Well it was all on this morning, I had just got in the shower and the phone rang, so I dashed out in nothing but a towel, in case it was an important call for Dylan’s campaign, then my mobile started ringing while I was on the house phone and then Dylan had a humongous power chuck on the carpet! Poor little man couldn’t quite make it to the bucket in time, and would you believe that while I was cleaning it up, he apologized. I told him he never needs to say sorry for being sick. What a way to start the day! It could have been worse though, I now take everyday as a blessing and if that was the worst part of the day, then I am thankful.
My work colleagues at Australia Post are currently receiving a lot of letters and cards for our family. I picked a pile up today and Tim and I read them all night. I am going to pin them up all over our house to remind us of all the love and support that’s out there. We received one from a 6 year old boy who wrote a letter to Dylan and donated his pocket money. It reduced me to tears (once again!) He wrote that his name is Dylan like our Dylan and that he had been to America too. He told of how much he liked America and he even sent photos of himself in the snow. A lot of people have been saying "Here's our donation, sorry it's not more" To those people, I want to say that every dollar counts, and it all adds up, so if it's as small as one dollar, it's huge in the end.
I have been advised by people saying “going to America will be a big impact on your family, so we better think hard before you decide to go there” and “Going public will be a huge stress on your family” These people, as well meaning as they may be, have to realize that loosing my son to cancer will be a big impact on our family and a huge stress! What’s the difference? I will fight no matter what the consequences, as long as Dylan gets the treatment he needs, I don’t care what impact it has.
I know it will be hard for Dylan and I to go to America alone, and leave Tim and Cain behind, but it’s a sacrifice we all have to make in order to save Dylan and give him the best possible chance to beat this. Tim will need to stay in Australia to continue working and paying the mortgage and to look after Cain. I know that Tim’s heart will be ripped apart when he watches us board the plane, but he knows that it’s the only way for it to be possible. Tim is an amazing husband and father, words cannot express how thankful I am to have such an amazing man by my side. We simply cannot afford to take us all there and it’s not necessary. The cost of living will be minimal Dylan and I, as we will stay at Ronald McDonald House and I am sure they have plenty of soup kitchens in the U.S as I know there is a lot of poverty over there. The money we raise will be purely for Dylan’s medical expenses, hopefully an airline company will donate the airfares so we shouldn’t have to use any cash donations for that either. So far we have raised approx $31,000. We still have a long way to go, but we will get there.
On a sad note, the little boy we visited in ICU the other day, got his angel wings this afternoon as they turned off his life support. Tim and I burst into tears when we found out. We will try and find out when his funeral is as we would both like to attend.
