In November of 2014, EHS Student Katie Dickey’s mom Ann Dickey was diagnosed with Melanoma Skin Cancer. She and her family acted quickly and had a surgery performed to get rid of most of the cancer. This January, they found a tumor in her brain. Scared for her mother’s help, her daughter’ friend Emma posted a photo of her flexing with the hashtag #flexforAnn. The media exploded with responses and other tweets of support.

Zephyrus: What first gave you the idea for #flexforAnn?

Emma Bonthius: It was the night before Katie’s mom’s surgery and she has been really strong through the whole thing and I wanted something to symbolize her strength and I wanted people to know about her fight.

Zephyrus: Did you expect your hashtag go to this viral?

E.B.: No, not at all. When I first did it, I thought some of my friends might do it to kind of help and support her. Then all these other people started doing it and I thought that it was really cool that all the people wanted to show some support.

Zephyrus: Do you feel all the support is helping your mother in her fight?

Katie Dickey: For sure! I can just see her eyes light up when she reads the tweets. My dad even takes pictures of her because she is so happy and it’s just so fun to see her happy and excited while she is going through this fight. But yes, for sure!

Zephyrus: What do think about athletes contributing in the #flexforAnn movement?

E.B.: It was very unexpected and I thought it was very cool to see all these people who don’t personally know her but know her story being there to support her and then for all their followers to see that and join in was very cool.

Zephyrus: Is there anything you would like to say on your mother’s behalf?

K.D.: Me and my family just want to thank everyone for helping and supporting us through not just these past few weeks but for the past year. Everyone has been so generous by helping with rides and carpools and all the treats and we just want to thank everyone for the help.

Zephyrus: What was your initial reaction when you first saw all the other tweets supporting your mother in the #flexforAnn movement?

K.D.: I was just very excited and thinking this is so cool and my favorite part about this is how many people wanted to help us but they didn’t know how and because of Emma they had a way.

E.B.: I liked to see all the people caring about something that matters, like all the time you’ll see tweets about stuff that doesn’t impact or help anyone.

Zephyrus: How do you think this has changed your mother’s fight against cancer?

K.D.: Well, she was really strong before and she always has been and all the tweets have helped her stay strong and on top of that help her realize how strong she actually is.

As of right now, there are over 1,000 tweets with the hashtag #flexforAnn. Ann is now home from her most recent surgery and very thankful for all the support. If you haven’t already, please help Ann in her fight by #flexingforAnn.