Told by founder of the Spikey Tweeter Ribbons

Who is Spikey and why is everyone sporting a blue ribbon?

Spikey. It begins with Spikey.

To be honest, I don’t know much about Spikey. Well, that’s not true. I know a lot about Spikey. She’s a lot like you and I when you think about it. She’s a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend. She’s a fan of General Hospital. She’s a fan of Bradford Anderson. A huge fan. Spikey’s dedication and passion has created a wonderful spot in cyberspace where like minded fans can share their love for everything Bradford.

The one thing that sets Spikey apart from most of us is the fact that she has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Spikey puts a face to one of the 106,000 people diagnosed with colon cancer each year.

As a way to show support for Spikey, her friend Penny set up a TWIBBON tribute for Spikey on Twitter. People on twitter who clicked on a special link saw the following message: Spikey who is a large part of the Spinelli/Bradford Anderson online community has colon cancer is having surgery to remove her colon. We show our ribbon out of love for her

One morning earlier than should be legal, I woke up and my thoughts drifted to Mac, my tiny 8 year old cat who had recently died of cancer that had spread from his intestines/colon. Then it clicked. Spikey> Mac>Bradford> Manchester Animal Shelter.

What if I were to offer a $0.25 donation to MAS for each ribbon worn in support for Spikey and maybe a $5 for each cast member that wears a twibbon? I sent out a quiet tweet and went back to sleep.

Two weeks later, here we are. Over $1000 in donations ready to send off to MAS. How did it get to over a thousand?

Nami, a spinlj reader graciously offered her own challenge! We weren’t catching the eye of Bradford’s co-workers, so the bounty was upped to $25 each.

Sunday afternoon Hailey Pullos, who plays Molly added a twibbon. This little dynamite actress showed the big kids what the cool kids are wearing. Pretty soon Kirsten Storms (who’s bounty was $50) added her twibbon. And being the fashionista, things REALLY snowballed.

In the end we had the gracious support of Debbie Morris (GH Fan Club president), Michele Val Jean (awesome GH writer), Bradford (the man himself), Kirsten Storms, Brandon Barash, Michael Saucedo/Rebecca Herbst, Lisa LoCicero, Bradford's fiance Kiera, Haley (Molly), and Kristen Alderson (thats right, Starr from OLTL).

The weekend before Bradford’s bday, @spinsvixenella generously offered to match my donation.
I saw Kris Alderson (Starr form OLTL) tweeting and on the spur of the moment, asked if she would lend her support. Kris immediately added a twibbon to her picture of herself and precious dog Pookie.

Wubsnet offered additional donation for Kris’ ribbon!

With lots of tweeting from Spikey fans, Bradford fans and GH fans, we reached over $1000 in donations and 451 ribbons worn as of Tuesday, September 22, 2009.

I’m left out one of the coolest parts…Bradford announced he will match our total donation.

So, because of a fan named Spikey, fans and stars united to raise over $2,000 for Manchester Animal Shelter.

For information on MAS, please go to www.manchesteranimalshelter.org
For information on Colon Cancer please go to: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/