“I’ll Be 36 Again,” Jokes Singer Sheryl, The Mom of Two Has a Heartfelt Birthday Campaign To Help Foster Children

Now, aside from her busy music-filled schedule, Crow is raising awareness for The Delta Children’s Home, which operates two homes in Kennett, southeast Missouri. She announced the news with a sweet video shared to social media.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sheryl Crow (@sherylcrow)

Crow wrote alongside a heartfelt Instagram post this month, “Announcing the 2024 Sheryl Crow Birthday Drive!  For more than 20 years, fans have celebrated Sheryl’s Birthday (Feb 11th) by raising money for foster children in her hometown of Kennett, Missouri and the Delta Children’s Home. Thank you!

“Every year, we give away weekly autographed items, personal video messages from Sheryl and the Grand Prize, a new Fender Telecaster. This year, it’s a beautiful Fender American Ultra Telecaster, Arctic Pearl with a hard shell Fender case – the guitar will be personally autographed by Sheryl to the winner.”

The “If It Makes You Happy” singer continued, “Every $5 donated to the Delta Children’s Home counts as an entry. For example, $20 donated = 4 entries and weekly giveaway winners will still be eligible to win the guitar. And you can enter from anywhere in the world. First winners will be announced later this week!”

“Sincere gratitude and thanks from the Birthday Drive team for your support of the Delta Children’s Home! – Team Sheryl,” the captioned concluded.

Crow also shared the website link so that her fans can make a donation and learn more about Delta Children Home’s mission, as well as the Drive’s history.

Delta Children’s Home‘s website explains they have “state licensed foster parents [who] provide a Christian home-like environment, loving and encouraging the resident children,” adding, “They provide meals, assistance with homework, and help serve as role models that the boys and girls can look up to. The Delta Children’s Home is a nonprofit organization funded by community donations, and via the annual fan-funded Sheryl Crow Birthday Drive.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sheryl Crow (@sherylcrow)

In the video Crow is seen holding the grand prize guitar, a white new Fender Telecaster, and sharing her excitement for her Birthday Drive.

Speaking to her fans, Crow says, “Hey everybody, I’m really excited that we are coming up to the birthday drive again. And it’s going to happen in February. Obviously, I’ll be turning 36 again. Anyway, this is the guitar. I’ve been noodling around on it and it is a beaut. I really love it.”

It’s great to see Crow helping others and working to help children in her home state through the Sheryl Crow Birthday Drive, which was initiated in 2001 by members of the sherylcrow.com Fan Forum to honor Crow.

The Delta Children’s Home has since received more than $350,000 of donation money and helped many children during their most vulnerable moments.

Sheryl Crow’s Breast Cancer Battle

Sheryl Crow was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 44 with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as stage zero breast cancer.

Stage zero cancer means abnormal cells can be found in the breast milk duct and have become cancerous but have not yet metastasized or spread to other parts of the body.

RELATED: Why Active Surveillance is Being Studied for Stage Zero Breast Cancer

How to treat stage zero breast cancer is sometimes debated among experts. The current standard of care is treatment with either lumpectomy or mastectomy, radiation, and hormonal therapy. However, since the risk of dying from stage zero breast cancer is low, some doctors employ less invasive treatment such as “active surveillance,” which closely monitors the cancer without surgery or more aggressive treatment.

Crow underwent a routine mammogram, which helped detect she had signs of cancer.

“It never occurred to me that the mammogram would find anything because I have no family history and I had no signs of it, no lumps or anything like that…and I was extremely, and still am, very healthy, very athletic and fit. I just didn’t think I would be a candidate at all,” Crow previously told People Magazine.

WATCH: Understanding stage zero breast cancer.

Crow’s treatment involved a lumpectomy, which is a procedure that removes the cancerous area of the breast.

The “My Favorite Mistake” singer also underwent multiple rounds of radiation treatments that lasted for seven weeks. Radiotherapy (radiation) involves using high-energy beams aimed at cancer cells designed to kill them.

RELATED: What to consider when a lumpectomy and a mastectomy are options.

