway so Alix is a soulmate friend life partners. We call ourselves life partners. Hey, yeah, I think more friends should use that term. And I mean, Alix, you introduced yourself as Mandi's best friend. I mean, that's so special what you have like that. That really warms my heart. I love that. I love when Tri Delta’s meet and then they stay together and they live together through the ups and downs. Those stories are always really wonderful to hear. I always say, you know, tell people join a sorority. It's like the best thing I ever did. So true. I mean, it's not what the movies make it out of. It was wonderful. No, it's perfect. It's so much better. Yeah. Oh, yes. Way better. Okay. So, shifting gears a little bit. In 2014, after all these years being friends together, everything changed. Can you share Mary Elizabeth's story? Yes. So, Mary Elizabeth was 11. When 11, I'm trying to remember, just 2014, 11, almost 12. And sort of, first of all, I want to say a little bit about her she was born and always had this something about her you know you just meet people and I'm not just saying this because she's my child but there's just something special about them that was Mary Elizabeth you just knew she wasn't of this world and um gosh I don't usually get emotional but she was just alone before the cancer before anything just a creative loving most amazing spirit ever I will interject here when what was that birthday when she had the okay so like she had a she they lived a great lifestyle I mean they're very blessed when she was growing up but she was like tell what okay so a year before she was dying this is just how Mary was um she was turning I'm trying to remember 10, 11, maybe 10. Um, and she got asked me, she was mom, her birthday's in February. We just passed her birthday. That would have been her 23rd. Um, and she said, mama, how much are, so we always had to rent something cause it was cold usually. So we're usually renting a skating rink or, you know, whatever, bowling or whatever. And she said, well, how much are birthdays? And I said, gosh, I mean, they can be expensive by the time you rent everything, get the food three, $400. She says, Hmm, I just don't think I want you to spend that money. I'm like, what 11-year-old says that? She goes, I want to give back to somebody else. This was just how she was. And I said, well, let's talk about it and figure out. This is long before the cancer. Oh, yeah. A year. Yeah, at least before the cancer. So, I said, well, let's talk about it. I mean, her and I had always talked about fostering someone, having a foster child. And the other two kids were like, don't do it. My son would cry and say, it'll be cuter than me. And my daughter would go, we have too many kids already. And Mary and I would be like, fine, we'll try again next year. So anyway, we ended up settling on. I did research about the Methodist Children's Home and called them in Macon and we talked to them about what they needed. And they said, we can use toiletries. And I said, well, maybe why don't we do a little fundraising and let's get some money and use the money to buy toiletries for these kids. And we did. She did it all on her own. She got that time. We had like Facebook and she'd make videos. Our church let her stand up and ask for donations. Yeah. I mean, this was all her idea. And I let her run with her birthday for her birthday. And so she ended up raising like $800, which is great. You know, we took that money and went and bought toiletries. And I thought I was going to teach my kids, the other two normal children, a good life lesson. And we were going to go visit. We waited, got everything together. We're going to actually go visit the Methodist Children's Home. We were able to meet the kids and just, I thought, wow, they're going to go there and be like, I'm so blessed. Okay. They went there and said, this is awesome. We want to live here and be best friends with all these children. Like it was, hilarious but it was the best experience possible they had the best time it was great so that's just an yes an example of her part prior to anything yeah before she just had a very giving and then when I asked my other kids it was their birth her sisters is in April and I said do you want to do like Mary and do something for somebody else she said sure but I also want my party, but yeah, but like, so she just was always so sweet and creative. And thought about everything. And she would dress kind of fun and wild. If I put on her, she'd rock it. Yeah. Yeah. She was very sweet. The other, because I monogrammed at one time and made their clothes. She would, she didn't care. She would wear it the other time. Like, yeah, I'm done without. And she loved like going to church. Yeah. She's just social. She was a little quirky, but like everybody loved her. She was just. Anyway, just one of those spirits that you just know brings you so much joy to be around. So that was our topic. We were talking about her, but then randomly they went to the beach. Okay. Oh, the chanter journey. Yes. So, it was in April. We were at the