RIP Little Alex Preston

Hi guys

its with a very very sad heart that we say goodbye to Alex who succumbed to a brain tumour on Friday.

A bloody tragedy and our hearts are with Tanya and David and Alex's family as they try and come to terms with their very sad loss.

Heavy hearts

the simpsons

xox

A gorgeous poem

Hi guys

thanks to Margaret from Challenge who sent this through to me. Im not sure who wrote it...but its a ripper...

A pair of shoes

I am wearing a pair of shoes. They are ugly shoes. Uncomfortable shoes. I hate my shoes. Each day I wear them, and each day I wish i had another pair. Some days my shoes hurt so bad that i do not think I can take another step.

Yet, i continue to wear them. I get funny looks wearing these shoes. They are looks of sympathy. I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not theirs. They never talk about my shoes.

To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable. To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them. But, once you put them on, you can never take them off. I now realise that I am not the only one who wears these shoes. There are many pairs in this world.

Some people are like me and ache daily as they try and walk in them. Some have learned how to walk in them so they dont hurt quite as much. Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go by before they think about how much they hurt.

No one deserves to wear these shoes. Yet, because of these shoes, i am a stronger person. These shoes have given me the strength to face anything. They have made me who i am. I will forever walk in the shoes of a person who has a child with cancer.

Thanks margaret.

luv and hugs

the simpsons

xox

Kelli walks for her dad and Eli in the States

Hi Guys

i remember blogging a couple of days ago about Kelli who participated in a walk in the USA to remember her dad. She was so touched by Eli's story that she walked for him as well! I have attached the gorgeous email she sent pete and i a couple of days ago including some photos.

It bought tears to my eyes...good luck and have some tissues handy!

Pete and Jodie,

 

Hi, we have never met but I feel like I know you and little Eli. What an honor to walk for Eli, I know he and my father were looking down on me and carried me across the finish line. On October 18,2009 the Nike Womens Marathon raised 14 million dollars for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. It was an amazing experience.

 

I looked at your blog(Dannika sent me the link), it was amazing to me how "connected" we are. I loved the superman picture of Eli. When my father was in the hospital we called him Superman. He could barely speak and they came in to prepare him for his first of MANY transfusions and they asked him his name..a little whisper came out and he said "superman". Also, I was amazed that the Melon Garden fence was completed on September 13th. That was my fathers birthday and on September 13,2009 I had a memorial golf tournment in honor of my father and raised $1600.00 for LLS.

 

We lost my Dad on July 28,2008. He went to hospital on July 22, on July 26th we were told he had lymphoma and he lost his battle on the 28th. He had been sick at home for about 4 weeks before going to hospital but everytime he went to  the dr. said he had bronchitis and put him on more antibiotics. By the time they admitted him to hospital he had full blown CMV and was basiclly bleeding to death. I miss him everyday and joining Team in Training has helped me to do something productive with my anger. I was so mad at Cancer and knew I had to do something about it. I plan on doing many more marathons and raising money and awareness of this terrible disease.(this was my first marathon). My goal was 6 hours(I'm a walker), one hour for each day my Daddy was in hospital. My final time was 5:59:04.

 

I will be going today to put pictures on CD and will get them to you ASAP. Dannika is an amazing woman and I feel blessed to have met her on the plane.

 

God bless!

 

Kelli Zook

 

1) Golden Gate Bridge(my first time to San Francisco so I had to get a picture)

Me pointing to my name on the side of Nike Town(all 22,000 participants names were listed) and that is a bracelet with Eli's name on it that I'm wearing. 

 3) Team In Training inspirational dinner, night before marathon. There were 5,000 TNT participants there. It was AMAZING!!

 

4) Our moment of silence before we headed to the starting line at 6:30am. Before each training session we would have a moment of silence to "remember the reason". I must say that moment of silence was not so silent. We were all sobbing! It was a very bitter-sweet moment. We had all worked very hard to get there but it makes us sad to think why it is we have to keep raising more money and awareness.

5) Me at mile 16. I think I had just said something like "only 10 to go"In the picture at mile 16 you will notice a green ribbon above my heart, it has my Dad and Eli's name on it.
 

6) Me and the rest of my teammates from Portland, Oregon just before the start of the marathon.

7) Me with 2 of my teammates at the finish line

8) just a random picture on the course.
 




Thank for all you do for LLS and Childrens Charities. What an amazing thing you are doing. I have shared the link to Eli's blog with my teammates and I know many have visited it. 
  
Take care, 
  
Kelli

Wow...what a bloody ripper! Thanks so much to Kelli and all her team mates for undertaking such a massive walk! Well done to all of you - from all of us here in Australia!

