Wednesday, June 26, 2013

MICHE Bag...What an amazing company!

Last week when I went in for my surgery to swap out my expanders for the implants, I carried my new Miche Hope Bag. 
 
In it was my make-up bag (didn't need it since I was out the same day:), a change of clothes, my express registration pass, and my wallet... everything I needed for the big event.  I LOVED carrying this bag into the surgery waiting room because of what the bag means to me.  It reminds me of my mother...and it reminded me of the love that complete strangers have for me and their compassion for others who are facing tough times in their lives. 

Let me tell you why...
Meet the Miche Bag Hope Shell

Miche Bags decided to bring a bunch of Hope Bags to hand out to the patients up at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  What a company!  During my mother's fourth and final battle with cancer, she received a Miche bag since she was a patient up at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

After my mother passed away, my Dad asked us girls to look at some of Mom's things to have.  My little sister received the Miche Bag.  At first she didn't even know that the bag had an inner liner and an outer shell.  A girl at church showed her how the shell is easily removed so that you can change out your shell for a new one.  This way you can keep all your stuff inside the inner bag and change the exterior when you want a new look!

The Hope Cancer Bag reads, "I feel very blessed to be alive", "Enjoy the Sunshine", "It's not about living or dying, it's about living until I die", "I live in strength and confidence",  "This is about fighting the fight, but with spirit!", "Fight like a GIANT with the best of attitudes"...

After a little while, when I saw my sister with the bag, I would read the words on the purse and think about how those words reminded me of Mom...of how those words inspired me in the "fight" that I am facing...and how Mom helped me to go forward, facing my BRCA2 gene and not hiding from it.

I thought it would be a really nice way for all of us girls to remember Mom, so I called up the Huntsman Cancer Institute gift shop, hoping to be able to purchase a bag for my other sister and myself. They informed me that they don't carry them at the gift shop, but that the Miche Bag company came up to the Huntsman Institute and handed them out to patients.  Wow!  I thought!  With no leads, I searched quickly online for a way to purchase the bags before I went into the elementary school to help out in my daughters' classrooms.  I found www.MicheBags.com and wrote the customer service a quick note asking where I could find the Miche bags to purchase.

 "Hello,
My mother recently received a lovely Miche Hope bag (black with words all over it and a pink breast cancer pin) at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She recently passed and my sister received the bag. There are other sisters who would like this bag too.  It would be a nice momento to remember Mom when we carry it around. Can you please tell me where I can find that bag?...the name of the bag and the cost. Thank you, Lisa"


After I finished volunteering at the school, I sat in my driver's seat and sat reading the customer service reply from Mike...stunned and overwhelmed with his reply:

"Thank you for contacting Miche.

 Before we say anything else we would like to offer our condolences on your loss. I'm 26 years old and I'm lucky that I haven't had anyone too near to me pass away and can't imagine the pain that goes with that loss. I've brought your email to our CEO Corbin Church and he would like to offer these items as our gift to you. If you carry Miche we would be able to provide the shells, we have them in our Classic and Prima sizes, if you do not carry Miche already we would be happy to provide the base bag to carry this shell with you as well. This is a wonderful way to remember your mother and we are happy to help with this. We would be happy to mail them or you would be welcome to come and pick them up from us if it's not too much of a trip. Just let us know what you would need and the sizes and we would be able to get these provided to you. Corbin wished to emphasize that there will be no charge for these items as they are our gift to you and your family, if you would like to pay anything we would ask you to instead make a donation to the Huntsman Cancer Institute to assist in their efforts to combat this terrible disease.

I was lucky enough to get to go a couple of times this last winter with a group of our team members here at Miche up to the Huntsman Cancer Institute to hand out these items and I can say without any hesitance that is was one of the most wonderful and rewarding experiences I've had in my life. To see people valiantly fighting this disease with everything they have and to give out our bags to them, this small gift, and seeing their warm smiles in the face of their battle was a very special experience and one that I'll always cherish.

 Please let us know what you'll need and we'll be happy to assist in the way that we can.

Thank you,

MIKE GARCIA
 Field Services Specialist
 Miche®"


I sat there in the parking lot and cried.  Tears... this compassionate person who reached out to me and helped me feel like he really cared about my Mother and about me. In this moment, I felt such strength and understanding.  Gratitude...for Mike's insight, to take a moment...and just care about me. I wondered if I would have had such compassion as he did for me.

In another email,

"Thank you for sharing your story with me and we’re more than happy to help to honor the memory of your mother. I feel that even though this is my job and I’m here professionally, it’s important sometimes to remember that there is another person on the other side of this email reading it, sometimes we just need to take a break from our professional faces and speak as people. Our offices are at 10808 Riverfront Pkwy Suite 150, it’s just off the 106th exit on the I-15. Just let us know when you’d like to come down to pick them up and I’ll speak with our receptionist and stock room person to have them all pulled out and ready for you. We have more than enough in the prima and the classic so whichever you would like we’ll be able to provide them for you, just let us know."

Can you believe this guy?

So when I went to pick up the Miche Hope Bags for myself and my sister...Mike was waiting for me at the front desk with two BEAUTIFULLY wrapped gift bags with two sizes of purses in each bag and another pink Hope shell!  The classic Hope bag even had these amazing stones, "charmers", hanging from the handles.  I was blown away!  I gave Mike a huge hug and we talked for a little while.  He was so nice and so great!  When I commented on how unexpected these amazing gift bags were, he explained, "Well, it's in honor of your Mother and we wanted to honor her appropriately."
I am still stunned at Mike and Corbin and Miche Bag's generosity!  Of course, I made a donation to the Huntsman Cancer Institute...I still feel so overwhelmed by their compassion.
I LOVE carrying my Miche Hope Bag.  I know it may seem silly because it's a material thing, but I feel strength and I feel love and I feel hope as I carry that bag...because of the words of encouragment all over the bag...because I think of my Mom when I carry it...and because I know that there are amazingly, amazing people like Mike, who care for others that they don't even know.

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