beach. St. Simon's. Yes. For our favorite place and Mary's favorite place. And she just didn't. I had actually been taking her to the doctor because she had been having these kind of strange symptoms. Someone coming in? I don't know. Sorry. We thought we were doing a podcast. Okay. So anyway, she started having like bruising um just really tired wouldn't eat and she loved food and I'd taken her to the doctor a few times prior and um the doctors just said she most likely it was just growth spurt part you know she they thought she was real active no big deal kept telling me that. And I was like, okay, okay. She was on medication for ADD. So, we thought that was causing the stomach. But at the beach, she was laying on the beach while the other kids were playing. And sleeping. And on the towel. And fell asleep at dinner. So, my dad, who had been through his own cancer journey, had a just premonition that he goes, I think she has leukemia. And I said, dad, don't say that. I've been taking her to the doctor. Why would you say that? And he goes he called me in the middle of the night and said, please go home. Take her straight to the doctor. I will watch the other two and let them finish their vacation. I said, fine. So, we went home. We missed her doctor's appointment because of traffic and ended up taking her to urgent care. So urgent care took her in with in Atlanta. We have the big CHOA, Scottish Children's Health Care of Atlanta. And the doctor, we did all the blood work. And he literally said. She has mono. I know y'all are worried about cancer. It's not cancer. It's mono. And I said, okay, thank God we can't, whatever. I was so happy it was mono. Went home and the next day they called, the nurse called to check up on her. We said, well, she's still not great. She still doesn't feel well. Are you sure it's not leukemia? Like, I know this is going to sound crazy, but my dad thinks it's leukemia. I just need to know for sure it's not leukemia. Well, they went back and I guess checked something and came, called me and said, go straight. The hospital is leukemia. And then our journey began. I mean, it's just, you're in shock. You don't know what to expect. I didn't know. We got to the hospital and they said, we're going to run some more tests just to confirm. But most likely it's leukemia. We're hoping it's not the bad kind. We're hoping it's the good kind. I'm like, what is a, I didn't know there was a such thing as a good, there's not a good kind. It's all bad, but a better kind and a really bad kind.
So they go, most likely it's not the really bad kind. 20% of kids are that and the rest are not. But I knew when the doctor called us in the next day and he was crying, it wasn't good. So, before we let Mary come into the meeting, they told us that this is bad. Don't read anything. Don't go on the internet, which I did, of course. I read everything I could find. They said, you know, you're going to need, probably need a bone marrow transplant. We're going to send you to Eggleston, the other children's hospital, and we'll prepare her for that. So, it was like shock and awe. I just, you can't even function. You don't know what's up and what's down. And Mary, we finally brought her in and we were trying to keep it together, but we're all a mess, even the doctor. And she listened. She was like, okay. And she looked at me, you know, she looked at her dad and said, look, y'all, I'm the one going through this, not y'all. So, I need y'all to suck it up and be positive. Y'all aren't going through it. I need y'all to be my strength. And from that moment on, I never, I'm sure she did, but I tried to just stay positive. Didn't let her see me cry because she was right. She was the one that was going to go through it. We were there to support her. And that's just how she was. Never complained, tough as nails, positive all the time. And let me just tell you, you know, you hear about leukemia and you think, oh, it's bad, but I mean, have you seen the commercials? It's curable. 80% of kids, it's curable. You know, we can handle it. Okay, it's nothing like that. It's absolutely the biggest nightmare you can even imagine. And to watch an innocent child suffer, adults suffering is bad, but it's a whole different world. But she never, I mean, never complained. And always thought about her brother and her sister and what they were doing. If they were okay, if we were okay. If Miss Alix was okay. I was going through a divorce and she was just saying, Mom, is Miss Alix okay? She just wanted to focus on everybody else. But she also was very smart. So, I didn't know a lot about. The internet was just getting big. So, this was 2014. Facebook was newish, but she knew more than I did. And she was on Instagram and she said, mom, I don't want people to think, I want people to know the truth. I want people to know the ugly side, how bad this really is. This is not right. Like nobody really knows. So, she wanted me and it was her wish to post everything. So. we were very graphic, very open, very honest. That was before anyone would have done that. People