Beautiful Christmas

I can't show you the decorations or smiles or the chocolate-smeared faces. The new camera is in the shop. Haven't heard yet when it will be fixed, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

This year is a lot different than last year. Last year at Christmas time, we were innocent, but scared. We had a surgery date--and we knew that it would be a 2-3 day hospital stay. And then, the lump would be gone and we'd all live happily ever after.

I do remember spending a very strange day trying to do a 24-hour urine collection from an 18 month old child--it wasn't fun for anyone.

This year, we have no time for fear. There may be terrible days ahead--and, like January 6, 2006, they will come upon us with little warning. And we'll rely on our family and friends and our faith when those days come.

For now, we have two delightful, beautiful, strong girls whose eyes shine when they see the red ribbons and scented candles and greenery hanging in the house.

I'm still knitting madly--now down to 1 project with a bit of finishing and 1 hopeless. And little Georgia will climb up beside me on the couch every time she sees a new project in my hands--and she'll ask ''blankie for me?". She thinks the idea of Santa and gifts is great--but he's still not a good enough guy that she'll sit on his lap.

Sydney has become a super-sleuth these past weeks, inspecting every piece of paper, reading every note, counting the number of trips we're taking to the basement. I think she's going to be surprised, but only because she's afraid of me and I've forbidden her to go into my room.

Have a peaceful Christmas. Enjoy the meaning of the day by taking a moment to remember or call or help someone else. Be kind to your family, because they are a gift to you from a higher power, given for reasons you might never understand. Stop worrying about stuff and start spending your energy wisely--on the things that nourish your family and your soul.

Cheers,
Faye

Knitting for Christmas

Hi all,

Thanks so much everyone for your kind words and for the bracelet orders that have been coming in. I smile and my heart warms when I think of G & S bracelets all over the country, being given to family and friends as gifts. Thank you all for helping to make this terrible time in our family meaningful.

If you do send bracelet orders this week or next, please be patient. The next bracelet orders will be mailed out on December 11 (lots of time to receive them before Christmas, if required).

I am madly knitting Christmas gifts (more on my knitting blog).

Here's a sample (with my appreciative cat):

Hugs to you all!

P.S. You can reach me by leaving a comment--they are sent to my yahoo email address. Or, you can email directly bracelet at kingston dot net (replace the words with symbols as per usual).

And a big ???thanks??? to the folks who harvested the bracelet email addy off the CityTV website and send several dozen spam messages each day in Chinese.

Cheers.

Syd Believes in Sick Kids

Monday, was a fabulous, exhausting, wonderful day. We drove up to Toronto for Sydney to receive an award at SickKids hospital for her bracelet fundraising.

She got the Spirit Award in the first annual Kids Believe in SickKids program.

The host of the ceremony was Erica Ehm, and Daniel Cook was there! (those of you who watch children's television in Ontario know the little redhead)

The presentation was wonderful, moving, short and sweet.

It was, however, a little like walking into the twilight zone. We arrived, and before we were at the location, 2 people had greeted me. I was then directed to the PR company table, and told when my telephone and television interviews were scheduled.

The reporters and journalists were all polite, kind and they all bought bracelets. There was television news coverage, and thank you to all the viewers for your supportive e-mails. We'll be sending out a lot of bracelets soon, I think.

The Kingston Whig Standard wrote a nice story.

Georgia was on fire--this was her pose during the ceremony, just in case someone was worried that being the sister of an award winner was going to her head.

Georgia is the one wearing a purple dress, white tights and pink boots. Yes, that's the back half of my little baby, in front of about 200 people, including a press photographer, giving us her best impression of a dancing cow.

Sydney, my dear. As a parent, my hopes for my children include that they will find passtimes that will put food on the table and smiles on their faces, that they will live fully and grasp the day, and that they will help others. At the tender age of 9, you've just about captured it.

I couldn't be prouder.

9 Months

Yes, it’s been 9 months since Georgia’s diagnosis.

Good news—the latest MRI is clear! Next one in January, and if all continues to go well, we’ll go to 6 month checks.

It’s been such a terrible, blessed year so far. We’ve met some great friends at Camp Trillium, and they have an event for the kids once a month through the winter. Sydney loves going to these events, because the volunteers are willing (and young enough) to piggy-back her all day if that’s what she wants.

Sydney also has some good news—she is to be presented with an award from Sick Kids hospital for her fundraising. We’re so proud of her and all her hard work—and she can’t wait for another excuse to dress up!

Bracelets—yes, we’ve got bracelets. Still knitting them, still amazed at the people we’ve met because of them. There are the ‘girl power’ girls, the folks at the St. Lawrence College Bookstore, a sweet lady from Kingston who dropped by one day with $100 cash that a friend had given her for The James Fund, grampie and his bottomless change jar, the residents at a retirement village who donated embroidery thread, and my mother who knits tirelessly.

Thanks for your support and prayers everyone—they are priceless to us.

Cancer Club

Sunday, I spent the afternoon with some wonderful people. People who understand the whole meaning of 'my kid has cancer'.

It was nice to hear that my family isn't the only one that deeply appreciates but at the same time has suggestions and criticisms about the way our medical system and our society treat our families. This isn't a disease that goes away when the initial testing and treatment is done. Sometimes the fight goes on for years and years.

When we're away from work, we aren't shopping or enjoying good food or relaxing. We're probably driving or sitting in a waiting room on fairly uncomfortable chairs or camped out beside a hospital bed and a cranky child who wants to move around and can't. Maybe we're sipping coffee from a paper cup (and, surprisingly, hospital coffee isn't too shabby these days), and trying to get the poor kid to eat something she doesn't want (but, honey, if you don't eat the jello, you can't have toast tomorrow morning--kids don't get that logic, because they want TOAST, right NOW).

