The MasterMind

Kerry and I just came back from a wonderful long weekend with Dominique, Justice and Liam in Joshua Tree.

When I walked into Dominique's bedroom and saw her lying in her hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen, my heart went out to her.  But I know who she really is.  A talented, creative, sharp, powerful individual with laser beam focus.  Even from her paralyzed, stage four cancer condition, from a hospital bed or a wheelchair, this intense, humorous woman continues to create magnificently.

Even though she's in a condition that few could fathom, she doesn't let it stop her from being a writer, a friend, a daughter and most especially, a Mother.  Not just a Mother, but a single Mom of two teenage kids.  Since Justice and Liam don't have a Dad, It's just the three of them out in the middle of the desert, our small family, and you, my dear friends, who are making an amazing difference in the lives of three people that most of you have never even met.

 
Justice, age sixteen, is at the age where she's starting to become very aware of her individuality. She's exploring her identity through photography, writing and art, which inquiring minds can check out at her Deviant Art Gallery.  And, she's got the brains and talent to go with the beauty!

Liam at age fourteen has got a schedule that few adults could handle.  The day is filled with being an honor roll student, band practice, and giving his Mother heck.  Let me explain:

Liam got himself into a bit of hot water with his Mom this week by deciding that it was a good idea to miss a day of school due to his busy schedule.

Picture Dominique lying in a hospital bed.  Her cell phone rings.  The recorded announcement states "Your child Liam, has missed one or more periods of school"  What?  Where could he be?  He left the house on time.  Justice made it to school fine as far as I know.

A flurry of frantic phone calls begins.  Calls to local friends.  Where is my son?  Where oh where could he be?

Finally, Liam sends Dominique's phone a text message saying that "I'm coming in now."

What he did at this point was to exit the back door of the house and re-enter through the front door.  It turned out that he was in the house quietly hiding with a friend and conspirator the whole time!

When I heard this story, I took Liam aside and had a little talk with him about how to properly skip school.  Folks, I have a bit of personal experience with this as I was lucky enough to be the sister of the Mastermind of school skipping, sneaking out of the house, and generally giving my Mother early onset high blood pressure.  My sister Monica, who will hereafter be referred to as the Mastermind, had this clever trick to avert my Mother's alert of any truancy phone calls from the principals office.  Back in our day, we had those old fashioned phones.  You know the kind.  They had a well defined earpiece and mouthpiece.  The Mastermind figured out that all we had to do was unscrew the earpiece, take out the receiver, and voila! When the truancy office called to advise our Ecuadorian Mother that we had missed one or more periods of school, the call was met by deaf ears.  I can just picture my Mother screaming into the phone "Hola?" "Hola?" HOLA?"  And then finally slamming the phone down thinking it was broken.

While not exactly handicapped, having an Ecuadorian Mother who didn't quite understand the desires and impulses of young American healthy, good looking, smart, (did I mention good looking) resourceful teenage girls, well, we could've probably been inside the house like Liam and she would have been none the wiser.

My point in telling you all this is to illustrate that even though Dominique is either in bed, or in a wheelchair, she still goes through all the same stuff that every parent has to deal with.  And she does it with class.  Liam got his "what for".  Trust me on that one.

What can we do? For pennies a day, we can help Dominique raise Justice and Liam.  She got through last week which was especially hard as she had to deal with the threat of the paralysis spreading to her hands.  The hospice staff was able to change up her medication in a way that slowed the inflammation so that's she's able to continue to write what may be her final screenplay.

Sunday night, the five of us got a medical transport to the local Applebee’s for a rip roaring evening of good food and laughter.  Dominique’s artists eye misses nothing.  Her humorous observations of life had all of us belly laughing so hard that we could barely eat our “two for twenty dollar” specials.

On a serious note, I want to sincerely thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the amazingly generous outpouring of love, prayers and donations.  I have been blown away by the loving, caring attitude that I've witnessed from all of you!  Most have not even met Dominique, Justice or Liam.  Your loving spirit has made it possible for the three of them to keep on keepin' on.

I also got four signed copies of Dominique's books which I plan on sending to anyone who contributes $200 or more.  You can also purchase Dominique's books through the link provided to the right. They make great Holiday Gifts. Check out her Amazon.com Author's profile or her Wikipedia page.

We have more goodies in store to offer in the near future.  Custom t-shirts featuring Justice's artwork is one of the items you can look forward to.


This is our way of giving back to all of you, who have been so kind, loving and caring.  No donation is too small to help this family get through this tough time.

Now is the time! Click on the "Donate" Button to the right for credit/debit cards or make out a check to "LOST FACTION PRODUCTIONS" and you can mail your contribution to:

Lost Faction Productions
c/o Jennifer Evans
1225 Gaviota Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

The stream of abundance is constantly flowing to you, through you, and from you if you will allow it.  And the stream works both ways.  Remember: "A closed fist cannot receive"

I LOVE YOU ALL!