May 2013

Jordan has had a great month so far. He has started eating and drinking more regular again. He is sleeping much better and seems to be in a happy mood. We are still stressing wondering when the next bout of seizures is going to hit or when the meds will take an ill effect on his liver and kidneys but for now we are happy with any small amounts to progression. A happy Jordy is a happy home.

Summer is almost here and we have some fun things planned for the summer. Sam will be home in 2 weeks for a short summer visit and we can't wait to see her. It has been since Christmas since she was home. We are flying her home especially for the benefit concert June 9th. It should be  a great day. Shelley Rastin, Hurtin Merv and Bender. Starts at 2pm and there are some great door prizes and auction prizes coming in as well. Zander starts t-ball in 2 weeks and hopefully Jordan will love watching. We have taken Jordan to a few ball games this year and so far he has not enjoyed them. Here's hoping once the weather gets warmer he will love it again.

Travis will have all of his heart tests shortly and we are waiting for the date of his surgery. All we really know is the surgery will be between Sept-Dec and it will be in Toronto. Fingers crossed the 3rd time is a charm and he won't have to endure anymore open heart surgeries.

Our family is as always busy and lots going on right now but we are happy to report the chair lift is fixed and our backs no longer have to strain carrying Jordan up and down the stairs. Now can't wait to have the bathroom and bathlift completed.

When you have a bad day, week or month remember there are people struggling everywhere and maybe your story can help just 1 person. Remember:

It's not about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning to dance in the rain!!

Boy oh Boy do I love dancing in the rain!!

A Long List of Thanks, Sponsors and Volunteers for the Spaghetti Dinner

Slo-Pitch City (Fred, Dave, Marnie and staff)
Big Top Tent Rentals
Pat-A-Cakes/ Tricia Nevill-Gebel
Ray D Livestock/ Donny Ray
Tim Hortons- Dorchester/Kitchener/Tillsonburg
BX93
Tammy and Trevor Woodhouse/ DJ and Great Music and Lights
Cranberry Country Market
Saunders Pro Home and Billiards
Marlena's Hair Styling
Anytime Fitness/Shawn Finch
Nana's Pantry/Bill and Deb Riley
Keys Thanks/Tara Jones
Labatts
Hustler Billiards Staff and Patrons/Ami Reed
The Grande Theatre London
Palasad South London
The Palace Theatre London
East Park Golf Gardens
The Toronto Raptors/Jessica Harris
Simply Said Photography
Sam's Place Port Burwell
3:16 Restoration
Rocky's Harley Davidson
Sherri Hughes/Tom Weston
KJEM Kreations
Planet Playground
Otterville Custom Golf Carts
Artistic Spa
Sweet Stellas
Montana Silversmiths
Fewster Appliances
Starbucks Downtown London Location
Theatre Tillsonburg
Brandon Prust/Carla and Eric Alexander and Families
Two Men and a Tent
Subway St. Marys Location/Dianna Youngson
Herms Sports
Joe Thorton
Degroot-Hill Pontiac
Corry Hill-Davis and Ron Davis
Hully Gully
Jockey Canada
Household Plumbing
Delta Faucets/Chris Ginty
Epicure/Jade Somers
Suzanne Jackson/Debbie Leben and Families
Autrans Office Staff
Autrans Production Employees
St. Marys Cement Maintenance and IT staff
St. Marys Cement Corp
United Steel Workers Union Local 9235
Mike and Francine Santos/Costco
Lynne Rushton/Avon
Beverley Allen and Harold Taylor
The Rebekah Lodge St. Marys
HiLightes Hair Salon/Janet Neeb
Melina Miller/Arbonne
The Emily Morgan Foundation
Heather Haug. Becca Davis, The Cole Family, Dr. Paul Catania, Charlena Russell, Melina Miller, Steve and Nancy Lightfoot, Leslie Owen, Tracey E White, Marla Poirier,Steve Byron, Ami Reed, Jeannie Bourgon, Jan Avey-Thomson and Bill Thomson, Carla and Bill Davison, Jason and Emma Dayment, Dr. Dan Cass, Myla Robertson, Tiffany and Dave Lewis, Theresa Landry and co-workers, Jamie Maudsley, Barb Coleman, Tim Israel, Lisa Dobbie, Pamela Chrysler, Aaron Lightfoot and Alyssa Van Vliet, Jared Lightfoot, Emily Bass and Seth Lightfoot, James Riley, Dave Cobain,  Kayleigh Riley, Emily DeLuca, Travis Walters, Joe and Linda Dippong, Ginger Peters, Jennifer Heffernen, Christine Cheavers........

Please forgive me if I have forgot anyone, send me a message and I will gladly add them to the list. I have tried to keep track but with donations flying at me even to the very last minute it was sometimes impossible. Thank you all so very much from the bottom of our hearts. I can't express how much you all mean to us. Thank you isn't enough but still I am in awe and don't know how else to express my gratitude.

