A REAL LIFE WARRIOR!

Today’s special guest is Makayla Redmon. 

Makayla is an aspiring author, the creator and Editor in Chief of Piixie Dust Magazine, she is thirteen, and a true warrior!
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The meaning for warrior is simple: a person engaged in, experienced in, or devoted to war.  

Well that is Makayla. She has been on the front-line of a horrific battle, not once, but twice. 

 *Warning* Have tissue in hand when watching the video.

1) Hi Makayla, please introduce yourself and tell us what life is like for you. Where you live, what challenges you face, and your future goals.                                                                                

Hey, everybody. My name is Makayla Redmon, I am 13 years old, and I just found out that for the second time, I am in remission from having Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer!

 I was diagnosed in January of 2012, while residing in New York, where my Dad was stationed due to being a United States Marine.  My family and I currently live in California.  My dad is stationed at Camp Pendleton.

 After diagnosis, I received Chemotherapy treatment, which ended in April 2012, and Radiation treatment, which ended in July 2012, one day before my Birthday. 

After that, in August 2012, I found out I was in remission and got my medi-port removed! Very exciting time until the black rain cloud came back over me, just 2 months later and found out that one of the slowest working cancers out there hit me with a vengeance, again! This time it was worse and in my bone marrow. I was re-diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in October 2012 and had another medi-port inserted in my chest.

 From October 2012 to July 2013, I received several different types of chemotherapy and it seemed hopeless.  In July 2013, my cancer got really bad and there was only one really harsh chemo left to try, called I.C.E. chemo, the letters stand for the different types of chemo medication.  

 I received it for 7 days straight, in-patient, then had a week off and did another 7 days.  I waited for testing to see if it worked.  You see, all this chemo I was getting was to get the cancer gone enough for me to get my bone marrow transplant, and nothing was working… until the I.C.E. Chemo!

Yes you heard it, it worked. So on July 18^th, I was admitted to the BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) wing of the hospital and received my own Stem Cells on July 31^st.  I had to celebrate my birthday here in BMT too. Needless to say we found out in September of 2013 that I am back in remission!

Unfortunately, during my stay in BMT, I got VOD; it is a liver disease that some kids get after receiving stem cells.  It got so bad that they inserted another medi-port in my arm and sent me down to PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), put me to sleep, and put me on life support for 8 days. 

During that time, they did dialysis to remove the fluid from my lungs.  As of today, I have been in BMT for 3 months, still having some problems with fluid in my lungs, but nothing major, back problems from being in bed and re-learning to walk.  I was told by the doctors, I SHOULD BE GOING HOME THIS WEEK!!!!  WHOOHOO!!!

I feel this video best describes what I am going through!

 

2) You run a magazine, congratulations! What inspired you to create this magazine, and why Piixie Dust Magazine? Is there a meaning behind the name?

Well Sass, no there is not a meaning behind the name but kind of a story, if you don’t mind me telling it. I’ve always loved faeries; I just thought they were so beautiful, delicate, sweet, and interesting little creatures. I loved how they would dance, sing, the food they ate, the life they lived, but most of all I loved there gorgeous wings. There wings are all different and each has a beautiful design. As you see I love faeries, but the thing is faerie were so over rated, so the next best thing was pixies! But… Pixie magazine, no that doesn’t sound all that interesting, I thought I wanted to change it up a bit so I changed it to piixie, this time with two I’s, but piixie magazine still not interesting enough, so I thought what has to do with faeries and pixies of course there is dust, so that is how I came up with piixie dust magazine. Pretty interesting story huh??? :)

3) Can you share your experience as an author/writer?

Of course!!! Ever since well, I started reading I’ve always wanted to create my own book, have my own characters, my own world, everything made by me, controlled by me, created by me. I started out small, writing only one page short stories, they weren’t the best, but I kept on reading, writing, and trying my best. But, I felt my best wasn’t good enough, the very first time I got a computer I searched up writing tips, writing techniques, even how to write. I learned so many things that still help me till this day. There were a couple times I wanted to give up, but my family encouraged me, so I kept on trying, eventually I got better, my hand writing and typing got better, my ELA, reading, and writing grades went up, I even started writing longer books. Now till this day, I don’t give up, I still search up how to write, techniques, and tips to help me, I even edit and critique other people’s books so that way I can get ideas, and learn different writing techniques and styles. Writing has been such a great experience for me; it is practically my life now.

4) What inspires you?

A very good question, Sass, what inspires me… First off my family inspires me, they always encourage me, the way they have different personalities, how they live life, and even their emotions it helps me in my writing. Everyday people inspire me, they help me create realistic and relatable characters, and I can take flaws and perfections all from different people and create someone new. The outside world inspires me, the different settings, the different things going on, and even how the day is if it’s a nice day, I usually think of a good event for my book, a not so nice day I think of an obstacle for the characters to go through. Those are just a few things that inspire me, there are many more, but to many to name.

5) What are your future goals?

My future goals… When I was little I wanted to be a fashion designer, but now I want to be an artist or a writer, too hard to pick just one. Some of my other future goals, are to have the best birthday ever, have my dream room, start a family with my hot husband who is either a doctor, or actor. I want to invent something new, travel to Paris France, go to the top of the Eiffel tower, eat a croissant in Paris, go shopping in Paris, meet my favorite celebrities, and much more, way too many to name.

6) What do you prefer writing? For example, fiction, nonfiction, supernatural, chick lit YA, and so on.

I would have to say I would prefer writing teen fiction, supernatural, fantasy, and romance. I like to write fantasy because I love creating an entire world of my own, you have to create an economy, laws, government, and much more. Romance is because I love hearing and writing about dating, marriage, kissing, and more. Teen fiction mostly because I’m a teen, so it’s much easier to write. Supernatural is just because it’s fun to write, all about different creatures, and their abilities.

7) What is your favorite time of day to read and or write?

I would have to say the morning for writing, because I just woke up my mind is fresh and ready to go, I just had dreams, and I could use those dreams for ideas for books or for in my books. I would have to say night time for reading, only because at night the darkness makes the light just that much better, it makes scary books scarier, and when I finally go to sleep after reading I always come up with ideas for my writing in my dreams.

8) If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Paris!!! I LOVE Paris, they have the best food, it’s the city of love, I love all their accents, they have the best shopping venues, at night the Eiffel tower is beautiful, you can go on a boat while having people play songs for you, there are places everywhere for you to get a painting of you or you and a friend, and so much more.

9) For aspiring authors or future magazine creators, what advice would you give them?

Here is a very big tip, don’t go for the obvious answer, think outside the box, when writing a book you think of the first thing coming to mind, a sappy vampire romance, but if you think outside the box maybe something about an actual vampire killing people and not caring about any soul, you don’t see that anymore. So, here is my big tip, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT GO FOR THE OBVIOUS ANSWER, IT MIGHT BE EASIER, AND JUST BECAUSE IT’S EASIER DOESN’T MEAN IT’S BETTER.

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Piixie Dust Magazine Issue 1

Makayla has a special announcement!

Piixie Dust Magazine has opening for the following positions!

Magazine advertiser
Poem of the month
Graphic advertiser
Books monthly

There are opportunities for authors to submit a sneak-peak of your latest work. 

Piixie Dust Magazine will feature a snippet of your work for a full month. It is an opportunity to share your writing with the public!

Thank you, Makayla for stopping by and sharing you life and dreams with us! 

As always, questions and comments are welcome with open minds.

Wishing you the brightest blessings,

Sass :)