Silent Auction

Well hello, I now have some time to fill you all in on the Silent Auction.

The Silent Auction was a tad crazy, as we had no idea what to expect. The Auction itself was the idea of our Cousin Lisa, who put a Herculean effort into collecting, labelling, photographing organizing donations. Lisa traveled all over the place collecting donations no matter how big or small they were. She was an impassioned woman bent on making "A Wish for Taylor" a success! So much time and love was put into Lisa's Silent Auction it was bound to be successful! Lisa also nailed down the venue at Flow, who was a complete dream to work with! Yeah Flow you all were so amazing as was Charlene who went out of her way to make the day a success!!!! Behind the scenes Lisa also had helpers doing a variety of things...from Asia making "A Wish for Taylor" shirts, to purchasing Henna for "Henna for Hope", Kristen for making a million tiny little gold ribbons for cancer awareness at the silent auction, Jeanne for the most gorgeous Angel wings and Halo's for all the helpers....as well as some extremely happy little girls! Auntie Sharon for doing all the paperwork, Amanda for acting as Master of Ceremonies and giving us all an amazing speech at the Auction to thank all volunteers, especially Lisa!

For our Auction "overseer" we had Eva! Anyone who knows Eva can understand what an amazing facilitator she can be to help get things into the proper places! Eva quickly organized an "Enbridge" work crew in addition to our family & friend helpers. The Enbridge Crew was amazing at helping to make sure we got Flow organized....thanks so much to Cheryl and Nga (Cousin Amanda's co-worker who generously also donated both money and her time, even with having a son who had come to visit her that weekend, she still made the time to come and help!) as well as my bestie Wendy and her daughter Angel for fulfilling my "idea" (always have lots of those.LOL) to attach balloons to the various stuffies Aaryanna had brought to sell at the Auction (and she did pretty darn good...thanks to the generous buying of everyone there, including one of the owners of Flow who bought two for a very generous donation!), so we had beautiful balloon/stuffie decorations throughout Flow!

The Xerox print shop that Enbridge uses also generously printed off some pictures of taylor to hang throughout Flow as well as some beautiful heart shaped photo's for all the volunteers to wear.Thank-you, Thank-You! Kelly from Enbridge was Eva's side-kick who the day before spent hours in co-ordinating all the donations Lisa collected with the bid sheets, etc as well as cataloguing them as the sheet Lisa had created went missing.The bids were then colour co-ordinated so that they would be pulled on times to avoid a rush at the end. We had sooo many helpers, I really just cannot thank or detail all they did, so I hope they can forgive me. Rod and Michelle came after spending an exhausting weekend with a dear and close friend who had lost her five year old daughter, Rayanna, the year before. Rayanna was a beautiful little girl, who last year was found to have a brain tumour...during the inserting of a shunt little Rayanna left us...I am sure you can all understand what an emotional weekend this was an how appreciative I am to Rod and Michelle for still coming and helping out even though they were physically and emotionally exhausted!

Cousins Felicia and Melissa came and helped with set up as well. Edwina was a great helper and spent some quality time entertaining Taylor...sharing fries and "dippy" (ketchup) as well as pop.LOL We were so blessed to have so many little helper bee's! My Cousin Jodi and her daughters Mikki and Maddy sold chocolate chip cookies (Taylor's Favourite) and some various candy for Taylor's fund as well. I am told the cookies were AMAZING! Thanks so much Jodi for putting in the time to make it a special occasion. Melanie Shockey also came out again for both Taylor's Dance Party and the Silent Auction to sell her beautiful barrettes to raise funds and awareness for Taylor. The United Way campaign also did an AMAZING job in helping raise even more funds for Taylor.

We were also blessed as my Cousin Amanda has a friend Kathy who contacted an entertainer, Wayne-o, who willingly and generously donated his time to give us entertainment. He brought along some other musicians and singers who did an OUTSTANDING job! I would definitely recommend these people if you wanted to hire some entertainers, absolutely fabulous music!

