Carpe Diem

Harold made the following post on the Alan's Angels group on Facebook today, but I thought it was worth repeating.

One of the people we met while in Houston this last time was a grandmother who had worked as a nurse in home health and hospice care. The thing she emphasized to us several times over was that the kids who lasted the longest, who had the best quality of life up until the end were those who kept living... ie. kept going out with friends and family, getting dirty with paint, and doing things kids do at their ages. Basically going full throttle until they physically could not any longer.

If you had asked me almost a month ago (the day Alan came home) about how long he had... I would have been hard pressed to imagine him still being with us now. Things were grim at the time, and I was not very hopeful. But almost a month later, he is still here, going to Sea World to see the penguins , watching the roller coasters, and drinking soda...and still wanting to go to Chuck E Cheese! The majority of his days have been good days, laughing and having fun!

And it is all because of you.

Without y'alls support, we would not have been able to concentrate on getting him out there to enjoy life while he can. I am convinced that without that time outside, being.. well... Alan, that he would be much farther down his road than he is right now. His life and our lives have been so much better due to your efforts and generosity.

We will not ever forget what you have done for us. Thank you is not a strong enough phrase.

I want to add that not only did Patricia work with kids in hospice, she has lost an infant grandson and has two granddaughters that are terminally ill. So she spoke to us from deep, personal experience. Because we were constantly at the hospital, we didn't get to know her very well, but when Alan's news spread around the RMH, she reached out to us, and we are forever grateful. Just as we are grateful to everyone who has made it possible for us to spend the maximum amount of time with Alan and the strength to get him out and enjoying life.

Here is Alan enjoying some "Mommy Juice" (AKA diet Coke) at SeaWorld yesterday. We forgot his Sponge Bob hat at home so he got a SeaWorld "2012" hat - more numbers! We can not say "Thank you" enough to everyone who makes moments like this possible.