What an amazing day and what a very special surprise!!!!!!

Remember when I did this post?  Where I wrote a poem about the journey we've had with Bianca?  Remember that one? 

Today at the Funrazor Paul gave me the best and most special surprise ever.  He actually went and put music to my poem.  He performed it at the start of our event!  I absolutely love how it came out!  It is definitely one of my favourites.  Click here to listen to our song (my words, Paul's music and vocals).

Wow!  I was completely and totally blown away. Thank you Paul, it was an incredibly special thing you did!!!

I must admit that last night I felt really stressed.  As I sat there finishing the last few things I kept thinking "what was I thinking?  What do I know about putting together events like these..."

And this morning I kept hoping that there was nothing major I forgot about, but as it turned out, I didn't have to worry.  I had an amazing team on my side who all jumped in and helped.

I remember that recently I was so worried nobody would be there to watch it all happening and I didn't have to worry....

 Bianca did a speech and I was really impressed with the way she delivered it.

And then it was time for the big shave:

Don't you just love Catherine's expression?  Catherine is a fellow child cancer parent and we used to catch up in the corridors when both our kids were stuck in hospital.

One of the things I did was really effective.  I had 2 display boards and I put 4 kids' photos and stories on these boards.  And many people looked at the photos and read the stories.  For me it was important to show people what child cancer is all about.  Make it more real. 

Organising the Funrazor event was everything I thought and hoped it would be.  It was incredibly full on.  One of the biggest things I've ever done.  It didn't start off big, but it kept growing and growing.  It was also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.  Knowing that I was able to do something and give a little bit back to say thank you to the Child Cancer Foundation for everything they have done for us.  When I started this I really wanted this to be a community event.  Not just my event.  And it was.  Way more than I ever imagined.  People who joined me today shaving their hair, people who sprayed their hair, people who turned up to watch and support, people who donated to CCF.  All the companies and people who helped me make today a success.  I am absolutely blown away by it all.  How will I ever be able to say thank you?

And now some more photos:

 

 

 

Amazing support

Yesterday, I have to be honest, I felt really stressed.  Not about the Funrazor event itself because we have most things organised, but whether there will actually be other people there on the day (and I lost my number for Rent a Crowd...).

It is silly really because we'll be right in the middle of a busy shopping centre, at a time when lots of people will be out and about...  But suddenly I had these visions of the 4 of us (Mike Begbie, Matt Carlin, Terence and me) sitting there ready to get our hair shaved, Paul and his singing group ready to entertain and Daizy Design Facepainters all ready to paint and not a single person in sight.  You know when you see these movies and they show this ghost town with the tumbleweed rolling down the street and you can hear the wind howling around the corners of old buildings?  That was the image that kept popping up in my mind.  And I hate failure.  Like in big time.

Two things are really my downfall - one is that I let my ideas grow too big.  I can't just do something simple and small like normal people, and after our hospital visit I thought to myself "okay, that's it - I did my bit and I (hopefully) made a difference and that was my good deed for the year", but now?  Now I'm back onto the next project. A big one this time!  The other downfall is my fear of failure. It is what often holds me back taking chances, and when I do take a chance, then this fear drives me insane.  It makes me over-analyse the situation, question myself over and over whether it will work out.  And of course throw my perfectionism into the mix and I end up driving myself beyond the perfectly okay "it is good enough".  For me it has to be perfect!

Am I sorry that I took on this big project?  No. Supporting the Child Cancer Foundation is something I feel incredibly strong about.  The Child Cancer Foundation became family when we suddenly found ourselves on a completely lonely and difficult journey.  All our family are based overseas and nothing can ever prepare you to hear the words "your child has cancer".  It is the one time in life you really wish not to be picked for the team.  But we were picked.  And in an instant our lives changed.  Liked it or not, this was to become our new life. And if it was not for the support of the Child Cancer Foundation, I have no idea how we would have coped.  So I feel really strongly about giving something back.

I am simply amazed at the amount of support we have received for this event so far.  I feel incredibly blessed to know that there are so many who are trying to help make this a success.  To help make a difference.  There is Sarah who is helping me put this event together.  There are our friends Matt and Mike who will also be shaving their hair along with Terence and myself.  Both of them have been running around helping me organise spot prizes.  There is Coastlands for letting us use space at the mall.  Rodney Wayne will help us on the day.  There is Paul who kindly offered to bring his guitar and is even trying to organise some of his students to join him.  There is Paul's offer to donate $5 for every book / CD sold.  There is Daizy Design Facepainting who will paint faces with all money raised donated to CCF.  Gingersnaps Photography will be there to capture our day.  And for every person who sponsored Mike, Matt and myself on our fundraising pages.  And then all these companies who donated prizes to our event. 

