Friday, December 16, 2005

Dr Modak agrees to be in Dylan's documentary

At clinic today Dylan’s platelets are now at 67 and well on the way to starting treatment again on Monday. After having no treatment for the past 3 weeks, Dylan is full of energy, eating constantly and bouncing off the walls in anticipation of Tim and Cain’s arrival. This will all be reflected in the documentary that we have been filming this week. Tim and Cain have been filmed back home in Australia and on Wednesday the reporters flew in from Australia to film Dylan and I, and will remain with us during our family’s reunion on Sunday. I was delighted that Dr Modak also agreed to an interview and as I watched the footage, I was overwhelmed by what he had to say. Most of the time when you see the doctors, it’s all about the medical side and you never really get to know what the doctors think of you, so it was really nice to hear his views. Dr Modak described the admiration he has for our family and what we are doing to save Dylan, he also said what a great job I do as Dylan’s care giver, which gave me a real boost. Dr Modak is such a fantastic doctor, and we are really privileged to have him on this journey, he is such a caring and kind man. This afternoon the film crew drove Dylan and I to Long Island to see Greg, Lynn and Thomas, Lynn also agreed to an interview. Lynn had me in tears as she spoke so highly of our family and the friendship that we have formed over the past 11 months. We all had a great time playing baseball in the yard and toasting marshmallows by the fireplace inside. I have been explaining to the reporters that even though Dylan’s story of a neuroblastoma child seeking treatment outside of their country may be unique to Australia, it is actually a global issue. Currently there are children in the UK, South Africa and Israel whose families are all fund raising to get their children here for treatment at MSKCC after they have been told by their doctors, no more can be done. I also spoke about Sammy joe who is also fund raising for his treatment in America. The documentary will be shown in Australia, sometime in February on channel 7 at 8pm and will air for a full half hour. I will have an exact date closer to the time and will post it on the website. I am unsure if it will be accessible online, but hopefully it will be. The film crew have been wonderful and Dylan has really bonded with them in such a short space of time, there has been lots of laughs and great moments captured. Dylan even hugged them all as they left this evening, I think he has also won their hearts. Well, 2 more sleeps and our family will be as one again, this is the best Christmas wish ever.