were still, I mean, people still are kind of baked now. Yeah, but people, it's not cute, bald-headed kids. It's deathly ill children going through life and death situations. And we really didn't accept at the time, but we kind of knew there really was no cure. For what she had, it was a death sentence. No research had been done ever. We had one drug for kids out of 50 years um many more for adults no research had been done we had no idea mainly because many reasons and the government gave like four percent of their national cancer budget to childhood cancer that's for all childhood cancer for aml like zero um there just wasn't anything out there and so we just had we were they treated all the kids with aml exactly the same just hoping maybe wait, didn't you say that the procedures that they were doing were like 70 years old? Oh, yeah. The same thing they had done 50, 70 years ago, where they were still doing. They were throwing 10 chemos, hoping one worked. And we watched every single kid on our floor, bone marrow transplant, floor die. Every single one. Anyway, it was a nightmare. I just can't even go into. But so anyway, we were, you want me to keep going? Keep going. We're here. We're listening. Yeah. So, we were at basically her brother, her younger brother, my son, who's now going to college, was her perfect match, which we thought was fantastic. It was amazing. Funny story about that. He was only five and he wanted to be her match so bad. Well, my daughter, her sister, who they were best friends, said, Mom, I know Whit and I are both getting tested, but if I'm positive, if I'm the match, can Whit just do it? We love you, Mandi. We love you. He just wanted a big Lego set, and he wore a superhero cape everywhere. So, we made a big deal about his school. It was fantastic and wonderful. And she went through the transplant, actually, with flying colors. A bone marrow transplant sounds horrible. In fact, it is horrible, but it's the least of the horribles, honestly. It's basically a bag of blood. The horrible part is they bring you down to your immune system as zero. So the part about the hard part is just surviving that. And then so she had the transplant, passed it with flying colors. We thought this was it. Went home for a short time and she started. Anyway, she realized within 30 days. So, we went back to Choa Eggleston and basically horrific pain, horrible pain. They couldn't figure out what was really. They knew it was cancer. They said there's nothing we can do. They wanted to send us home on hospice. And we weren't ready for that. She wasn't ready. She's like, Mom, I'm not ready. We didn't know what to do. We knew we wanted to get in St. Jude because we just knew that was our only hope. We didn't know anything about getting into St. Jude. Just so people know, not everybody gets into St. Jude. It's actually, you have to get accepted if there's a research study going on. Our doctor said, don't even apply. They went online. They said, there's nothing. We said, no, this is where we need to be. So, we got in within 24 hours. They accepted us. But the next challenge was how to get there. She was too sick to fly, too sick for an ambulance. So, my husband, this was just a God thing. His company, they sent their private jet and picked her up and flew us straight there. We got there.
We got there, and as soon as we landed, first of all, she said, can I fly a private jet again? And I said, yeah. I love this. Yeah, no, but enjoyed this one. It was really a cool experience. And then she busted out crying, and I said, are you okay? And she goes, I'm okay. I'm so happy. This is where I need to be. I know this is where God wants me to be. So as soon as we got there, they took her in, ran a bunch of tests, and they told us, they said, look, she has what? chloromas. I didn't know what that was. I didn't even know it was a thing, but it's basically when the leukemia grows outside the bone. Well, the bad news is they have never done research on it. There is no treatment for it. They basically don't hope they can get it with the chemo. They can give you enough chemo, but there's no, you just go, there's been no studies. So she had all these chloromas down her spine. She was a day from being paralyzed. They said it was almost to that level. She was so ill. And they pulled us in a room and they said, look, her chances are almost zero. But we're going to, that's one thing about St. Jude, they don't give up. Like they will try it, do what they can. So, we did, we did the chemo and they gave her so much chemo. I think it was 10 days. On like the eighth day, she broke her body started blistering from the chemo. She had third degree burns on like 80% of her body. And the doctor came in and said, I can't keep giving her this chemo. Mary said, no, do not stop. I'm not giving up. Like we have to finish this. And so by day nine, they called it. It was so bad. And then, so she just went through so much. I cannot even, she was intubated twice, had lung bleeds. They said she would never make it. And it was miracle after miracle. She would