This is a tie dyed 100% organic cotton (Econscious brand) XXL , long-sleeved shirt. 
 
Tamara’s Herbes is so proud to present our line of tie dye creations! Our line of hippie, happy tie dye’s are a collaboration of me (Tamara) and my daughter, Summer, and they are a physical reminder of the power of hope, healing, and love. You ready for a story?
In 2017, my daughter, Summer, at the age of 23, was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor. When they discovered it, the tumor was just over 6 cm. That’s about the size of a peach. The prognosis was dismal. Without immediate surgery to remove the tumor, she would likely not survive more than a few months. However, because the tumor was so large, she would likely lose some vital function if it was removed. Maybe her sight, maybe her hearing, maybe her memory, maybe the function of vital organs and motor skills like walking and talking. The tumor was just too big and there were too many risks to believe that she wouldn’t lose SOMETHING in the process.
When she made the decision to put off the surgery and try to manage the tumor through natural methods everyone told us that we were crazy for even considering that course of action. The hope was that we could put it off for just a bit. She had 3 young children and she just wasn’t ready to risk losing her memory of them, her sight, or her hearing. She wanted as much time with them as she could get while she was ‘normal’.
So, we formulated a plan. A plan that worked for 3 years. The tumor stopped growing. The headaches stopped. The seizures were manageable. The vision wasn’t getting worse. Things were going better than any of us could have hoped for. And, then…
In 2020, her MRI showed that the tumor had started to grow again. Over the course of 3 months, the tumor grew another cm in size. The seizures restarted with a vengeance. Her sight began to get worse. We couldn’t put off the surgery any longer.
Just before Christmas, they scheduled her for the procedure. We hoped. We prayed. We prepared as much as one can prepare for something like this. Then, we placed our trust in the neurosurgeon.
We were told that she could expect to spend as much as 3 weeks in the hospital recovering and they expected to be able to remove 50% of the tumor. 70% if we were incredibly lucky. It would be an awake craniotomy, which meant that they would wake her up in the middle of the surgery so that they could preserve as many of her motor functions as possible.
The surgery took 10+ hours. Long, terrifying hours.
When the surgery was finished, the doctor sat across from us with a huge smile on his face. The surgery had been incredibly successful. They had managed to remove 90% of the tumor.
When Summer awoke in the ICU, she had her hearing, her motor skills were intact, her vision was marginally improved and her memory was just fine. Within 12 hours, she was walking, talking, feeding herself, laughing, and calling her boys to tell them that mommy was going to be okay. She was released from the hospital after 2 weeks. She came home on Christmas day and was able to spend several hours celebrating life and love with her boys and her family around her. Her official diagnosis was brain cancer. Anaplastic astrocytoma was the name given to it, but the name wasn’t important. She was living proof that miracles are a real thing.
 In time, things settled for Summer. She elected to have chemo and radiation and she made it through with flying colors, but there were some serious side-effects from them. When she rang the bell, she was alive and well, but she had some serious limitations that she will always have. She can’t over-exhaust herself. She has some mild memory issues. She is nearly blind on her left side. She still has seizures sometimes. Sadly, she can’t work, but she needed something to focus on. Something to keep herself busy and something to help build back brain matter that was lost in the surgery, chemo and radiation.
Her solution….she found that she loved to tie dye, and she was really good at it! And, so, here we are with a plethora of tie dyed shirts to offer our wonderful customers! Each of these creations are a labor of love and a reminder that there is always hope, even when things seem impossible. All of the profits go to Summer and her boys.
We have a variety of colors and styles to choose from. If you see one you love but it isn’t exactly the color, size or style you were hoping for, feel free to reach out to us. Summer is always more than happy to create a custom shirt to your exact specifications.
If you would like to learn more about Summer’s journey, you can find her story here:
 
Faith, Hope and Brain Tumors (tamarasherbes.com)
Surviving and (mostly)Thriving (tamarasherbes.com)