Spaghetti Dinner

I would like to send our deepest thanks to everyone that attended, supported or donated to the spaghetti dinner. It was a HUGE success. We had a few small hiccups the day of but everything turned out great.

I wish I had time to meet with everyone that attended and thank them personally but there was not enough time in the evening. Thank you to all of my volunteers and our amazing bartenders that stuck the night out. Thank you to Big Top Tent Rentals for coming through at the last minute with a tent to accommodate more people and to Tammy and Trevor Woodhouse for the amazing DJ and music services. Everyone had a blast.

A final thank you to Slo-Pitch City, Dave, Marnie, Fred and staff for hosting this event. Jordan had a great time and he hates crowds of people so that was surprising to us all.

Thanks to all of our amazing friends that have helped us before, during and after the event, we couldn't have done it without you. 

We raised enough money to complete the bathroom renos and have the bath lift installed and hopefully to repair the stairs and stairlift so that is 2 big things off our list. Still lots more but every bit helps.

Thank you to everyone you are all amazing and our family loves you to the moon and back.

FYI BX93 has a post about the event and I think that was so awesome, our total # in attendance was 256

2000 Views

YAY!! We have hit and surpassed the 2000 views for Jordan's blog. I am so happy this is reaching so many people. 

What started out as an outlet for me and a memoirs of sorts has now touched so many lives and for that I am very thankful.

2000 Views and 18 Countries!! Thank you Everyone!!

1 Week till Benefit

Well we are 1 week away from the spaghetti dinner and silent auction. I am so overwhelmed with emotion today. Jordan has had a very rough week and a half with being so sick it had him in bed for a week straight sleeping almost 20 hours per day.

I am happy to say he is on the mend and doing much better

I could list all of the sponsors and donations made to the benefit but it would take me days to type it all out. I will be posting a huge thank you to everyone and listing everyone in the following week of the benefit. I can say from my family to all of yours, THANK YOU!! We have felt the warmth of the whole community come together to support us with this adventure for Jordan. We couldn't be happier. THANK YOU doesn't seem to be enough but some way some how I will find a way to repay each and every one of you.

Thoughts and Prayers to a very special friend that will be having a GREAT FRIDAY tomorrow and not just a Good Friday as she is heading into a Kidney Transplant. Keeping our positive thoughts and prayers coming your way!!

Support means Everything!!

ok I have talked to several friends tonight, old and new and I wanted to share something with you all:

If you don't know how hard it was for Jay and I to ask for help then you don't know us very well. Call it pride, embarrassment or whatever you want. It was nearly impossible for either of us to conceive reaching out to friends and family to help with expenses to do with Jordan. 

With that said it has been brought to my attention without asking for help we would be putting Jordan's name on a very long list for a group home. A HOME.....I made a promise when he was born that I alone and nobody else would care for this child for his entire life as best I could and I would do anything to keep him at home with his brothers and sister. I wouldn't be able to safely care for him at home without new equipment, some renos to the house etc. It brings tears to my eyes to know so many of you have made it possible for me to keep this promise to Jordan and myself. I don't know any other words to say and I feel THANK YOU is not enough but without crying like a baby I am speechless. Thank you all from our whole family, I truly feel without this help we could not have done this, I just hope one day we can repay our community, family and friends ♥

Family Day Weekend

Well Jordan has been relatively good the last few weeks. He has not been eating or drinking very well but he has been very happy and full of smiles. We had a rough few days with some small seizures at home but all in all nothing that warranted a hospital visit. Been an interesting few weeks with all of the kids.  Jordan goes in for some more blood work to check his liver as always we have to keep a close eye on it with the high doses of Valproic Acid he is on (750mg twice per day and remember he is only 45lbs). I have a sneaky suspicion something is going on that is stopping from him eating and drinking as well as he usually does. Fingers crossed there is nothing going on. We really don’t want to tackle liver failure or failure to eat and drink on top of everything else he has going on right now.

We are now 7 weeks away from the spaghetti dinner and silent auction. I am so honored and humbled by all of the generosity of our friends, family and community. There has been a trust account set up for Jordan to help with any future equipment needs, renovations to the home, nursing care, van conversion etc. Thank you so much to TD Canada Trust for all their help setting this up. I don’t even want to fathom those expenses at this time as we have enough on our plates with the current immediate needs. I was informed this weekend that another event has been planned on behalf of Jordan and it is a concert event on June 9^th here in London. I am not planning this event it is being planned for us but I have been told details will follow and there is 3 local amazing bands that have signed on to do this benefit concert. I am excited!! As always our hearts are warmed by the generosity of others in our time of need and it really makes us speechless. 1000 Thanks go out to everyone involved.

Jordan’s blog is over 1600 views from 14 different Countries…let’s see if we can get over 2000 views before March 1^st J