We raised a little over $6000! A Great success. Thanks to all that donated as well as came out to bid in our Silent Auction. Mindy and Landon have began the planning and booking of their Disneyland trip...3 days in Disney than the express train to San Diego for 3 days there to see Sea World and other sites. I will keep you posted and hopefully will be reporting on their trip very soon! We are hoping to lay low here awhile as these last few weeks have been exhausting with fundraisers, MRI's, and hospital visits. Hard to believe it has only really been a little over a month since this whirlwind began. We are awaiting the next MRI on the 23rd...I think we are in shock, not fully digesting things, but we still really need your HOPE, your wishes and your prayers! This is an ongoing battle, it is relentless, please continue to keep Taylor close to your hearts!

Taylor's Auntie Leah

Silent Auction

Okay this is a teaser to let you know I am too busy to tell you about the Silent Auction, but I will definitely be telling you all about it! Not sure if anyone got any pictures, which is unfortunate, but it was great! People were amazing and generous.....but you will just have to wait for the details! LOL

Leah....on Report Card duty!

Taylor's Dance Party!

Yesterday we had Taylor's Dance Party. It was a truly memorable event, filled with love, hope and joy. Natasha Taylor's "day-home provider"(which really does not encompass at all what Natasha is), after seeing the "Wish List" she figured she could hold a dance party for Taylor. Along for this magical journey her friends Tammy MacDonald, Cecilia Lee (from Stollery arranged the slurpee machine and Jumpy Castle), Jaime Isherwood-Caza (with McDonald's arranged all the food stuffs such as drinks, sliced apples, muffins, etc), Christy Rudy-Peters(got Mayfield School for our use as well as made lovely cupcakes...my favourite! LOL), DJ (donated his time and played some amazing tunes, even Lady Gaga who is Taylor's fav!), the Holtes(brought the mini winnies a.k.a tiny ponies!). Let me tell you this was an amazing event.

As we entered there were two children who greeted us. You could see signs on the building, streamers and balloons. As you entered, there was a wood cut out with a girl body and a boy body that kids could stand behind and stick their faces in the face cut out. Than as you moved into the gymnasium there were all sorts of lovely centres. You could enter a raffle to win some donated prizes (by "baba" as the kids call her. Natasha's Mom whom they get to call as a reward for being good.LOL). There was a easel with 3 pics of Taylor and lots of white space to write a message on as a keepsake, a jellybean container to guess how many jellybeans were in the jar, 50/50, and some balloons all made into various shapes....many little monkey's, which is what we call taylor!

There was a huge jumpy castle in one corner, face painting in another, cotton candy and popcorn machines, large tables full of goodies, of course a dance floor! There were tables at the back with some kids toys to play at, tables throughout all decorated with huge balloon centrepieces...just a whole ton of fun for everyone! The kids jumped, they danced and then at around 2:30 the mini winnies appeared with a wagon to take Taylor for a ride. Taylor was not happy about the wagon, but she did like the mini winnies! LOL She led them around for a bit. It was such an amazing day! Taylor just didn't stop the entire time she was there, she boogied, she jumped, got her hands painted, then painted Mindy and Landon's faces...that was lovely.LOL

Dance Party Extravaganza!

Hello,

So today we are having Taylor's private dance party (MIndy wanted to keep it small so that Taylor was not overwhelmed). It should be absolutely amazing. Natasha and her friend Christy I believe have organized it....with I am sure others! Thanks you ladies for your kindness in doing this for Taylor, I am sure she is going to have an absolute blast!

I will try and post some pics, etc later today! Have an amazing day. I hope to see many of you tomorrow at the Silent Auction!

Leah

It's Potty Time!

Well as of yesterday Taylor has been giving the potty a try.LOL She had her first pee on the potty at Natasha (Day home Extrodanaire) and then a poop at home last night! Apparently she had 2 pees at Grandpa's today and many, many false trips to the potty! LMAO Funny I am reporting such silly stuff.

