The Story Behind the Yellow Wristbands

"When the original yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands came out Casey started wearing

one for his Dad because his Dad is a cancer survivor. So Casey had been wearing

the wristband for quite a while when he was diagnosed with cancer on May 2, 2011.

As nurses were preparing to take him back for his 7+ hour brain surgery on Cinco

de Mayo 2011, the nurses noticed that he still had his wristband on. They said that

it needed to be removed. Casey was already connected to IV’s on his hand and the

only way to remove it, so he could go back to surgery, was to cut it off. So the

wristband was cut off and Casey’s Dad kept it to remember that Casey had worn it

for him.

After Casey’s surgery his brother, Mark, ordered another yellow LIVESTRONG

wristband for Casey. Casey proudly sported the wristband for not only his Dad but

for himself.

For a Christmas gift I decided that Casey needed something more on his

wristband. Together we decided that in addition to the LIVESTRONG, on the

other side of the wristband we would add SURVIVESTRONG and a new wristband

was made.

Casey kept his wristband on and never took it off until I removed it for him. It

was December of 2013 and we were in the hospital in California and I decided that

I had better remove the wristband before anyone decided the cut this one off.

When we got back to the U of U and we found out what was going on, I decided

that I was going to have a special wristband made for myself and the kids so that

we could keep wearing his wristband for him. I ran this past my sister, Ruth, and

we came up with a new slogan of BE CASEYSTRONG. She suggested that we order

some for friends and family so they could wear them also. So instead of ordering

them off of the LIVESTRONG website we ordered them from another website to

save on the cost of making them. Because of copyright issues the other website

wouldn’t allow CASEYSTRONG so we changed it to BE CASEY-STRONG. We didn’t

order it on the normal brain cancer color, but in Casey’s yellow wristband color.

One of our sweet neighbors also made this slogan into vinyl and I get to sport BE

CASEY-STRONG on my car, which is fabulous!

Do I need this bracelet on my wrist to remind me of Casey? Absolutely not! But I

wear this bracelet and will live by this slogan to honor Casey and all that he stood

for. I send a message to everyone to live each day to its fullest. Spend quality

time with your family and those that mean so much to you. And most of all live how

the Lord would have you live" :)

- Angie Wheeler

I still have a small handful of wristbands left for those close friends and family who were not able to come to the services and get one. Please contact me at ruthiesilver@gmail.com