Day +462: Summer Fun

It's day +462 for Max and he has been doing great! We have been so enjoying life for a while now that I haven't taken the time to update in almost 20 days! We have been busy having fun so, I thought I'd share some of it with all of you.

We enjoyed a great Father's Day together with our families, celebrating all the fabulous dad's we have in the Meyer and Sherwin clans. My mom, dad, Matt's mom and I all went down to the hospital that morning to serve a delicious lunch to all the dad's on A5 from Max's Meals. Matt's cousin, Leah and her friend, Sierra have just opened a new catering business and restaurant so, we had them cater the lunch and they did a fantastic job. It turns out that there is quite a story and connection to A5 for them too that I was totally unaware of when we set up the meal. Sierra's sister was treated at Children's for cancer and unfortunately lost her battle just over a year ago. Sierra has always wanted to provide food to the families on the floor but wasn't sure how to get started. I think the experience was somewhat healing for she and her family. We are definitely planning to work together on more meals in the future.

As always, the lunch was very much appreciated and eaten up! The Child Life worker that has been helping us the past few meals said to me as we were leaving that the meals were so much more than food to the inpatient families. We have really come to see how much hope that we represent to those parents (and even some kids) that are currently stuck on A5, fighting their battles. I think seeing us and hearing Max's miraculous success story, in combination with eating some yummy and nutritous food, does a world of good to lift spirits on the floor...and that's exactly what we are hoping for!

Later that day, our families presented Matt and I with a very special gift in honor of Father's Day and my birthday. They had created a memory quilt for us and filled the squares with all kinds of personal thoughts about Max's BMT journey. It is such an amazing and unique gift. We have all loved looking at it time and time again and reliving many of the moments that we have shared along the way. I can't wait to show it off to everyone that visits! It is a true family treasure!

We have spent the last couple of weeks catching up on fun, again! Max got to spend some time with some good friends from school that he hasn't seen much of in the past 18 months. He and Alex played with their good buddies Jon & Tim one day and with their buddy Cam again. They have really enjoyed just hanging out with friends again and doing things they used to love doing with them. They can be found out in the neighborhood just about every evening, holding a full baseball game on our front lawn. Matt is almost always involved as well, if he is not traveling. It has become a summertime staple and we are all enjoying it immensely!

We also tried out swimming again in our neighbors pool last week. We used ear plugs and washed Max's ears out with a special solution that his ENT recommended after he was finished. So far, so good. He complained of a bit of ear pain last Friday night and we got worried -- but, it passed without issue, thank goodness! Max has totally enjoyed swimming again and Alex and Ellee have been loving it too. Alex is taking some private lessons right now too as he missed out on a critical year of learning last year and, as a result, was a little scared of the water. He is making great progress and has been scooting around on his own in the pool the last few times where he can reach (under my super watchful eye, of course) and enjoying it more and more every time. We are really looking forward to our family vacation with all the Meyer's in Hilton Head in just about 10 days! I'm sure we will all do tons of swimming there!!

We fit a trip to the Reds game in as well last week! The boys loved the game, as usual and learned about "rally-caps" as Joey Votto hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie up the game! It was very exciting. It was Ellee's first trip to a game since we went last July with Make A Wish and she enjoyed it too - mostly the eating part but, she was cheering and dancing as well! It was another wonderful summer-fun night!

Last Friday evening we had our dear friends, the Merks over for a cookout. As you will probably remember, we met the Merks while in the BMT unit with Max as they were there with their 4-year old son Tony, battling meduloblastoma (cancer of the brain and spine). As I told you in my last update, Tony's cancer has returned and they are again engrossed in a battle for his young life. Despite this struggle, we all enjoyed a great time together. It was the first time that we have all been able to be together since we met and the kids really enjoyed each other. They have three other boys, Alex, Ben and Max (crazy coincidence with the names, huh?!?) who are between 16 and 10 and our Max and Alex really thought they were cool. Our boys also loved getting to know Tony who they have heard so much about from Matt and I. Ellee and Tony hit it off as they share a love of books and had a ball together giggling away on the trampoline. It was so nice to just be able to take an evening and enjoy life together with the Merks like that. We are all on the same page, so to say, given our shared experiences. Although Max and Tony's diagnoses are different and their treatment paths have been very different, we have all experienced the same life lessons along our journeys. It's hard to understand this journey without having experienced it yourselves so, it is so wonderful when you have friends that have "been there and done that" too. It's just a bond that you can't find easily otherwise. We feel like the Merks are part of our family and we are breathing heavily with all of them right now as Tony faces his current battle. We pray everyday for all of them and think about them constantly. We hope to spend many more evenings like last Friday with all of them in the future.

As our journey continues and we experience more and more fun along the way, we are constantly reminded of our many, many blessings. There isn't a moment throughout our days that we do not think of the families that we have grown to love and care for that have not been able to experience the miraculous healing that we have seen with Max. The Akins, the Alfreds, the Martins, the Sneads, the Bradleys and the Merks are constantly on our minds. Their children's struggles and their family's tough journeys have taught us how important it is to cherish every moment. No one knows what the future holds - all we can do is make the most of today, enjoying every minute with those that are dear to us and doing our best to share love with everyone we meet. On that note, I came across a quote from Mother Teresa recently that I wanted to share with all of you - it has definitely become my mantra:

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.

More soon...

Peace and love,
Kristi (and Matt, Max, Alex, Ellee and Spud)