So things are humming along like normal. Mindy returned to work on Monday, but then found out she needed a Doctor's note to return, so she actually didn't start back until Tuesday.LOL I know Mindy is happy to be back at work with some amazing people she works with. I can honestly say that the people of Enbridge have been so kind, so thoughtful, and sensitive. I really, and I mean really have NEVER heard of co-workers who band together to help in so many ways. It is truly an amazing thing to witness such kindness! THANK YOU ENBRIDGE!!!!! I know everyone is going to want to know what they have been doing, so I will share just a few, but trust me....they are so AMAZING! LOL First they have conducted their own fundraisers, opening their pockets to donate money, gift certificates, etc. Then we have co-workers like Melanie Shockey who got a group of her fellow staff to help her make hundreds of ribbon barrettes to sell and donate all proceeds to Taylor's Wish, as well we have had so many numerous donations for the Silent Auction happening this Sunday, a nice vacation Gift Certificate from the lovely Ms. Eva in case Mindy and Landon just need to get away, Volunteers to co-ordinate our Silent Auction (EVA) as well as volunteers to help. Mindy received an e-mail describing one woman's idea that she was concerned Mindy came back because she might have had to due to financial reasons, so this woman went to begin requesting to potentially have other Enbridge employees donate "days" so that Mindy would not suffer financially but be allowed to take time if she needed....trust me these people have endless things they have and do for Mindy and Landon. If you meet any of them, give them a huge hug or pat on the back! No wonder she wanted to get back to work.LOL

We are all busily planning for the upcoming Silent Auction Sunday November 7th from 2-8 at Flow. We have had help in acquiring some entertainment for the day, so it should be an amazing day! Hope to see you there,

Leah

Clarification

Hello,

I have been having some people question what is going on with all this "testing". Many know that Taylor has a rare for of Brain and Spinal Cancer. What this means is that it does not occur in huge frequency to large numbers of the population. This being said it also means that they don't know all that much about it, other than its "BAD". The life expectancy on this cancer is extremely short and generally speaking 5 years is generous. There is I believe only ONE doctor that "specializes" or knows that much about her form of cancer, Anaplastic Ependymoma. I am not discounting the Doctor's here as they have been fabulous and actively seek as many opinions from as many specialists that have dealt, deal with this cancer.

Taylor was always never thought to make her first year, but she did; however, this is not a perfect ending as the cancer was still there, still growing! The only "real" treatment form for this is surgery to remove tumours and then radiation. It was a miracle it was found when it was as she probably would have been dead within months with the tumour she was BORN with. Nothing Mindy and Landon "did" caused this cancer...it just is one of those weird things in life. Taylor never received radiation her first year as it would have caused irreparable damage due to her age.

So when her first year went past...MRI's every 3 months, we prayed, and hoped it would go away, that all the cancer was cut away in her first surgery at 6 days old, a year of chemotherapy every 2 weeks...these were terrible and beautiful months, but trust me I could tell you all the horrors, stress, fear that we had. Then we got her MRI that is always anniversary to her birth when she was one...tumours were back! Devastation...Mindy and Landon were left with sooo many horrible choices, another surgery, radiation and work. Surgery could always cause damage, they never wanted to give Taylor a life where she was not going to be able to "live" like a child just because of their own wanting of her to live, a horrible choice for a parent. Luckily Dr.Pugh is an AMAZING and HOT surgeon who did such an amazing job, he even used plastic surgeon stitches that nurses commented on as they are extremely uncommon, especially the intricate way he insured that it would be a "beautiful" scar (yes I say beautiful). Next was Radiation, what would happen, would it cause severe retardation, what? Again on a wing a prayer they went with it as they consulted all the AMAZING doctor's who assured that it would not cause "serious" problems for Taylor's quality of life. Now work...well it is really hard to look after a BABY who has such severe needs in care and work, someone needed to stay home. Landon after having to miss most of that first year as he worked out of town and would have to continue to, decided that Taylor might not have a very long life and he wanted to make sure he spent some time with her....This was hard, it is hard to go from a double income to a single income with all the costs associated with a child who has cancer. Yes some money is reimbursed for some medical costs, but a lot is not, especially any incidentals of the parent caring for the child...radiation for 33 days straight...and then recovery time from radiation another month and a half.