come through like, we don't know how this child's living. And there was a time they did experimental treatments that her dad was a donor and I was a donor at different times. So, we were basically at CHOA for seven months and then went to St. Jude. We were there for about eight months. She lived through two more transplants. I think the most anybody's ever had is four. She was a miracle after miracle. Nurses couldn't even believe it. Her spirit was so strong. At one point, we thought we beat it. We came home for a month. She did great. That was the only time out of 18 months that we were even home, really. She got to go to her fifth grade graduation. She got to go to her fifth grade dance. It just kind of God planned it to work out. And I have to tell a little story. This is so Mary. We had moved recently. So, before she was diagnosed, we had moved and only been in this neighborhood six months. But you would have thought we'd known these people forever. She had started a new school, loved it, had just started fifth grade um in October was diagnosed in April wasn't there long but they were such a support and so wonderful and we went back for the fifth grade dance I was a rex I'm like she can't get exposed to germs like we have to be so careful but she wanted she had picked out her dress for fifth grade dance. We started that school in October. In November, she bought her own dress for $15 on a cell racket dealer to wait. She was getting ready for that dance. That was not going to happen until May. So, this was something that she was so, that's how, and it was a sequiny, monstrosity. But she was like going to rock it. So we went, we let her go, of course. We're like, we just have to let her live, you know, and have some joy. And this brings me to tears, and I have pictures. But when the dance started, and I was freaking out, her whole class came out in masks. Everybody in the whole dance wore a mask. And they had a list. All the guys were fighting to dance with her first, and they had to draw numbers. And so that is a wonderful movie. That's just how much people loved her. And the boys couldn't wait. They were fighting over. So anyway, she did get some joy here and there. We tried as much as possible. But honestly, with this kind of thing. You're scared. One wrong germ is a death sentence. So anyway, our journey was rough and I won't go into all of it, but she ended up passing away September 2nd, 2015. Weirdly enough, it's childhood cancer month, September. We do have a fund with CURE. I can talk about more later. But we started with two other families whose children became friends of hers and ours through the journey that also had AML and passed away. But to connect the Tri Delta piece. It was so surreal because I didn't know, like being a Tri Delta and knowing that was our philanthropy, sure, you're in college or like, I'll raise money. We'll do a pancake breakfast. Great for children with cancer. But I didn't understand the impact Tri Delta really had at St. Jude. They have a St. Jude. I mean, our floor, our bone marrow transplant floor is a Tri Delta floor. And when we, she would ride her scooter over the dolphin. And she loved it. She was like, I'm an honorary Tri Delta. Like, this is where I'm supposed to be, Mom. You go into the waiting room and there'd be a Tri Delta mural with a Tri Delta pin in it. I personally think every person, every Tri Delta sister needs to take a trip to St. Jude. There's a St. Jude, I can't remember, it's the house or whatever, but hotel on campus where families stay. Tri Detas a place. It's huge there. The impact Tri Deltas had there.
I didn't understand it at the time, but I appreciated it so much. And I did. It gave me so much comfort that Tri Delta was such a big donor and a big presence there that we were definitely in the right place. It was more than just my sorority. My sorority came with me and gave me a lot of comfort. And it really is. It's a crazy experience, but it's neat. I think every Tri Delta should go and take a tour. It's just life changing. So that's kind of the story in a nutshell. But let's get, I wanted to mention that when they were together, they did a, Mary Elizabeth was very artsy. So, they would kind of do pictures and we did a lot of art crafts together. It was kind of... But tell what you found when you're going through stuff recently. So, she was real, like I said, real creative, kept diaries and notebooks and was always designing. And we would actually sit there to kill time, plan fundraisers and design t-shirts. And I would let her paint the art and all that. So that's why, and we'll get into it, I'm sure, a little more. Now to where we are today, I feel her spirit is so in this, but this is bizarre. So recently, I was cleaning out. I've had a hard time, spend 10 years, but cleaning out her room. My other daughter has helped do a lot of that. But I've had boxes of things that I know were in her handwriting and things that she had kept. And I just I start going through them and I break down. I can't get through it. But I was finally going through some