In May 2006, Jackie Gordon and her husband, David, sat down with their three young daughters to tell them the toughest news they’d ever heard.
David was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, and had three months to live.
“It was like hitting a brick wall,” says Gordon. “The hardest thing was to tell our girls, who were then 5, 8 and 11. … My second daughter said, ‘But Daddy, who’s going to walk me down the aisle when I get married?’”
The Gordon family soaked up every moment together, and David outlived the doctor’s three-month prediction, but died seven months later. Gordon describes him as a man of integrity, fun-loving and firm in his Christian faith.
Prior to and after his death, Pickerington resident Gordon found herself asking, ‘why David?’ But after turning to her faith for guidance and imagining the pain of cancer’s effects on her daughters, she found her passion.
Princess Dresses of Love
Since 2009, Gordon has been creating intricate dresses for girls with cancer and other serious illnesses under her nonprofit organization, Princess Dresses of Love. Having learned to sew at a young age from her mother, Gordon hand-makes and lines every dress using soft materials to create a comfortable garment, which can feature lace trim and her signature puffy sleeves.
“The key for me to create dresses was because I wanted (the girls) to forget for a moment they have cancer and … feel like a princess,” says Gordon. “It brings me so much joy (to know) that what I’m doing just brings somebody else joy.”
Gordon has created about 30 dresses thus far. She
typically finds the girls through word of mouth, saying God will direct her path. In December, Gordon hand-delivered a floor-length dress to Lauren Blake, the daughter of a local family she met through some girls at her church.
Lauren was diagnosed with cancer in late December 2016, a day after her birthday. The 12-year-old asked for a pink dress, which came with a crochet crown, white gloves and a wand, an entire princess outfit she hopes to one day wear to Walt Disney World.
Lauren’s mother, Alicia, says her daughter having cancer is not simple, but having helpful and kind people such as Gordon in her life helps ease the pain.
“It’s not an easy journey to go through,” Alicia says. “We’ve (never) been a part of the ‘cancer family.’ You don’t just join, and you don’t ask to join … but there are a lot of silver linings. We’ve met people like Jackie, people at the hospital. Everybody makes it a little less painful and brings some
highlights.”
Alicia adds it’s taken her a long time to accept the journey, but has high hopes for Lauren to overcome her cancer. As for the pink dress, Alicia says it was perfect for Lauren’s taste and is thankful for Gordon’s hard work.
“Lauren is such a girly-girly. She loves the sparkle, she loves the dazzle, she loves to dress up, and I was so excited (for the dress) because she loves all of that,” Alicia says. “We’re so grateful, and I am so appreciative that Jackie and I met. … We have a new sweet person in our life.”
Capes of Energy
Apart from Princess Dresses of Love, Gordon is working on a new idea called Capes of Energy, a comparable nonprofit through which she creates superhero capes for boys and girls with severe illnesses.
Flash Kilowatt and Miss Conduit, the cartoon characters representing the organization, have electrical superpowers that fight off harmful cells, Gordon says. David was an electrical engineer, and that helped inspire the characters.
“My sister-in-law had three boys, and when I started Princess Dresses, she said, ‘That’s really nice what you’re doing for girls, but what are you going to do for boys?’” Gordon says
On the Princesses Dresses of Love website, www.princessdressesoflove.com, a poem written by Gordon’s daughter Katelyn describes how the dresses can help make someone feel like a princess. Gordon hopes to one day have the poem written into a song and sung by Carrie Underwood.
“I love what (Underwood) stands for and what she does,” says Gordon. “I have such big dreams.”
Since creating princess dresses and eventually capes for children has become Gordon’s No. 1 passion, she says she hopes to do this for the rest of her life. She’s also excited for the organizations to grow and believes David would be happy with her accomplishments.
“‘God will lead’ is what I say. You can just see His hand throughout this and how He’s directed this so far,” she says. “Good things come from tragedy, it makes you stronger. … And (David) would be very proud. I know he’s smiling down on me.”
Lydia Freudenberg is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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