I Danced With Ellen
Lights, Camera, Action…Scenes from “I Danced With Ellen”
Our Founder and Our Blog Columnist Embark on a Made-for-TV day in the Hollywood Limelight
You know the kind of made for television fantasy you read about, where a daughter writes a note to a famous star asking to fulfill her mom’s dream to appear on the show?
That’s what viewers saw on a recent episode of the Ellen Show, when Doreen boogied with the star on air, and spent a whirlwind day in L.A. accompanied by Bonnie J. Addario and Doreen’s daughters – Amy and Angie.
The story reads like fiction. Amy, after witnessing her mom blissfully dancing in the kitchen to the Ellen Show, decided to take action. With cunning tenacity, Amy embarked on a campaign to get all of mom “Dor’s” friends to launch an email campaign with a mission – to get Dor on the show dancing with Ellen.
Proving once again that “life is good,” as Doreen’s blog proclaims, the request was answered, tickets were issued in two days, and the Schmitt girls hopped on a plane from their Arlington, Washington home to head to Hollywood. Bonnie also hopped on a plane from the other side of the country in New York City after an all-day meeting with Michael Milken’s FasterCures. Bonnie, as head of the Foundation, was invited to this significant meeting of The Redstone Acceleration and Innovation Network (TRAIN). TRAIN members include Michael J. Fox Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Accelerated Cure for MS, and now, The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation.
Pan to Hollywood:
“I know that in a couple of days my life may change drastically,” Doreen wrote when she was told the news. “What I also know is that my attitude doesn’t have to. Whenever I’m feeling low or crabby, I’m going to think of today. The day I felt like a star.”
The adventure began with breakfast with Bonnie, and a two-hour chat. 
Nancy Lee Grahn, the General Hospital attorney and lung cancer survivor on the daytime soap, who is also a board member and champion of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, picked up the women and chauffeured them around for the next few hours on the grounds of ABC. They watched a filming of General Hospital, walked the set of Grey’s Anatomy and into the halls of Seattle Grace Hospital. After snapping their photo in Meredith’s bedroom, they met Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) and Sandra Oh (Christine) and continued the photo shoot.
Arriving at the NBC studios, they were greeted “with open arms” and “treated like royalty” by Ellen’s staff. Before the show, they were escorted into Ellen’s dressing room and chatted with the star for more than 10 minutes.
“Honestly, that set me over the edge, the tears started to flow,” recalls Doreen. “I would imagine Ellen gets thousands of requests from people who are desperate to see her and for some unknown reason, she picked ME.
“While we were talking and she was asking about what was going on with our lives, she got teary-eyed. I reminded her that she was being filmed in moments and she was going to ruin her make-up. Her thoughtfulness was incredible. She hugged us many times, we had photos taken (with someone else’s camera) and she told us to stay in touch and keep laughing. I didn’t think the day could get much better than that,” says Doreen.
But it did, at the beginning of the show, Ellen marched right up to Doreen, and Doreen’s T-shirt “I danced with Ellen” says it all.
During an Entertainment Tonight clip, Ellen mentioned that just moments before she had met a special woman – Doreen – who taught her that laughter is the best medicine.
“When the taping was over, Ellen looked up, blew me a kiss, thanked everyone for coming, said she doesn’t hand out hugs and handshakes after the show then walked straight back to where we were sitting, gave us all hugs and said, “Keep fighting hard and don’t stop laughing- oh, and now you can tell everyone, we really ARE FRIENDS.”
Doreen, Bonnie, Angie and Amy left the show with bags of goodies, including DVD’s, signed copies of Ellen’s newest book, and a message delivered by Craig, Ellen’s assistant to Doreen: “She wants you to watch the DVD’s while you’re having chemo and just keep laughing.”
The original plan was to go to Disneyland, but instead, relaxing at Paradise Cove in Malibu the next day, one eight-hour span of non-stop laughter and chatting with Bonnie was had, before we had to leave her.”
These days the Schmitt girls call Bonnie, Bonnie Claus, because Doreen says the whole experience felt like Christmas. “Nancy Lee Grahn feels like and old friend and would do anything for us. You can be dealt a crappy hand at the card table of life, and still win. That’s what I intend to do.”
It was “a day of a lifetime,” says Doreen.
“See? Dreams really do come true…what’s yours? Whatever it is…make sure you DREAM BIG!”
-Love, Bonnie
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