Grocers may note a run on Hostess Twinkies today.

TWO-YEAR-OLD Charlise "Twinkie" Carlson
of Suttons Bay is pictured with gifts from
Interstate Brands Corporation, the makers
of Twinkies snack cakes. She is scheduled
to undergo 12-hour neuro-surgery today
at the University of Iowa Children’s
Hospital in Iowa City.

Friends and family of 2-year-old Charlise "Twinkie" Carlson of Suttons Bay will be eating the snack cakes as she undergoes surgery to remove a benign cyst from behind her eyes.

The girl is the daughter of Clay and Jennifer Carlson of Suttons Bay.

"Clay started it out as a way for people to keep good thoughts coming her way," Jennifer said Tuesday from the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. "And it’s really taken off."

Charlise was diagnosed as having a dermoid cyst in November after her mother noticed a small spot near her daughter’s nose. While the cyst itself is benign, surgical removal is required since continued growth would make her susceptible to contracting meningitis, an illness involving inflammation of the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord that can be fatal.

Today’s estimated 12-hour surgery will involve an ear, nose and throat specialist and a pediatric neuro-surgeon, who will access the spaghetti-like growth through a 3- by 4-inch rectangle in the forehead. It will be done with an ear-to-ear incision in which the frontal bone will be exposed.

Concerned about the intricacies of the surgery, the Carlsons turned to Jennifer’s brother, Dr. Fred S. "Sandy" Lamb, director of the University of Iowa’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Lamb recommended a friend who is a highly regarded national specialist in the field of pediatric otolaryngology (diseases of the head and neck).

The Carlsons have been told that their daughter could lose her sense of smell as a result of the surgery since control for the function is centered in the front part of the brain.

"Considering the alternative (of meningitis), losing smell is something she can live with," her mother said.

After surgery, Twinkie is expected to spend two days in pediatric intensive care and five more in the hospital before returning home with her parents and brother, Greyson.

"Grey named her ‘Twinkie’ when she was in my womb," Jennifer said.

The Carlsons’ campaign began with Clay passing out the snack cakes to friends from Fishtown, where he represents the fifth generation of Carlsons in the fishery. Charlise will also be on the minds of grandparents Fred and Kay Lamb of Suttons Bay, Bill and Jennifer Carlson of Leland, and Mike and Dawn Fisher of Lake Leelanau. Members of Clay’s martial arts class at Northwestern Michigan College are also eating Twinkies today, as are the Carlsons’ Suttons Bay Montessori family and Amy Coleman, a friend of the Carlsons who is a senior producer for the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago. align="justify">Word of "Eat a Twinkie" on March 6 also reached Hostess, which makes 500 million of the snack cakes each year. To do so, they use eight million pounds of sugar, seven million pounds of flour and one million eggs.

Twinkies were developed as an inexpensive treat during the Depression.

"We received a care package from the company full of Twinkies toys and gifts for Twinkie," Clay said. "They also sent a monthly newsletter which goes to all their employees and to other Hostess plants."

An entire section of the newsletter is devoted to the 2-year-old girl. It explains the life-threatening surgery and goes on to ask all Hostess employees to stop work on March 6 and "eat a Twinkie for Twinkie".

"This brought tears to our eyes," Carlson said. "A very moving gesture."