So now we are in year two...we had 6 good months, but guess what...the cancer came back. The MRI from the beginning of October showed Tumours...they were shown to Mindy and Landon! The meeting it was decided that Taylor would undergo radiation again for 33 days straight. Within the week as Mindy scrambled around getting all necessary prep for Taylor to undergo radiation, surgery for the PIC line, PIC line infected, I got a text from Mindy at work(to me) and it was "Claire just called...her voice was shaky, said "life's not fair" we need to have a meeting tomorrow, its not good" Mindy was in the Costco parking lot trying to hold it together, not to break down. I told Mindy to wait I would be there! Of all things I was reading fairytales with my Reading 7/8/9 class. My principal, just by the grace of God came by to ask me something. I showed him the text, he kindly told me to go and he would look after my class, to take whatever time I needed. So this was tragic on a whole different level. We already were dealing with the devastation the cancer was back, now it was "worse" how could that possibly be?

The MRI was looked at by 4 different radiologists as Dr.Patel, the amazing radiation oncologist, just was not having the MRI sit right with him. It was so important that they get a good diagnosis. It didn't look good. Mindy and Landon were told, I was there, that they needed to basically decide whether they wanted to bother with any treatment options as Taylor's prognosis was now fatal...they had hoped that the radiation they were planning might give her another year or two, but they now with new analysis felt that just was not going to happen. Radiation would only lessen her quality of life for the short time they predicted she would have. You see, Taylor's cancer grows faster with every recurrence...6 good months the last time, could mean a much shorter time!

Dr.Patel however said he was still going to have one more radiologist look at the MRI. This radiologist said he felt the MRI was "inconclusive" and that another one was needed. So Taylor underwent another MRI on Oct.20th. This MRI had some bizarre results that some are misinterpreting, as Doctor's were baffled as it did not show the same results, so therefore the next move was the Spinal tap or LP to see if there was cancer cells disseminated throughout her spine. We just got those and they showed it clear. So people want to know what that means. But it does not mean that either necessairily, as it is all dependent on a small sample of the spinal fluid which may or may not have captured a representative sample of the fluid. I hope you are seeing how this is the worst nightmare as there are NO answers. We now have to wait the next MRI on Nov.23rd to see if we can see Tumour growth, etc...the cancer may still be there, maybe its not as bad as the death forecast, maybe it is...we don't know, the doctor's don't know. There just are no answers. The doctors have said, time and again, that this cancer just is not one they can predict.

So saying all this I hope you can see that although we celebrate these "good" results as victories, we still have had and will have MRI's every 3 months, that we will be completely distressed, every 3 months. Sometimes we get a 6 month reprieve when they can't see the cancer, but her having all the recurrences that she has had, her long term outlook is bleak in medical terms. Does that mean I don't HOPE for a miracle? NO Cancer does go into remission, but it takes a solid 5 years cancer free to really make any statements on NOT having cancer.

SO if you have ANY questions regarding this DO NOT ASK MINDY OR LANDON! Ask me! I think they have enough stress than to have to field questions about this stuff! I know how amazing the support we have been blessed to receive is, but honestly those questions take away their energy that they need for Taylor. Please understand how horrible this has been and continues to be...the not knowing, the fear, the anguish. I am saying this because as much as people mean well these questions are being asked of them and I think its only fair that they be redirected so that this is not another stress on their lives. I appreciate your consideration. I know what is happening so I can answer any of your questions regarding this or can get you the answer!

Taylor's Auntie Leah

Thank you Thank you!!!!!!

The results are in and the Spinal Tap or LP came back CLEAR!!!!! OMFG I don't think I can express the joy I am feeling...yes, I am crying, crying!!! Feel like I have won something today! Your prayers, hopes and wishes have worked! Love you all!!!!