Five years ago, I almost lost my baby girl.

My oldest.

My mini-me.

My Annie was 8 years old when on a fine spring day, she got a headache.

But this wasn’t an ordinary headache. This was blinding pain that caused my little girl to pass out on the ambulance ride to the hospital.

Later diagnosed as a rare aneurysm, it was a spontaneous bleeding in the brain with no known cause.

Perhaps this story sounds familiar to you, like when you wake up and can catch only part of a dream from the night before.

Like when you breathe in a scent that draws up some deep memory within the recesses of your mind. Annie’s story was published in the Tribune, along with full-color photos. Do you remember reading about her?

She was life-flighted to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh where she underwent brain surgery to repair the aneurysm.

After almost three weeks in the hospital, she was released to return home.

She had weeks of therapy at Atlas Rehab and Wellness Center in Liberty and learned to walk, then run. Her sight returned to normal. Her memory and math abilities, both of which were also affected, are constantly improving, even today.

We almost lost this precious girl, now 13 years old. When I say “we,” I mean all of us.

Humankind. You may not know Annie now, but you will. This child, who almost died on May 29, 2009, is special.

I realize that all children are special, but Annie has seen the world from the sixth floor hospital window. She has viewed life with an eye patch over her good eye, attempting to strengthen her bad one. She has endured teasing over her bald head and cried about Barbie dolls with long, perfect hair.

Now, she wants to make a difference.

Since Annie herself knows what it’s like to be bald, to be gawked at, to question one’s own beauty, she wants to help others undergoing similar circumstances.

She wants to remind girls everywhere that beauty is not just your physical appearance. She feels that bald is a magnificent look, yet understands the fear and uncertainty that comes with losing hair.

Everywhere a young girl looks, long hair is the epitome of pretty. From the dolls that girls play with to the actress on the shampoo commercial, long hair is flaunted. The adulation over lengthy tresses is expressed throughout society, leaving a young, hairless girl feeling awkward and alone.

Feeling like Annie felt after her surgery, until her family threw a “hat party” for her.

Friends and relatives brought gifts of hats and bandanas for the girl, who fell in love with the ease and fashion of bandanas.

Even now, Annie still adds a bandana to her outfits as a touch of her own personal style and a reminder of where she’s been.

Annie has formed a nonprofit organization called Bandanas 4 Cancer.

She is raising money and collecting new bandanas for children (and adults) who are undergoing treatments that cause hair loss.

Her goal is to help children who are already suffering to feel as beautiful as they really are – with or without hair.

Annie and her siblings Allison, 10, and Tyler, 6, have been working on their cause for two years now.

Last year, a lemonade stand raised quite a bit of money for Bandanas 4 Cancer, and the kids decided to try it out again this year.

This Friday and Saturday, the lemonade stand will be set up on Shannon Road near Girard High School, across the street from Stull Avenue.

All proceeds after cost will be used to purchase and mail more bandanas to local hospitals.

In addition, the children will be selling gently-used stuffed animals for donations and offering tickets for a 50/50 raffle. For more information, visit BandanasForCancer.com.

Be sure to stop by the Bandanas 4 Cancer lemonade stand this weekend to help out a good cause.

Buy a cup of lemonade, bring a new bandana with tags still on it, or purchase some tickets for the raffle. Be sure to say “hello” to Annie, the young lady who is changing the world, one bandana at a time.

Harley is a Girard resident. Email her at editorial@tribtoday.com.