It was comforting and amazing to hear the stories of the incredible caring and support we have all received from hospital staff (and these are wonderful people, doing a job that must tear them apart), and some of the bureaucracy and budget issues that make things more difficult for them and us.

Most of all, it was sitting in a room with people I would otherwise never have met, and feeling that in a deep and overwhelming part of all our lives we have so much in common. Now I know why people go to support groups.

Cheers.

Camp Trillium

We just got back from a week at Camp Trillium. Wow.

Camp Trillium provides camping and recreation for children with cancer and their families and we were lucky enough to have a week at Garratt's Island.

The week was joyful, like when ten children eddied and scrambled and waited impatiently for a nest of baby turtles to climb out of a hole in the ground, one-by-one, and scramble away to their new lives; or when my little girl put on safety equipment and scaled a 30 foot climbing wall (while I chewed my fingernails down to the quick).

There were laughs, when the entire camp dressed up for a 'wedding' in costumes from the costume trunk, including my husband in a fuscia skirt and myself in a mosquito netting 'sari'; or when all the 'sheep' counsellors had to be bathed 'in the lake'.

There were moments of deep connection with other parents who have had to stand by and watch their children undergo painful and dangerous procedures in order to fight their disease. I met parents who spent weeks or months in the hospital caring for children, who lost their jobs or gave them up, who exposed themselves to radiation because their child's therapy was too dangerous for hospital staff. I am in awe of these people.

There were moments of hope and peace, meeting parents and siblings of survivors, meeting a mother who has lost a daughter to cancer who is a wonderful mother to her children.

Georgia loved the other children and the turtles, Sydney loved the archery range and kayaking. Scott enjoyed the peace and quiet. What a great rest.

Cheers,
Faye

The Drive-In

Last weekend, we took the girls to the Drive-In to see Zoom and Talladega Nights.

To get a good parking space, you need to get there before dark, but at our local drive-in there's lots to do. They have a new splash pad that's free for all right now, and both Sydney and Georgia enjoyed tramping through the water.

Then, we went over to the mini-golf course. Now these people know their marketing. When you're inside the mini-golf hut, waiting for your turn to pay, there is a shelf laden with sweet and gooey candy concoctions--right at the eye level of a 2 year old.

Now, Georgia is certainly not one to leave a shelf of brightly-coloured candy unexplored. She reached her little paw right up there and snagged a gigantic, sugar-coated gummy-thing and popped it into her mouth--add 25 cents to the bill, please. Now, I know I let her get away with more than I should--having that neuroblastoma roulette wheel rolling over her head does that to a mother. But she looked so damned cute, with that big hunk of sugar hanging out of her mouth, she looked like a kitten after her first hunt. I just smiled, took her hand and led her away from the candy counter.

We played mini-golf. Sydney is just old enough that she's very competitive, but she still can't beat her daddy, and it kills her. She is so cute when she's trying to be blase about something, but she can't turn off that inner competitor, and I know that will do her well in the future.

I had a great time doing something that I might have, in the past, viewed as a necessary time-killer between parking and seeing the movie.

Now, I consider every moment I spend with these little marvels a moment to be savoured, learned from and tucked away into my memory banks.

Cheers!

Iron Man

Join us in congratulating our friend and the sponsor of Georgia & Sydney's June fundraiser, Mr. Steve Wright. He completed the ironman competition in Lake Placid last weekend in just over 13 hours.

An ironman race consists of: 4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and then a full 26.2 mile marathon. Wow! It's a difficult thing, a feat that takes as much mental strength and focus as physical fitness. I could never do that.

Know what? He wore one of our G & S bracelets during the race.

I've been told (and not by Steve directly) that when he was feeling really sick on the course, when his body was hurting and he wanted to stop, he would look at that bracelet and think, "This isn't that hard."

I'm so touched that our little bauble can be such a source of comfort and inspiration for others, and that by sharing our story we are Helping Other People Everyday.

Congratulations, Steve! And thanks for showing us that ordinary people can do amazing things when they set their minds to it.

Cheers!

(Sydney is away, spending a week at her great-aunt's home in Thornbury--we expect her to return thoroughly spoiled and sold out of bracelets. Georgia is here, revving up for a week with Daddy, raising cain and repeating every new word she hears.)

Blogathon

Christi Thomas is a beautiful young lady fighting neuroblastoma.

Her friend Nikki will be starting a 24 hour blogathon tomorrow to raise money for childhood cancer research.

Georgia will be one of the children featured during her blogathon (I think at 2 am on Sunday).

For families in Ontario, Canada who are fighting cancer (anyone in the family, not just children), there is an organization called Cottage Dreams that matches up families with cottages, to give them some time away together. Pass it on.

Syd & Scott went to the Hilary Duff concert in Toronto the other evening. They took the train and had a great adventure in the big city. Our friends at the James Fund arranged for better seats during the concert (thanks!), but we weren't able to arrange for Syd to meet Ms. Duff and give her a bracelet. It didn't matter to Sydney--she had a wonderful time and arrived home exhausted.

Taking Georgia and our pooch Charlie to a party at the lake tomorrow--photos will follow :)

Cheers,
Faye

Findings Unchanged

It sounds so conservative and, in reality, it is.

But the translation for us is – No new cancer growth! 6 months and counting! Three more months before we are scheduled to visit CHEO!

Yay!

Cheers,
Faye