Full Circle

What a week! Brayden soared in his blood results. This being the week we thought they would be the lowest, his counts held steady & he was able to continue his chemo regimen without interruption - yeah!! We were astonished and so thankful to see his ANC's holding steady, his hemoglobin still looking good with the 2 previous blood transfusions from just a few weeks prior still echoing in my head. We celebrated the great results with some yummy sushi for dinner. The highlight of the week was meeting his new teacher! Bryan and I had shared a couple of high-5's after hearing some of the plans for the year. We know this is going to be so good for Brayden.

Even with all the heat, Brayden managed to enjoy some fun fishing with Dad, playing outside in the water and laughing our heads off at Hershey on a daily basis. Hershey turned 7 and we celebrated by torturing her with barks & howls and laughing until our stomachs hurt at her cuteness. One night we had a fun time eating at one of our favorite local places and saw a table full of about 25 people. We couldn't help but notice their Arkansas Children's Hospital t-shirts. My wonderful company has been a repeat sponsor of a wonderful charity each year to benefit ACH. Knowing this week was a big week for the charity, I quickly put the pieces together. It was neat hearing their leader encourage the volunteers for all that they would be enduring over the next several days in the grueling heat and reminding them what was most important: the kids. I couldn't help myself. I begged Brayden to let me say something. Finally, as everyone was leaving, I spoke out to the leader thanking her for all they were enduring. I introduced her to Brayden and she introduced herself. Wow...this was the same sweet lady who had called us during the early days when Brayden was in the PICU and offered her help. Both my former company and current company reached out to her & the Foundation and we were so moved at their willingness to help us in any way we needed. At that time, we had no idea what we needed, but it was so reassuring to hear her reach out. Fast forward to now she's here right in front of us and we're finally getting to meet. She was so sweet talking to Brayden about his Dr. and his treatment plan. We thanked them again for all that they're doing.

The next night, we used our tickets each sponsor company receives to attend a beautiful gala. It was truly amazing. So many familiar faces & a few celebrities. All of this to raise money for ACH. I was dreading the dressing up part & social aspect of the night. But what pushed me into going was that it was for such a good cause. Hearing the story of the family that was ACH family of the year was gut-wrenching. It was amazing how quickly it took me back to the early days of so much uncertainty. Hearing the Mom talk about the Angel 1 flight literally brought it all flooding back to me again. My emotions were so overwhelmed with it all and praying one day we'll be celebrating Brayden's full recovery & clean bill of health. Seeing the family in person with their son who had been treated as a preemie at ACH was certainly moving. It was remarkable to see how much money was raised in such a short amount of time. I felt so thankful for each person who gave of their time and money for the event, since we see once a month the fruits of their labor and have felt it first-hand. It truly was a full-circle evening. Hearing of the events in years past and always being reminded of things that we did for the foundation in hopes that it would help others, being thankful ACH was there & praying you never had to be a recipient of its services. And yet we have, and I realize now more than ever how thankful we are to so many contributors. Thank you to each one of you for all that you did to help! It was nice being able to laugh with the girls and seeing so many sweet, friendly faces, and hearing others ask about Brayden's progress. I was thankful we've had a great 4 weeks to report and share. And it makes me yearn even more for the days of normalcy ahead.