things in the garage. And I found this when she was sick. She had this design book and it basically had pictures of kids and you could or girls and you could draw the outfits and she would have names for them. Weirdly enough, I'm starting looking through this little design book and I show it to Alix and it was clothes I've designed. I'm not even joking. For this business that Mandi's done in the last couple of years. But that's the dress that we just did. Like it's crazy. It's crazy. And I'm like, so the colors and the colors, the style, everything. And I'm like, this is so crazy because I know it's weird, but it's true. I've got the book. So that's another reason I feel like her spirit is over this business. And I use this business. We use it to promote, raise money and funds for our fund with Cure and St. Jude. We raise money. My dad raises. He has a golf tournament every year and raises $100,000. And it's crazy. In my little town up here. Per year. He's raised over a million. He gives a third to St. Jude. And St. Jude is very supportive. They'll send. Like we don't take anything unless it's a donation. We have an auction and we do really nice goodie bags for the golfers and St. Jude donates so much, really nice things. So they're very involved and they always have a representative that helps my dad, usually t-shirts and hats. So we give a third every year. So, it's usually about $30,000, $40,000. Well, not even a third. Usually we split to our fund, Cura in Atlanta, St. Jude. And then some of it he keeps for a foundation. He runs in Perry for handicapped children, making playground handicapped accessible. So, we're still very, you know, St. Jude, everybody knows the name. People know. But I want people to know it is what they say they are. You don't pay a dime. Oh, I know. Other hospitals can't do what they do. It is an amazing place that I will always support and always tell people. And you can't, you can always need to do more. We need money and research. It was really a sad, depressing time, but we never talked about the possibility of dying. So, one night, Dacia was so sick. She said, Mom, I got to tell you something. I said, okay. She said, if I have to die. I know. Sorry. It's okay. So if I have to die so other people can live, I'm okay with it. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. It's not okay. You're not going to die. But that really came to be prophetic because I think she did have to die for people to know. She had like 10,000 followers, but people, if she had lived, people would have thought, oh, it's curable. It's okay. But since she didn't live and people followed her story and saw the truth, they now know it's serious and we need money and we need to raise money. So, our fund, we were trying to find research. So, we're with 3Cure Atlanta, which is the biggest cancer organization in Atlanta. They're wonderful. But and we're now the biggest fund with them. And we have been for 10 years. But we have to find our, we don't have to, they offer research, but there's never any AML for kids research. Like it's strictly an adult. They consider it an adult cancer, even though it's not. Whenever you hear, Manny usually says this, but when she speaks is that, Oh, people taught doesn't they're like are you yeah and they're like oh my cousin had leukemia my niece had leukemia and they're whatever it's an adult those are all leukemia and what Mary Elizabeth had is aml which is like
If an adult gets cancer, leukemia, it's going to be AML most likely. So, what basically research groups and things go, oh, we're doing plenty for the adults. Well, it's not the same. You can't transfer that to a Mary Elizabeth. Because usually children are born with it genetically. Adults get it later from environmental causes. So there was not hardly any AML research that we ever saw. But we were we had cure came to us and said we found this doctor and he's doing this research out in Seattle and I think you should talk to him they're looking for donors to support his research I'm like okay sure I mean we'll listen to anyone um and he was amazing. His name's Dr. Sohail Machini. And another mom whose son had passed away, he was his doctor and she had lost her son to AML. So, she was like taking him around. They were trying to raise money for his funding. We were like, yeah, great. I mean, our little bit, our hundred thousand won't do much, but we'll give it. So, we did. And they were going all around the country, raising money. So basically what he was doing is taking the DNA of every child with AML that he was taking care of doing targeted medicine. So, he could look at their DNA genetics and go, instead of all 10 chemos, these three would work. So, they're not getting the damaging chemos that are killing. This is revolution. Revolution. Insurance wasn't covering it. So we were, the money we helped give them for several years were given to them. It was covering that cost, which was expensive. Also, what really touched us is when we were talking to him, he cried. He had emotion connected to this disease. He felt our hearts. He