About Bee Brave Buddies
As a girl, I adored drawing and stitching fanciful outfits for my dolls. I learned to love and appreciate beautiful pieces of lace and linen. I loved to play make-believe and my dolls were my favorite toys.
When I first studied clothing design, the feel of the fabric and design of the garment became my passion.
I am very fortunate and happy to share my story and to be able to give back at this time. I was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in 1998. I was in treatment for three years and was becoming sicker. A trial in its second phase for a new chemotherapy medication, specific for CML now called Gleevec, was in it's early stages at that time. I was eventually accepted in this trial at Stanford University, and within several months I went into remission. This chemotherapy was one of the first magic bullets, a medication targeted to treat the specific genetic mutation. Although I still take a chemotherapy pill each evening, I have been so fortunate to be healthy and in remission to this day with much gratitude and thanks to Dr. Brian Druker, who developed this drug, Gleevec which attacks the protein causing overproduction of white blood cells in CML with few side effects.
I was so grateful, that I decided I wanted to give back and help others.
Several years ago I was introduced to digital art drawn on a computer. I combined my love for fabric and my whimsical children's art drawings to design my original three Bee Brave Buddies dolls: Buddy Brave, a superhero doll for boys with magical powers, his twin sister, Bestie Brave, a superhero doll for girls, who is a true new best friend, and Catie Cuddles, a doll dressed in fancy lace who loves to cuddle and snuggle. I hope to use this same art process to design a line of Bee Brave Buddies Adventure books and other gifts for our children.
My dolls were designed to become a new best friend to children around the world who are in treatment for cancer or other childhood illnesses, who need a big snuggle and some magical secret powers to be brave. The three dolls are designed with beautiful bald heads with big hearts drawn on the back of their heads. The girl dolls have special words printed on their long leggings: giggle, snuggle, love, brave, cuddle, smile, laugh, hugs, play, dream, hope.
The dolls are also educational. An adult with cancer can use the dolls to explain hair loss and other treatments that children will face. Each doll comes with a matching hat or headband and the superheroes come with soft minky capes. The dolls have very soft plush pillow bodies to hug and love. We stitch a lot of love from our hearts into each of our dolls!
I have personally been giving my dolls to children with cancer since February of 2015. Bee Brave Buddies have been shipped to children across the USA and to several countries. We are excited to announce, we have now received our determination letter from the IRS and we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit. This will allow us to make and deliver dolls to children batting cancer across the country and beyond with your help and support.
Our mission is to put a Bee Brave Buddy doll in the arms of all children around the world in treatment or recuperation from cancer who need a hug and to make these children feel brave and to provide emotional support to children and young adults with cancer and other serious illnesses by giving dolls, original Bee Brave Buddies books, cards and other Bee Brave Buddy gifts.
With your support, we can go forward together on this journey around the world to make sure ALL children in need can have a special Bee Brave Buddies doll by his or her side to make them feel very brave and put a big smile on their faces. We have learned when the child smiles, the mom and dad smile, and all of the caregivers smile. It is infectious!
Thank you!
Warmly,
Rosanna Hope
When I first studied clothing design, the feel of the fabric and design of the garment became my passion.
I am very fortunate and happy to share my story and to be able to give back at this time. I was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in 1998. I was in treatment for three years and was becoming sicker. A trial in its second phase for a new chemotherapy medication, specific for CML now called Gleevec, was in it's early stages at that time. I was eventually accepted in this trial at Stanford University, and within several months I went into remission. This chemotherapy was one of the first magic bullets, a medication targeted to treat the specific genetic mutation. Although I still take a chemotherapy pill each evening, I have been so fortunate to be healthy and in remission to this day with much gratitude and thanks to Dr. Brian Druker, who developed this drug, Gleevec which attacks the protein causing overproduction of white blood cells in CML with few side effects.
I was so grateful, that I decided I wanted to give back and help others.
Several years ago I was introduced to digital art drawn on a computer. I combined my love for fabric and my whimsical children's art drawings to design my original three Bee Brave Buddies dolls: Buddy Brave, a superhero doll for boys with magical powers, his twin sister, Bestie Brave, a superhero doll for girls, who is a true new best friend, and Catie Cuddles, a doll dressed in fancy lace who loves to cuddle and snuggle. I hope to use this same art process to design a line of Bee Brave Buddies Adventure books and other gifts for our children.
My dolls were designed to become a new best friend to children around the world who are in treatment for cancer or other childhood illnesses, who need a big snuggle and some magical secret powers to be brave. The three dolls are designed with beautiful bald heads with big hearts drawn on the back of their heads. The girl dolls have special words printed on their long leggings: giggle, snuggle, love, brave, cuddle, smile, laugh, hugs, play, dream, hope.
The dolls are also educational. An adult with cancer can use the dolls to explain hair loss and other treatments that children will face. Each doll comes with a matching hat or headband and the superheroes come with soft minky capes. The dolls have very soft plush pillow bodies to hug and love. We stitch a lot of love from our hearts into each of our dolls!
I have personally been giving my dolls to children with cancer since February of 2015. Bee Brave Buddies have been shipped to children across the USA and to several countries. We are excited to announce, we have now received our determination letter from the IRS and we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit. This will allow us to make and deliver dolls to children batting cancer across the country and beyond with your help and support.
Our mission is to put a Bee Brave Buddy doll in the arms of all children around the world in treatment or recuperation from cancer who need a hug and to make these children feel brave and to provide emotional support to children and young adults with cancer and other serious illnesses by giving dolls, original Bee Brave Buddies books, cards and other Bee Brave Buddy gifts.
With your support, we can go forward together on this journey around the world to make sure ALL children in need can have a special Bee Brave Buddies doll by his or her side to make them feel very brave and put a big smile on their faces. We have learned when the child smiles, the mom and dad smile, and all of the caregivers smile. It is infectious!
Thank you!
Warmly,
Rosanna Hope