The Trip of a Lifetime...

Goofy and family

We are back from our much anticipated holiday to Los Angeles and what an incredible trip it was....
Owen said "I have worked out 6 words  to describe our Make-A-Wish Holiday......Amazing, Extraordinary, Unbelievable, Exciting, Fantastic and Overwhelming..." 
This trip went beyond everything that we could have imagined. For the boys, everything was a new and exciting experience. Even the 15 hour flight.. A chance to watch 3 movies in a row....whoohooo...
 We said goodbye to Luke at the airport and were terribly upset. Luke was fine, with great care from his Grandparents and Aunty, and school everyday so there was minimal disruption. He was happy...

The Limo..

  Day 1: Arrival into a new country. American accents, tough immigration and customs, then off we went. First surprise, a big black stretch limousine to our Disneyland Hotel where we stayed for 3 nights. At the Hotel we were presented with a package to cover our 2 days with them. Tickets, maps, an invite to the Make-A-Wish lounge in Disneyland (A beautiful room for MAW families to rest in) and the amazing Green Light Pass. This was a VIP pass that allowed us the quickest way onto or into any ride or show. Any Disney member would see it and would point, guide, lead us to where we wanted. This card cannot be bought, and changed everything........! We had planned out 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure Park. The card meant that we could throw out our plan and just enjoy everything.
We finished the day off exploring the local shopping, found a MASSIVE LEGO store (Owen was in heaven) then we crashed after minimal sleep on the flight.

Breakfast.
Peanut Butter/Mac and cheese Pizza

More healthy food.

  Day 2: Goofy's kitchen for Breakfast. Peanut butter and Jelly Pizza (Joel loved) and everything else you could eat, then into Disneyland. HUGE day... Rides, Shows, Fireworks, Food and out at 11.30pm...
  Day 3: California Adventure Park.... Rides, Shows, Parade, Light show and out at 9.30pm in time for Owen to buy some boxes of Lego with money that M.A.W. Bayside had put aside for him..


Lego....!!!

To be fair, the Disneyland leg of our trip cannot ever be summarized into a few lines... The 6 words that Owen used can only be used as a guide. It was perfect.....
  Day 4: Limo ride into the Sheraton next to Universal Studios and a day of exploring and rest.

Scariest ride ever.

  Day 5: Star homes and Hollywood tour and shopping...
  Day 6: Universal Studios with Front of line passes. Another fun filled day with Owen sucking in information about filming and special effects. Rides, Shows and Fun...
  Day 7: Hired a car and tackled LA traffic. Down to Santa Monica and Venice Beach to see the sites and shop.
  Day 8: Down to Santa Monica again for dedicated shopping then back to the Sheraton. A huge black SUV to LAX and onto a plane for the 15 hour flight home.
Arrive Sydney 6am, Melbourne flight and home sweet home.

Transformers

It was a masterstroke waiting until Owen was strong and healthy as this was a jam packed adventure, full of great experiences and memories that will always be with us.

Shrek

We can never ever thank Make-A-Wish Bayside and all other MAW groups enough for what Owen experienced.
"Amazing, Extraordinary, Unbelievable, Exciting, Fantastic and Overwhelming......"

Thank you from the bottoms of our heart to Make-A-Wish. It was Fantastic and the memories will be precious. It was  pure magic.

Make-A-Wish Ball.. What a night...

Dress up time

OMG....Polly and Waz.....!

Exactly 2 years and 5 months... on the exact same day, "Friday the 13th", at 10.03pm, we told Owen that he had Leukaemia. (He remembers looking at the clock and wondering why we had been crying as we explained why we were in Emergency at Royal Children's hospital). The Doctor who told us said that we could wait and let him know later when we were ready. We said that Owen would read our body language in a instant and know something was up. We had to be truthful..

Adam, Owen, Grant and Joel..