told us that there's a lab that he, so when you have a child going through probably other cancers and things, you get blood all the time, and we would always sign these sheets that say whatever's left you can use for research purposes, and it would go to wherever instead of just disposing of it. So, he told us there's a lab that he uses that has living cells probably from our children. So that was really touching. So that was touching. We're like, we're going to go to Seattle. And so our children are still helping. So anyway, okay. But the amazing thing is, like I said, nobody was given money to research, even leukemia, lymphoma, American Cancer Society. No, no one like pennies, pennies. So, we would tell people, don't, you know, give your money. If you want to help kids, give it to or fund or to cure or wherever. So, leukemia lymphoma picked up his research because it was so successful and they didn't have it in their budget, but they raised a separate, it's called PETAL, P-E-T-A-L, and I forget what it stands for, but basically it has to do with AML um 50 million dollars raised on the side just to support this research that he was doing so that's what I mean when I say Mary's story is bigger if you know if she had lived and we had not had this fun and we had not met him and not been a part of all this no one would have known about this may not have happened and her friends there's their life has meaning beyond now kids I'm we still need a lot of research and AML is 100 diseases in one, all leukemia. It's not a one deal thing. We need so much research still, but it's better. And there's hope. She didn't want any. Her biggest thing was, I don't want families to go through this and other kids to suffer like I did not have hope there should be hope so now we have hope and let me pause Mandi right there and just say that on top of all this that she's and her family has gone through her youngest was diagnosed with testicular cancer two years ago Mary's brother and and perfect match he's doing great let's just say he's doing great and because of probably having a sister that passed away from cancer and being so hypervigilant probably saved his life. Because he early detected. He early detected, came down and told me he thought he had cancer, and I thought he was being, you know, a little bit, you know, sensitive. But he did. I know. I usually don't. I usually don't. But the thing is, is that, I mean, that's a lot. It's a lot. And for you to be so positive. Well I've had my moments. I've hit rock bottom like everybody. I've gone through a horrible divorce of my own. But I just, you know, you just come to the realization you go through these things and you can grow and learn and do better or you can just become part of the problem. I had two other kids that needed me. I didn't have a choice. And I didn't want to marry his life to mean something. So, I couldn't just throw away this time I have here, wasting it away selfishly that's true yeah and then Alix has always been my biggest cheerleader so okay I mean that's true so like when I started this business I was had like little side businesses all the time just to kind of keep my mind I just always had entrepreneurial spirit um but I never studied business I never well, you wanted to be an artist since college. And my parents were like, no, you're going to go to college and be a teacher. Like, what are you going to do with art? And I'm laughing. I'm like, you should pay for me to go to school. But you talked about it even back then. Oh, yeah. I loved any art class I took. I loved it. Don't really have any official background, except for I just haven't. I feel like I have an eye for design and color. And that's just something I enjoy doing. So anyway, now we have this. But Alix is the reason. Because I was teaching and off and on just trying to figure it, find my foothold in the world again. And I have little side businesses. But I'd started kind of during COVID just for fun. Had a little business doing wallpaper and fabric. Made no money. It was on a website. But I had a little following. Yeah. That of people that like. It was great. It's great. She wasn't like you weren't going to define your life by it no but not by any means I might have made like 500 a year I mean it was nothing but it was brought me joy and I could and so I would buy my fabric myself and then have somebody make it into bags or making it I had a girl that followed me that made purses I had yeah you would post about it yeah and they made earrings and blah blah blah it's cute and then one day weirdly um kind of a things some things happen and I kind of figured out about a little bit about clothes I'm like I'll design clothes for myself so everything I design is hand painted I don't use AI or anything I can't so that's where I think we're different this is my derby but it's all hand painted and printed on fabric so it's different I was working as a parapro in kindergarten so my days were busy plus doing this on the side for fun but it started getting kind of stressed so she was like selling Mandi's stuff