In late October I got turned on to Anissa Mayhew’s Free Anissa blog by a “follow friday” (#ff) from one of my fellow Tweeters.  She’s smart, funny, sarcastic, and you never know…there could be ‘bewbs’.  She’s part of the so-called “mommy blogger”* phenomenon that I’ve started following thanks to references from Twitter. 

Back in 2006 Anissa started a blog called Hope4Peyton.  Here she chronicled the challenges and triumphs of being the mother of a child with leukemia.  Peyton, and Anissa, beat the cancer.  Later she started Free Anissa (based on her experiences with Twitter) and the website Aiming Low. 

So, after sampling her blog and some of her tweets, I started following her.  I looked forward to her tweets and was enjoying reading the backlog of her blog entries…at least until November 17 when Anissa was taken to the hospital after suffering a massive stroke. 

Her husband Pete has been blogging on the Hope4Petyon site about her progress and the struggle she and her family are going through during this crisis.  She’s showing signs of recovery, but it is going to be one long, hard slog before it’s all said and done.  Pete is a great blogger in his own right and really opens his heart during a very trying time.   I follow the updates closely and am always moved to extremely manly and testosterone-filled tears after reading them. 

The blogging community has rallied for their friend and colleague in a big way.  Hope4Peyton is filled with comments from well-wishers.  Pigtail Pals, a website that sells distinctive, girl-friendly t-shirts, offers a “Team Anissa” shirt…100% of the proceeds go to Anissa’s family (got mine…looks great).  Megan from Undomestic Diva put together a great slide show of over 130 photos submitted by bloggers and Tweeters to show their support for Anissa and her family (my ugly mug can be found somewhere in the back forty).

I want to read more of Anissa’s blog posts.  I need to see more of her tweets.  Those kids and that husband need her back. Lots of organizations and individuals ask for your well wishes, support, and sometimes cold-hard-Christmas-cash during the holiday season.  So if you have any of that to spare, send some good vibrations toward the Mayhews. 

*Is it just me or does “mommy blogger” seem a little dismissive?  Not that being a mom is something to be dismissed but it puts these blogs into a needless niche.  Most of these are just good writers blogging about their lives (like most bloggers do).  But I digress…