Fifteen years ago today, my life changed forever. My beautiful daughter Cailyn was born and I finally became a Mom… someone I had wanted to be since I was 5 years old. In hindsight, the exceptionality of my pregnancy might have been foreshadowing for what has certainly been an exceptional 15 years. The last 6 weeks […]
September is a special month in our lives. It is the month in which Cailyn was born and it is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! Some general statistics about Childhood Cancer (from childcan.com and coasttocoastagainstcancer.org): 1. In Canada, 1700 children and youth between the ages of birth and 19 years of age are diagnosed with cancer each year; 2. […]
Today I’m thinking about “cake”. Cake comes in many shapes, sizes and delicious flavours and, although it can be eaten anytime, is often considered an important part of a celebration. This week-end, we had a family gathering to celebrate two birthdays… my brother Michael’s and my daughter Cailyn’s. Since there were two different people to celebrate, there were […]
The girls started school yesterday and I think the balance of emotions was more positive than negative! They were definitely looking forward to seeing their friends but they were both a little anxious. I think this had a lot to do with “the unknown”. The unknown is always a little uncomfortable, especially when it brings work, projects, tests and marks!! We have […]
BACK to SCHOOL!!! Well… it’s that time of year. “Back-to-school” brings a number of tasks and almost as many emotions. Where I’m concerned, my exponentially expanding to-do list is warring against my appreciation for this precious time I have with my girls… I cherish these moments that aren’t chopped into snippets of time between school, activities, and homework. Each summer provides reminders that the […]
We’re back from Family Camp at Camp Trillium. It was the parents’ turn to experience the wonder found there! At Family Camp, unlike Res camp, all activities are optional – families can participate to the degree they wish. The activities that are planned provide both the opportunity to laugh and, more importantly, to connect with others through fun. Sharing in […]
Today is the 12th anniversary of Cailyn’s diagnosis! I’m still realizing what it means for us to have heard the words, “your daughter has a brain-stem tumour”. Navigating uncharted waters, trying to remain hopeful when there are more questions than answers, has easily been my most daunting and exhausting challenge. We have been flung […]
I had the opportunity last week to speak to a group of Masters students on leadership. After I spoke with their professor about her expectations, I was inspired to talk about the idea of “stepping up”. As a student, you learn many things. One of the life lessons you learn when you transition to the “real world” […]
The long week-end is officially over and half the grains of sand in summer’s hour glass have passed. The week-end started with a bang and ended with a whimper. Lauryn and Delaney, her beach volleyball partner competed in their first beach provincial championships on Saturday. It was a rocky start… Lauryn had slept very poorly on Friday […]
I had my MRI yesterday and am very happy to know that my tumour is still stable. I actually asked the doctor if he was sure it hadn’t gotten smaller… and he quickly assured me, “No”. At least I tried! Walking along the corridors of the hospital where I had Gamma Knife radiation a few […]