“When it comes to radiation therapy to the breast, what we’re learning is that shorter courses of radiation, like short course whole breast, may be associated with equal clinical outcomes and even the potential for reduced side effects,” Dr. Chirag Shah, Director of Breast Radiation Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

WATCH: Radiation and breast cancer.

After undergoing surgery and radiation, Crow’s went into remission. Her experience has motivated her to become a staunch advocate for urging women to get their mammograms and screen for breast cancer.

Helping Others & Starting Over After a Life Changing Event

How To Start Over After a Life-Changing Event

As Crow continues to care for those around following her battle with cancer, it’s important to be aware that starting over is arduous, but it can be done. Here’s how:

1. Examine your thoughts. Take time to reflect on the tragedy or difficulty you are facing. Dr. Scott Irwin tells SurvivorNet that, often, people with cancer and chronic disease are “grieving the change in their life, the future they had imagined is now different.”
2. Seek help. Irwin, who directs Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, adds that talk therapy can help people significantly: “It’s about meeting the individual patient where they are and their feelings, how they’ve always dealt with their body image, what the body image changes mean now in their lives and their relationships, and how they can move forward given the new reality.
3. Realize that you are not the first. Study the lives of other people who have faced similar difficulties. Dr. Samantha Boardman tells SurvivorNet, “Having support we know is really critical in the healing process.” She adds there is also a benefit in “talking to those who’ve, you know, been through this process, who are maybe a couple of steps ahead of you, who can tell you what it’s like to walk in their shoes and the unbelievable wisdom that one can gain from speaking to them.”
4. Visualize the future. Imagine what it will look like for you to start over. Many people find it very helpful to create a vision board. Cut out pictures or quotes or mementos that give you a concrete picture of your future. Look to it when you are feeling down or in need of a lift. The good news? It works.

Challenging oneself can actually help people facing cancer, chronic disease, or other problems to develop resilience, which is an essential coping tool.

That process of pushing oneself to try new things is one of the “three wellsprings of vitality,” according to Dr. Samantha Boardman. The other two are connecting with others and contributing to the lives of people around you.

“Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman explains.

Mental Health: Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality

These pathways can help someone develop the strength needed to survive or manage a difficult situation, but they all come back to having a positive outlook.

According to Dr. Boardman, these three wellsprings of vitality are:

• Connecting. This involves how you’re connecting with others and having meaningful interactions. It involves being a good listener and being engaged with the people around you who you care about.
• Contribution. How are you adding value to the people around you? Are you helping them in ways that feel meaningful to them? Basically, this entails contributing/engaging with others in a meaningful way.
• Feeling challenged. Being “positively challenged” could involve learning something new (perhaps by taking a new class or reading an interesting book) and expanding your mind in some way.

“Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman said.

Support Through Adversity

Facing adversity, like a cancer diagnosis or being in need of a home, like the children Sheryl Crow is helping raise money for, can be a very isolating experience. But it’s important to know you’re not alone and to actively try to get the support you need.

Finding Your Support System: Heidi Kugler’s Survivor Story

“Studies have found consistently that loneliness is a significant risk factor for physical and mental illnesses and the trajectory of recovery,” licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin tells SurvivorNet. “The act of sharing our time and words with others can alleviate emotional and physical pain.”

Opening up to others during a cancer journey may come more naturally for some people. New York-based psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik says there’s no right or wrong way for people with cancer to go about finding the support they need, but she does say some cancer warriors need to reach out to more people than others.

Seeking Support: The First 3 Things to Do After a Cancer Diagnosis

“Some people start to kind of share the information with many family members and friends, and they feel that works for them, and that it’s a way that they can get support from other people,” Dr. Lori Plutchik said. “Other people are much more private about it, and there is no one right way to handle this diagnosis.

“People should do what feels right to them.”

RELATED: Check Out SurvivorNet’s Mental Health Resource Page

If you’re someone who doesn’t feel like you are getting the support you need from your usual circles, Dr. Plutchik recommends reaching out to “a mental health professional who is experienced in [working with cancer patients].”

“Some people don’t need to go outside of their family and friends circle. They feel like they have enough support there,” Plutchik previously told SurvivorNet. “But for people who feel like they need a little bit more, it is important to reach out to a mental health professional.”

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

---