Dylan is still home from school as his flu swabs are still showing a positive result. Late last week, his liver tests were not good and gave us some concern, his AST 160 and ALT 265 both should be below 37. But yesterdays results showed a decrease at roughly 60 for both, so it appears it may be due to the flu. Dylan seems well in himself though, no cough. The only symptoms is a slight runny nose, loss of appetite and fatigue. The study/clinical trial has been postponed until Dylan is 100% hopefully he can start next week. I found out that Tim's sister's rental home was only 7km away from the bush fires in Victoria and their block of land was affected by the fires, leaving no vegetation on the property, thankfully though, they had not started building their house. There have been several fund raisers in New York to assist those effected by the disaster. The weather here in New York is bitter cold, although no more snow yet. I am done with the winter and ready for some nice spring days. I noticed today that the bulbs were peeking out of the ground in some apartment gardens, so hopefully Spring will come early.
There is a new Australian family staying at the Ronald McDonald House now. Isaiah Muller arrived about a week ago for treatment at MSKCC for Retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eyes. Isaiah has already lost one eye and has traveled in the hope of saving his sight and his life from this beast. The family had traveled to England for consultation on Australian doctors recommendations, but ended up here in New York for treatment that is proving much more successful. Isaiah arrived her with his mum, leaving 5 siblings and dad at home in Adelaide SA. Their website is just getting started so please check back on them once they get the opportunity to update it with photos and journals. The family, like us is relying on fund raising to pay for their medical bills and expenses. They too were denied funding from the Australian government, and have no options for treatment in Australia. Sadly they know of another child with a different life threatening condition who also needs to come to America for care, but they are financial restricted. These families motivate me more to one day having a foundation to help these Aussie kids...us parents will band together ourselves and get things done, hopefully the Australian government will eventually follow suit and change their current unaccessible treatment abroad scheme, to at least making funds available to children in medical need. But for right now I can only focus on getting Dylan's needs attended to and once this is behind us we can focus on paying it forward.