like all over the place. Yeah, like I was wholesaling it and like I didn't have a clue what I was doing. She had a notebook and she was writing everything. Yeah, because I don't do it. I do everything in my phone. She's an artiste. Yeah. She does not own a computer. I don't. I do not. I do. Everything's right here on my phone. I take a picture, send it to the people. They print it. So, yeah, it was getting a little. It was getting overwhelming because I was having all these stores wanting all these orders. This is great, but I can't keep up with the shipping. If I just had somebody to do the shipping and the money for me, I'm happy doing all the designs. Yeah. And Alix goes, well, I'm working on my doctorate and I'm a real estate agent. I'll do it. I believe in you. I'll do. I'm like, really? Like you'll do? That part, I'd be so happy. So, we came together and decided to start this official. She said, you've started businesses and all. So, she was like, I'll get our LLC. I'll do all the stuff. And I was like, good. Basically operations. And I was like, yeah, I just want to paint and design. And we do limited designs. We only do like 20 of each. And once they're gone, they're gone forever um you don't get it sorry it's gone you can do pre-order fell out all the time we started out with this um not your mama's moo moo design and it's a it's a it's an upscale move off but that thing with my sister modeled it she was our first model and that thing's got been like 340 views or something yeah and then we went to some games and so that's how we sell so this is true yes so we're near athens we go to every game we get all dolled up all home games no don't necessarily go to the game we just walk around and no joke people chase us down the street going where did you get that dress and we pass out cards because if you know anything about southern colleges and southern schools it's a fashion show like we dress oh yeah and you don't want to have something that everybody has you know you want so that's, we just go, that's our advertising. We go, I'm not even kidding. People stop us down the street, run us down. We look at our Instagram and you'll see some of the adventures. Another reason I think our Instagram is so good because we're so stupid, but we don't edit. We, it is what it is. We're real. We're silly. We're dumb, whatever. And people ask me like, what made you do this? I'm like, well, why not? Why not? I've been through hell. I've lived why not find some joy and if joy can support me and the clothes are very joyful we love them I mean Alix is like I just you're my personal stylist yes yes and uh we just have fun. And like I told you earlier, our motto is if it's not fun, we're done. Yeah. And then on top of it all, our new store manager was a tried out with us. She was my best friend from growing up before my best friend here. And she's here and she kind of keeps the store organized. So, we've got three. Crazy. And my daughter's here. That's four. She works here twice a week. And so I get to see her, you know, all the time. And it's just, it's a God thing. It just was meant to be. And we just kind of roll with it. So that's us. You really did the podcast really for yourselves. You didn't have to say anything. I really didn't. It was perfect. I have one question. How can our listeners support you? And how can we continue to honor Mary Elizabeth? Mainly, give money. I mean, it sounds crazy, but we have to have money for research. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? Specifically, where can they give? Oh, yes. Well, St. Jude, which is easy to find, is amazing. And our fund with Cure Atlanta, if that's always, just know with that fund, 100% of it goes to research. But if you want to help kids truly and truly find the cure, and I'll show you. Hold on. Well, Alix. Oh, whoa. Ta-da. But we also, to go back into the MPD. While she's gone. We do do things like September's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. So, we do a lot. And that's where my dad's tournament is. We do most of our fundraising. Mandy does a custom pajama that's gorgeous. And we give back our proceeds to our fund. And then we just raise money mostly. And we doll up the whole store and people come in and they all want to talk to Mandi. And we have Mary's picture everywhere and talk about her story. And it's amazing. I actually met another mom that came in and had two kids with cancer as well. So. you just never know who you're going to meet and who it's touched. And I just have to say, like, I understand going through it as a parent.
