Thursday, March 13, 2008

Firstly, THANK YOU to everyone who signed the blog, it's nice to know once and awhile who is stopping by. Speaking of that, I have added something new to the blog. On the left hand side, if you would like to get an email anytime this blog is updated, just enter your email in the box. Follow along, you will be sent an email that you have to confirm before you are actually signed up, but from then on, every time I update the blog, you will be sent an email letting you know. I thought this would be pretty handy, so that you will be notified when it's updated, rather than having to check. Now-if you check here almost every day anyway (MOM and DAD), probably best not to sign up so that you don't get a bunch of emails everyday. I'm not absolutely sure it's working properly yet. I tested it, but it took 24 hours for me to get an email after I updated the blog. That seems like a long time. I'm still tweaking it, but go ahead and sign up if you are interested.

NOW FOR THE REALLY FUN NEWS!!!

Hannah has been approved for a wish from the Make A Wish Foundation! This has actually been in the works for quite some time. I'll give you a quick history. When we first started at Schneider Children's Hospital, Hannah's social worker submitted her to Make A Wish (MAW). I wasn't aware of this. When MAW called and left a message at our house, I didn't call them back. I thought MAW was for kids with terminal diseases, a last dying wish for the child. I didn't want that to be us. They called again, and when I actually talked to them, they explained that MAW works with any child with a life threatening illness, regardless of the prognosis for the child. This made me feel a little bit better, but not much. That meant Hannah was still "the child with the life threatening illness." Talk about humbling. Anyway, getting off the subject.

So, Hannah started to think about what she would like for her wish. At one point she started a list that included a horse, a puppy, a hamster, a trip, a pool, a barn, and the front runner-a sleepover room. This sleepover room was her number one choice for quite a while, but involved us adding onto the house, which is something we would have had to do ourselves, then MAW would come in and set up the room for her. This would be a room where she could have friends over for sleepovers, and playtime, and FUN! Something she didn't have much of in the last year. It just wasn't possible right now, so Hannah thought and thought about it. She decided that she would like a pool/hot tub so that she could use the pool in the summer and the hot tub in the winter. She loves to swim!

We met with MAW people, and they have approved Hannah's request for a pool! Everyone at MAW is so friendly and helpful. They really go out of their way to make this special for the MAW child. They put us in touch this week with the pool company that does all of the MAW pools in our area. They only use one specific pool, so the pool with attached hot tub is not possible, but maybe sometime in the future we can get a hot tub so that she can enjoy it in the cold weather also. Hannah will have some choices in size and liner color. We hope to meet with the pool company this weekend, or next week and get things moving. They said we should be using our pool by May!

Hannah is so excited. It's great to have this to look forward to and we are so thankful to MAW for helping a dream come true for Hannah. I am learning going through this process that MAW is just as much about giving control to the child as it is about the wish itself. There is so much in her life that Hannah can't control. MAW makes her feel like she can control this totally. Imagine your child so sick from chemo or surgery or radiation, then MAW comes in to ask "if you could have anything, what would it be? We can make it happen for you. We can give you any wish you want." It just brightens the moment, gives the children something to look forward to, and it's all up to THEM. This is HER wish, and what SHE wants and MAW Foundation puts her in the drivers seat. We want to try and give her as much control as possible in the whole process, it helps build her self confidence again. We'll keep you updated on the progress!

xo Kim