Tonight it was very very different. We were invited to the 20th Anniversary Charity Dinner of Bayside Volunteer Branch of Make-A-Wish. Owen was to be presented with his wish and we thought that this would be pretty cool as we could publicly say thank you. It was such a fantastic night... In Owen's words "The best night of his life". Pretty cool as he has already had a few "best of's" in his 11 years. The theme was 1920's so we managed to organise clothing and dressed up. The boys loved it. "Hey Joel, I feel like a man" said Owen as they admired themselves in the mirror.

Our Fun tablemates...Alisha and Frank

We sat down and the night started. Introductions were made and everyone in the room was told that the 2 spare seats on our table were for some special people that we had met previously. It was Polly and Waz, winners of The Block last year.They had flown down from Sydney and Queensland to attend the Logies (which "The Block" won) and came to sit on our table and catch up. A complete surprise....I watched Owen trembling in his seat as they were announced and I told him to go and give them a hug. He sprinted out of his chair and across the dance floor and embraced them them both in absolute joy... Funny about that term "Priceless"... This was one of those moments.. It was a night of fun, and lots of laughs and smiles.
Owen was presented with his wish and he hopped up on the stage and gave a beautiful thank you speech giving everyone an insight to his life and his delightful positive energy. Then Lee followed with her thank you. She did beautifully and touched many souls that night. Heartfelt and inspiring. A mothers story... that produced many tears. Both had plenty of hugs from lots of people afterwards.

Finally an Huge Thank you again to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.. The love and support in the room was genuine and inspiring, and it was wonderful to be thanked for coming along and telling our story. We cannot believe the generosity of Make-A-Wish and that we are going overseas with our children on a big adventure...
We cannot express what this trip will mean to our family.
Owen is madly planning...

April 2012 - Tracking nicely. Exciting things coming....

April 2012 - Tracking nicely.

Well he is 2 years and 5 months since diagnosis and Owen is on track as Dr Waters had hoped.
Haven't blogged for a while as life has been business as usual. Thought I should update as some exciting things are happening soon.
Threw in a few photos as well. And some little anecdotes.

Our Family..Not stickers, LEGO.. Mum is not too happy about the champagne glass.....!

Owen's health has been GREAT.. Despite the tablets everyday, which he swallows without complaint, he is just fine. Dr Waters looks down his glasses at us when we talk him up and reminds us gently that he looks healthy but no child taking chemo is healthy on the inside. His immunity is compromised and bloods are still fighting their battle. There are constant reminders around us.

Looking after his Big Brother

The Warts...... He hates them and his body cannot fight them off, so it is off to a Professor in Dermatology to burn them off using acids, and liquid nitrogen. They are surprised at his pain threshold. The warts keep coming back. Hopefully when his chemo stops in a year, his immunity will take over and wipe them out. They have managed to control the warts on his face and feet for the time being,

Chicken Pox..... Chemo has wiped his blood clean of all the vaccines that he has had since birth. So any infectious disease is dangerous. A recent exposure to a child in class and off to Emergency where he is given a large injection full of antibodies to try to protect him temporarily. Isolation for 4 weeks from any activities with other Cancer buddies and Charities, and isolation rooms in Hospital when getting treatment. He dislikes isolation as he cannot catch up with nurses and Staff at the Hospital for his usual playful banter.

Tablets.. Plenty..... Some days just 2, other days 11 of them.. He has

Thursday Night tablets

Met from Maxy from Bondi Rescue.... Another show that he loved when he spent hours in bed. The Bondi Rescue Box Set (And Grand Designs) and he is happy. Drove to Sydney in the September Holidays and went to Bondi. There he was working... How lucky was that....! Turns out that he is an Ambassador for Canteen as well.

Monthly checkups and Chemo Injections int his Port.... 20ml of Vinchristine. A nasty medication that Owen gets once a month. We watch his skin for any breaking down of blood veins (crows feet), unusual rashes etc., and monitor his health. Last week was unusual with stomach pain and sweats at night, had trouble playing his first game of Soccer for the year and mild sunburn after an hour on the pitch on a beautiful autumn day. We sign documents allowing it to be used on Owen warning us of all the potential dangers and side effects. As you can see, the nurse wears gloves and an apron when handling it. 

Family Snap.....