 

There are still prizes coming in that have been promised and that we are waiting to arrive.  We're not quite there yet with the arrangements, but wow, I just feel so incredibly blessed!  The support is simply amazing!  Thank you!

A special offer

Yesterday I picked up Bianca's cold.  She's had a cough for a few days now and finally I caught it (I really need to teach her that sometimes sharing is not really caring...  I mean if it was chocolate she was sharing, then sure, but a cold... not so much!)  So today I'm just taking it easy and actually just need to update my to do list so I can feel a bit more organised.

Yesterday afternoon I managed to secure the hair salon.  Rodney Wayne at Coastlands Mall has kindly agreed to help us out. 

Yesterday also Paul kindly offered to become involved with the Funrazor event.  He (and hopefully a few of his students) will be there performing some of his songs.  So that is entertainment sorted.  Now if I can sort the crowds, I would feel much more confident... 

Paul has also made another very kind offer.  For every copy of his book / cd "You're not eating me" that he will be selling, he will donate $5 to CCF.  So this is your chance to not only contribute to a great cause, but it is a chance for you to buy an affordable present for a lucky someone this Christmas!  Let me tell you about this book.  It was written by Paul Forster and beautifully illustrated by one of the students at Waikanae School - Chelsea Osborne.  I tell you, the detail she has put in these illustrations are amazing!  This is one of Bianca and Caitlyn's favourite stories right now.  And they simply love the songs on the CD that is included with the book.

Here are some photos showing a few of the pages of the "You're not eating me" book.

On the CD there are 13 songs including the title track "You're not eating me".  This is the same song Paul recently performed during our hospital visit.

Tracks on the CD:

• You're not eating me (click to listen to a snippet)
• Chasing Rainbows
• Back to nature trip (click to listen to a snippet)
• School year starts
• Run with the wind
• Day off school
• Innocent creatures
• Vigour of youth (click to listen to a snippet)
• School age friendship
• Haven't done nothing (click to listen to a snippet)
• Battle of life (click to listen to a snippet)
• Summer holidays
• Seems only yesterday

To buy a copy of this delightful and beautiful picture book along with a CD of songs, you can email Paul directly at jo.paulf@paradise.net.nz.

Things that go bump in the night and a confirmation!

I had a look this morning and I think we'll need to get a few more swan plants.  I think there are just too many eggs for our little plants and I don't fancy squashing any... (to see pictures of our special visitor, click here).

We woke up last night (or early this morning I should say) at around 2:40am.  Yes, that's am and not pm...  Not a good time for any person to wake up...  We heard a noise.  Like the cats got onto the counter and bumped a bunch of things off or something, so Terence insisted that I got up to sort it out (sure, send your wife out to go sort out weird noises in the night...).  Switched on the living room light and both cats were sitting up on the couch. Nothing seemed out of place and I thought maybe they just chased each other around a bit.  As I was about to switch off the light again, I heard a noise coming from the laundry area and I rushed to go see what it was (very brave of me considering I didn't know what or who it might have been and I certainly didn't grab anything I could possibly use to defend myself against whatever was making the noise).  Turned out it was a big black and white cat that came in through the cat door.  Now whether he (or she) was high on catnip and got the wrong house on his way back from a night out, or whether he wanted to just pay our cats a visit (because really who needs sleep?), who knows?  But it got a massive fright when it saw me and tried to get back out except somebody (a little somebody named Bianca it turned out...) thought she was being helpful and locked the cat door so the cats could come in, but not back out (in the hope they won't bring in mice from outside).  Finally managed to get the cat to go out again and then it was back to sleep.  Too much excitement for that time of the night!!!

It is now confirmed, the Kapiti Funrazor event will take place on Sunday 20 November (I will confirm the actual start and finish time), but it is happening!  No turning back now!  And we have a great spot.  We'll be in the middle section of Coastlands Mall, so if you come through the entrance by Countdown, that's where you will see us!  And if you live in the area, I will expect to see you there!

I would love it if you could join me and get a haircut that will make a real difference.  You don't have to go all size zero, you can do size 2 even if it would make you feel better.  But if not, there will be other ways for you to make a donation and contribute.

