07-11-2007, 07:29 AM
Times-Mirror Staff Photo/AJ Maclean Taylor Love, 2, of Ashburn, points out a butterfly on her sandal to former 'American Idol' winner Taylor Hicks before his concert at the Loudoun Summer Music Fest at Belmont Country Club on July 8. Love has stage-four neuroblastoma cancer.
Article:
Two Taylors put on a great show
By: Lynn Wolstenholme
07/10/2007
It was a great end to a week the Love family had been anticipating for a long time - a week when the family could be together - no chemotherapy treatments, blood transfusions or emergency room visits.
After almost a straight month in the hospital fighting stage IV neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system, Taylor Love, of Ashburn, spent a week at home with her family, living as a toddler instead of a patient.
She marched in the community parade and took in the fireworks on the Fourth. She went to the library for story time and spent time playing with her brothers. It was a week the family cherished since they found out Taylor might have to have a second surgery to remove three regrowth tumors on her left kidney. Taylor has been battling the cancer since December.
Backstage before the concert, Hicks met Taylor and her family. The shy blue-eyed Taylor quickly warmed up to Hicks and sat on his lap, showing off her white sandals with their pink, purple and green flowers and butterflies. Hicks was given one of the "Taylor" bracelets that friends of the family, Lara Bryson and Rochelle Courtney, make and sell to help raise funds for the Loves.
Hicks sported it on stage, saying, "It's on and it's going."
"One of the positive things about being a celebrity is the ability to help people and to bring focus to certain needs and issues," Hicks said.
As the concert continued, Hicks bent down to pay Taylor some special attention. He blew her a kiss and handed her a harmonica. "She played it all night," Aimee said.
The Love family had a special part in Hicks' Sunday night concert, part of the Loudoun Summer Music Fest. The $3,500 raised from a raffle will help the family as Taylor fights this disease.
Special Love, a nonprofit support group for families dealing with cancer, and a beneficiary of this year's Loudoun Summer Music Fest, gave the Love family a $500 donation.
Along with this major community event sponsored by the Loudoun Foundation, another event took place June 29 that brought the community together for fun and fundraising.
Family friend Stacey Brown put together a charity volleyball tournament and family fun night at the Dulles Golf and Sport Center, raising more than $10,000 for the Loves.
"It is overwhelming and extremely generous," Aimee said about the outpouring of charity toward her family. "It says a lot about this community."
http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab1....5896&rfi=6
I'm such a sucker for pics of him with kids 
