Our first birthday without Alan

Today will be our first birthday without Alan.

To remember him, we are having a fundraiser at his beloved Chuck E. Cheese. His favourite game is gone - it was moved to another store as part of a regular rotation of the attractions. We know which location it was moved to though, and the manager allowed me to put a picture of Alan in the inside of the game cabinet along with a few words about how much Alan loved the game. Hopefully they will let us know when it moves again. But we will be there for his birthday, with lots of cake to welcome all our friends who come remember Alan and to help us fight childhood cancer in his memory.





To honor his five years of life, we have decided to give five gifts every year for his birthday in his memory. This year, the gifts are:

1. a donation to the Ronald McDonald House Houston to cover a family's stay for one week. RMH Houston was truly a home away from home for us after Alan's first relapse. We had many stays there while getting treatment at MD Anderson, sometimes lasting for months.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. a flock of 5 Wingman beads for Beads of Courage. If you were at Alan's visitation or service or seen pictures from those days, you may recall the incredible lengths of beads documenting Alan's battle with cancer. Alan earned approximately 1362 beads in his almost four years of cancer treatment. With the extra beads he was given by the nurses and Child Life for courage, travelling for his treatment, doing dog and music therapy, birthdays while in treatment, spending Christmas in the hospital and other special events like Beads in Space and Laughter is the Best Medicine, Alan's Beads of Courage were 98 feet long and weighed over 9 pounds.
   
   
   
   
   Thank you Michelle Kobell for these photos of Alan's Beads
   
   
3. to sponsor a song for another child with Songs of Love. They had produced a beautiful song for Alan when he was first diagnosed.
   
   
   Hear Alan's song
   
   
4. items and shipping for Shoe Box Christmas presents through Crown of Life, the church where Alan went to preschool, was baptized, and where we had his memorial service.
   
   
5. a donation to the Make-A-Wish® Central & South Texas chapter. Make A Wish made Alan's simple wish a really special day for our whole family. We want to help them make special days for other families too.