So far we have some pretty cool spot prizes.  If you have some great ideas for other spot prizes and feel like donating some to me, make sure you email me at Leawhite2109@gmail.com.  The one prize in particular - a big block mounted signed poster of the Vodafone Wellington Lions rugby team kindly donated by the Wellington Rugby Football Union, I'll need to think about the best way to use this one.  It is a bit too big for a spot prize, so we might be looking at doing a raffle or something.

Sorry, my photography doesn't really do it justice:

Then right now I also have some pizza discount vouchers and meat vouchers and waiting for a few more items.  So your donation on the day at my event, might very well make you a winner....

Bianca will also put her public speaking hat on - come and listen to Bianca making her speech at our event and come check out her beads.  Bianca would love to share them with you!

A very special visitor!

Thank you Sam and Sarah for your sponsorship.  Much appreciated!  If you would like to sponsor me, you can do it here.

Am starting to feel really excited about the upcoming event.  So far I am getting some amazing support from local businesses and we will have a number of exciting spot prizes!  One in particular which I should have (hopefully by tomorrow) I might have to look at auctioning off rather, so something I will be thinking about...

This afternoon Bianca and I saw a beautiful Monarch Butterfly visiting our new swan plants.  So cool!  It reminded me of when I did this blog entry way back in 2009 (click here to read).

It was amazing to watch this butterfly as she laid her eggs.  And the kids are extremely excited too.  Caitlyn has already decided what she will name her caterpillars (I hope her daycare friends and teachers will be pleased that the caterpillars will be named after them...).
 

 

I tried to take photos of the butterfly as it was flying around, but you don't quite realise just how fast they are. 

As you can see, I'm not a very good action shot photographer...

Making a start

This coming week I will finalise the date for the Kapiti Funrazor event.  I am hoping to have it on Saturday 10 December, but will confirm really soon!  And if you are in the Kapiti area I want to see you there on that day!!!! 

Did you know:

More than three children on average per week in New Zealand are diagnosed with cancer. Each year New Zealand children with cancer collectively undergo an astounding 75,000 treatments and procedures throughout their journey. For each one they receive a Bead of Courage… The Child Cancer Foundation is committed to supporting children with cancer and their families from the time of diagnosis, throughout their journey of treatments and subsequently the transition back into the community.

By shaving your lid for a brave kid, you'll be helping to raise the $3 million required each year for child and family support services.

At this stage, this is how you can help:

• Register here to shave your hair in support of brave kids like Bianca.  You will then get an email with instructions on how to register your fundraising page.  
• Sponsor me.  You can sponsor me online using a secure system (click here for my fundraising page).  Now, even if you are in another country, you are still able to sponsor me!  The site is in NZ$, so to work out in your local currency, click here.  Every little bit will make a big difference!
• If you would like to get involved with my event, please email me at Leawhite2109@gmail.com.  Especially if you have some contacts who could help organise some spot prizes or if you are able to offer your time and help with some form of entertainment during the event, maybe you can help take before and after photos of the participants or maybe you are good at helping to set up or shaking a bucket - you know, those sort of things...

Summary of Bianca's journey:

• Diagnosed beginning June 2007 2 weeks before turning 4
• Endured 830 days of treatment
• Collected more than 1,300 Beads of Courage
• 652 days of chemo (IV, sub-cut, injections into the muscle, tablets, spine)
• 142 Finger pricks, port accesses and injections
• 47 Blood Product transfusions (Red Blood, Platelets, IVIG)
• 43 Clinic Visits
• 4 NG Tube insertions
• 4 Times where Bianca lost her hair or it thinned significantly
• 20 Lumbar Punctures
• 73 Different tests such as x-rays, CT Scan, Ultrasound, Echo, nose swabs, etc
• 117 Days spent in hospital. All of these were for various infections
• 112 days where Bianca was isolated, had a fever or was neutropenic
• 1 Surgery to insert a port
• 1 Port insertion
• 16 Dressing changes
• 45 Days of IV Antibiotics (I probably missed some days)
• 4 Bone Marrow aspirates
• 41 Unusual things happened during treatment such as being on oxygen
• Bianca developed a severe allergic reaction to one of her chemo injections
• Bianca had a severe bronchospasm requiring immediate assistance
• Bianca had kidney stones
• Bianca had shingles 3 times
• Bianca was diagnosed with panhypogammaglobulinaemia

Please support brave kids like Bianca.  Every little bit will make a big difference.  Help me reach my goal!

And it's happening...

I have managed to secure a venue for the Funrazor event.  No date yet (working on that), but we have a venue!!!  Thank you so very much to Coastlands Shopping Centre who is willing to let us use their space!  Now let the planning begin.  And spread the word because I need others to participate on this day!