20 February 2009

Lifted Up - Ian & Ellie

Yesterday was a bad day for the DIPG family. Two of its members, Ian Henderson & Ellie Willaert left their Earthly bodies and have gone Home.

Ian was diagnosed little more than 8 months ago; Ellie about 9 months ago. Both of these precious children as well as Cal Daniel lived in Minnesota.

I know the doctors say that there are no known environmental links, but sometimes you just have to say "Hmmmmm".

Wednesday's website update found me trying to catch up on some of the Other Kids; Fabian, Andrea, Kira, Erica, Brian, Noah, Luke, Jesse, Kelly-Anne and Ben were all added. If you stop by you'll notice that a couple of the pages aren't in English; that's because DIPG isn't an English-speaking disease. Children from all over the world are diagnosed with it and they (generally) each receive the same prognosis - 6 - 12 months. For a 4 year old that next year is 20% of his life. He might make it to Kindergarten. She may not be alive for her first dance recital.

Awareness is the only weapon most of us have against this disease. A disease that robs our children of their right to a future. A future that should include Kindergarten, recess, Christmas.

If you wander by this page please stop by www.icouldbeyourchild.org Get to know the kids whose future has been jepordized by something that noone understands.

14 February 2009

Lifted Up - Cal Daniel

Cal Daniel was buried by his family today. On this Valentine's Day they surrendered Cal's body to the Lord - He who loves Cal more than his family could ever imagine. Cal's soul flew to Heaven on the 10th. He knew that Jesus was waiting for him.

There has to be such comfort in that knowledge; that when you can no longer feel the hand that holds yours on Earth you are instead holding the hand of God. As the song says, "Take my hand, precious Lord...lead me Home."

Cal is Home.

09 February 2009

...and so it continues

That's probably a strange title for the first post...but this blog will be an extension of a website that has been in existence (in one name or another) for about 3 years.

http://www.icouldbeyourchild.org/ was born from http://www.jjsmiracle.com/. JJ's Miracle is where our family kept current family members, friends and strangers our son's condition as he battled diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (dipg) a tumor in the brainstem usually found in children.

As his journey progressed we found that we were not alone with a rare tumor in the world of childhood cancer and "Other Kids" were added to JJ's website. Time passed on and children passed away - they were "Lifted Up" from this disease - usually less than two years from having been diagnosed.

In an effort to keep these families connected I Could Be Your Child was formed. It has become an information portal for parents who are searching. No one site will ever have every bit of information - ICBYC just points the way.

We are trying to raise awareness about the existence of the disease as there is precious little known about the disease itself. At this point, doctors can offer no proven cure to save the lives of these (mostly) 5 - 10 year olds. At this point, doctors can offer no explantion for the cause of dipg.

We are not alone in our efforts. More than 50 organizations are listed on the Foundations page - these are just those started by family members and do not include the regional & national with which you may be more familiar (many of these are also listed there).

What will happen on this blog is a play-by-play of what changes have been made to http://www.icouldbeyourchild.org/.

Today's change involves the Lifting Up of Kyle Roger.

Please stop by ICBYC and have a look around. If you have the time, spend it getting to know some of the kids - I can pretty well guarantee that they will touch your heart.

di
JJ's mom