Bon anniversaire, Ben! + update

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, BENJAMIN !!

(May 20th, 1999)

Today, Ben is at home celebrating his 9th birthday. He went to school for one hour to see his classmates. He is very tired and has trouble sleeping but he is in good spirits; of course; it’s his birthday!!

He wants to go to a restaurant for supper and wants to play with his Indiana Jones lego set. It should be a fun day despite him being very tired and experiencing back pain.

Tomorrow he goes to the hospital for another bone marrow biopsy, more chemo and a few more shots. Not a fun way of spending the day after his birthday but that’s life.

He is having fun as we went to the aquarium yesterday. He likes playing his Wii and watching me lose. Ben has been working on our garden and so far we have planted corn, radishes, beets, lettuce, carrots, onions, cantaloupes, zucchinis, cucumbers, cilantro, eggplants, peas and beans. He loves it.

Ben at school this morning. / Ben à l’école ce matin

UPDATE

Ben’s results from the bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday, May 21st showed NO leukemia cells. He is considered to be in remission at this point. Now the trick is to keep him in remission until mid July, when he will have his stem cell transplant. Again, a very big THANK YOU to Shiela (his oncologist), Lucy (who does his biopsies) and Suzanne (his primary nurse) for doing such a wonderful job in taking care of our Benjamin.

On a sad note:

Spencer Dolling, after a long battle with Neuroblastoma, passed away yesterday. We spoke to him and his parents, Tracy and Steve, often in the cancer clinic and on 3B.

Spencer was an amazing little guy and we were so lucky to have known him. Our deepest sympathies go out to Tracy, Steve and Foster and wish them much courage.