My ex-husband and I talk about this a lot. Like if Mary had lived, we might not want to talk about it. We might want to just, and my son, he doesn't really want to talk about it and make it a big thing that he's been through it. But I feel like it's my job. Mary would want me to talk about it. I can understand parents that don't want to relive it. I mean, so we're their voice. They don't have a voice. You're their voice. As hard as it is, I'm always happy to talk about it and share the story. And she's available for speaking engagements. Do you? Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. We just did one. She just did one. And we want to get her on the circuit. Oh, gosh. Excuse my PR. She has a lot to say. I have a lot to say, as you've seen. But this is our fun, United for a Cure. And it's curechildhoodcancer.org slash united. You can go to the Cure's website and see. But this was Mary and her favorite cat had just passed away. Melissa, the other little girl that we became friends with. And then Lake, who was one of her best friends we met through treatment. All had AML and all passed away. So, we have these little cards we give out, but we want to always keep their memory alive. And I'm honestly, I talk to Cure about it all the time, amazed. I thought a couple of years after they died, you know, people then move on, that we still can raise the money we raise because that just means their spirit's still strong and shining and their story still matters because, you know, we just thought people forget about it after a while. They don't. The people are very loving. And the people that didn't even know Mary, but followed her story, they just telling you she was an angel on earth and people just really connect with her. She was just not your normal child at all in a good way. So, this story has really just it's so remarkable. I really I don't even have words after listening to you both speak since I haven't been able to say it. I am so, so sorry for your loss. I. I, St. Jude always, you know, people often say, I can't even imagine what that would be like. And St. Jude reminds us that we should try to imagine how, how that would feel. And unless you've lived it and that's okay. That's okay. I don't want anyone to have to imagine it, but yeah, but try to put your foot, just a small toe in that story and try to just, cause it's so important. So important. It really, it really is. And I, I think it's so wonderful how you continue to honor her and, but she's still so clearly present in your lives. She sounds like she's the most wonderful little girl and that she's, she's with you. She's in your design. She's, you're helping kids just like her all the time. I, it really is. I know that she saved many. A hundred percent. Yes, and AML really is a truly terrible disease that needs so much more research. You are so right. It's ALL. A lot of talk about ALL in children and AML is underfunded, under-researched, and I'm so glad that you are doing what you can and building awareness and raising money. Hopefully we can all join you in doing the same. I'm so thankful that we had St. Jude and that we were able to live that and be a part of it. It really is truly magical, you know, and the doctors and the people just, it's just something you can't even describe. I would definitely encourage everyone that can to take a trip, see it for themselves because you can't understand it unless you see it. So, I'm very blessed that we got to experience it. Yes. We invite all of our listeners to make a gift to cure, to honor Mary Elizabeth. It's also tried out to St. Jude kindness month. So, we can make a gift to St. Jude in honor of that as St. Jude continues to, to work to end childhood cancer. There's more information on again, where your, where your gifts go to St. Jude. You can learn more about that highest need structure of giving back to the hospital, um, does cost the amount. The number is always changing, but it's millions of dollars every day to run St. Jude. Um, so there's, there's always need there as well. Every day. It was like 3 million a day or something. Astronomical. I couldn't even imagine. They provide food, housing, everything. So, the families don't have to, because that is a huge stress. Our bills would have been in the million or more. I remember just a quick story because this is so amazing to me is Mary needed some medication. It was $10,000 for one pill. We didn't have to wait. If you were dealing with regular insurance or a hospital, you may either not get it or you might be waiting a while. She had it that in a few hours and we didn't have to pay. It was amazing. So that's just one. And we saw our doctors twice a day. Like they are very, our nurses became so close to us. Like it's just. Amazing, amazing. Yeah. St. Jude families never pay for treatment, travel, housing, or food, and that allows them to focus on helping their child live. And you just heard a wonderful story of that. You can visit tridelta.org, our story, philanthropy, to make a gift. You can also give directly through some of our chapters. If you have a child, a niece, a family friend who is a Tri Delta, all of our chapters have fundraising pages that our members are fundraising through, especially during the month of March.
That's all we have today for Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. Please like, subscribe, and rate our podcast. We love five-star ratings. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for joining us for this special Kindness Month podcast. And until next time, sending you lots and lots of Delta love.