Neuroblatoma Walk - a tremendous success

Good morning! Wow, the Neuroblastoma Walk was a tremendous success. I want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting the walk. It was incredible. At last count I heard that there were over 650 in attendance. Better yet, we raised about $50,000 for neuroblastoma research.

What an incredible result.

I can't speak for everyone else but I can tell you that we had an absolute blast. Sydney, Graham, and Ainsley are already asking when we can do it again. It was so nice seeing so many come out and support the cause. It was a like a reunion and I got the opportunity to thank all of the people that have played a part in Sydney's survival, our family's growth, and my sanity.

Some of my favorites were:

Mitchell - I have never caught his last name and, frankly, I don't really even know his official title. However, he was part of Sydney's journey that I will never forget. You see Mitchell did both of Sydney's apheresis-es (stem cell collections). As you may remember, our first one had some complications. You see, Sydney was overdosed with high dose heparin in post op coming out of the surgical procedure to place her apheresis catheter. Mitchell was there as I sat behind Sydney for several hours applying pressure to her hips so she would not bleed out from where she had received her bone marrow aspirations. Mitchell kept us sane as we all tried to cope with Sydney's condition. We all developed a bond as a result of that little incident.

I will never forget that. For those of you who don't remember the story you can relive it by searching for "RUNNING OUT OF BAD HABITS" at 2:30 PM on 7/29/2003 in my blog.

Another person we got to see again was nurse Margaret. She was a part of so much of our history that I don't even know where to begin. All of the nursing staff at Cooks was great. They became a part of our family. Just like any family, they all had their distinct gifts and personalities. The thing that we will always remember about Margaret was her genuine caring for Sydney and our family. You can tell when people care because it is their job and those that care because they just do. That was Margaret. She truly cared for Sydney. Sydney felt it, we felt it, everyone felt it. She was invested. I sometimes wondered, when we got bad news, was it harder on her or on us. I think that should give you an indication of the level of caring we received. I also remember that she was pregnant during Sydney's treatment. It was pretty surreal seeing her kiddos running around.

That makes me old.

There were many others we had the privilege to see. There were teachers, physicians, nurses, patients, families, friends, and even our faithful Tae Kwon Do team from GSX. It is experiences like this that really show us that it takes a village.

Well, this village made a huge difference.

This village also raised $50,000.00

This village also guaranteed that more children will be surviving from neuroblastoma than the day before.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there.

It was a walk with purpose.