Charlie's Make-A-Wish Day

I won't bore you with a lot of words about Charlie's Make-A-Wish Day, I think the pictures do a better job of that than I could. I will say that he had a fantastic day and that we are very appreciative of the the Make-A-Wish Organization, the volunteers from United Healthcare as well as Rainbow Play Systems and Jim (landscape architect) and his crew. Everybody worked their tails off and the results are great.

The day started with a few initial items to get things going: Oversized tools, Charlie's very own tool box, and some construction cones so that Charlie could set up his "Master Plan" for the back yard. Jason, one of Charlie's wish granters, spent the whole morning playing with Charlie in the back yard. They had a great time and I am surprised Jason could even stand up by the end of the day. United Healthcare also gave Charlie a lot of items to get new backyard up and going: new plants, new gardening gloves, a tent and some other fantastic toys. After things kicked into high gear, Charlie got a chance to dig in the dirt a little bit and even construct parts of his new play set. During construction, Charlie and Dad were interviewed for the local tv stations and had a chance to thank all the volunteers and let everybody know how excited he was to get his wish.

The day finished up with some cupcakes, playtime on the new digs and some friends coming over to tell Charlie "Happy Wish Day" and "Happy First Anniversary on Remission".

To those who made it over, thank you for coming and sharing this special day with us. For those who couldn't be here, enjoy the photo album and we have been told that we will get a DVD of the footage that was shot. Our IT department will have to figure out how to get that up on the blog.

Charlie's Make-A-Wish

Make a Wish Update

On Friday, April 29th, in conjunction with his first anniversary of achieving remission, Charlie will receive his wish for a new backyard play-land.The Make-A-Wish organization along with volunteers from United Healthcare are coming Friday morning to setup Charlie’s new play set and transform the Hooper backyard into a fantastic play area.Please join us in celebrating Charlie’s first year of remission. Come and Go, open house from 2-6pm. Light refreshments will be served. No gifts please.

A year out from normal

This is the night before We took Charlie into the doctor's office with what we thought was a broken ankle. I remember laying in bed and doubting myself for insisting on taking him back in after he still refused to walk days after the cast was removed. People kept telling me to give it more time, that he was a stubborn toddler and he would come around and walk again when the attention died down. I just knew it was something... That night I didn't sleep very well, could have been the fact I was huge and pregnant, but I think I was subconsciously preparing for what was about to unfold. When Shelly, the orthopedic doc, broke the news I was upset, but not shocked, more numb and at the same time less uncertain. Now we had a path, a cause to his pain, a real reason. And true enough here we are a year later after that fateful night. Yes, we have alot to deal with, but Charlie is so much better off. He runs, walks, hops and plays. He is surviving Cancer..... and so are we.