Will try and attach some more pics over the next few days of Queenscliff...and i also have the most wonderful poem which was sent to me by Margaret from Challenge.

Enjoy your evening and well done again to Kelli and crew!

luv and hugs

the simpsons

xox

Cant believe how time has flown!

 Hi everyone

We have been absolutely flat out so its lovely to finally be able to sit down and write!

Its that time to remind people to give blood...how quickly 3 months flies! Once again, please find the time to donate blood if you can...not too much time taken out of your day to give...and the benefits are many...i guess i will continue to remind people...it would be nice to know how many of you out there have been inspired to give blood since eli passed away...

Our thoughts are continuing to be with families everywhere who are battling childhood cancer. There are a couple of families we know who are being seriously challenged at the moment...all we can say is that we feel your pain and are crying tears with you...always in our thoughts...xxxx

We got a gorgeous email last week from one of our really good mate's sister (Dannica) who is currently travelling in the US. She was talking to a girl she met on a flight (Kelli) who was travelling to San Fransisco to 'run for leukaemia'. Unfortunately Kelli recently lost her dad to the disease and was showing her support by running to raise funds. Dannica mentioned that she knew of Eli and his story with the end result being that Kelli was kind enough to run with not only her dad's name on her t-shirt but also Eli's! How awesome is THAT...Pete said that the little bugger made it to the states before he did! amazing and extremely humbling to think that melon was being thought about so far away...awesome. Will keep you posted, and hopefully add some photos of the run! 

Speaking of fundraising...the Angel Flight do that we visited late last month ended up raising a massive $8,880 or so! well done to margaret campbell and her gorgeous sisters and friends for a brilliant job well done! I know all at AngelFlight will be absolutely thrilled with the result!

Well done to all those who also donated money to the Light the Night event...without really undertaking 'active' fundraising other than selling some wonderful pens, we raised about $550 which is just terrific. Thanks to all those once again for your support and buying some pens...

The other charity that is dear to our hearts is Challenge - Supporting Kids with cancer...

I was recently involved with a bereaved 'mum's' retreat in torquay. Not really knowing what to expect but hoping to meet mums also in our position, it was exactly what was in order. The stories of both Samia and Rhonda were truly extraordinary and we had an absolutely fantastic time catching up and sharing our stories of grief and hopes for the future. This weekend just opened my eyes up to so much more and just re-iterated to us that we are not alone. Again, no one wants to be a member of this exclusive club, yet here we are with gold 'memberships' just trying to do the best we can. Thanks also to Margaret and the Challenge gang for putting on such a wonderful indulgent weekend. Absolutely amazing work you do...and to be honest...very timely and good for my soul.

The charity chooks also recently welcomed a new edition 'Cassidy Helena Walker'...gorgeous daughter to Leona (queen of chicken pies) and Andrew, and new sister to Wren and Jonah. Welcome to the little 'chicken'...

Leona and Andrew sent out a beautiful email before Cassidy was born and said that in lieu of presents, could people give $ in Eli's memory. So from the Simpsons to the Walkers...what a beautiful thought and i hope the sun continues to shine on you all...

well, thats about all the goss we have at the moment...i will try and get some photos up over the next couple of days which include a couple of pics from torquay, Team Melonhead trophies which made it to the gang in queenscliff and are currently sitting in Ballarat, and some more general 'snaps' of life with the Simpsons.

Thanks again for all your support as we come up to the first year anniversary of Eli's passing. Its amazing all the highs and lows we have had during this first 12 months and still miss our baby every single day. 

Lots of love and hugs

the simpsons

xox

We just had to post this poem. It provided me just a small giggle on an otherwise sad day. All of these words had the most amazing impact...every word is just so true, particularly the hairdo and being able to drive efficiently hooked up to an IV drip! Hopefully it will provide just a small insight on being a 'cancer mum'...looking after a sick child.

This poem was written by a friend's friend whose son "victor" has been fighting neuroblastoma for 5 years. He was diagnosed at 7 months of age, and would dearly just love to get to kindergarten. How fickle is life.

I belong to a special group of women
My friends and I have an amazing bond.
We never wanted to be in this group,
Yet we are in, for life.
Maybe we have met, maybe we haven’t,
Yet our love for each other is boundless.
We know the pain the other one feels,
And we share our victories small or huge.
Words like chemo, IV, Zofran , bald heads
Are always parts of our conversations,
As well as roidrage, tears, and meltdowns…
We always know where the closest puke bucket is ,
We can hold it in one hand and if necessary,
Swallow the sandwich the other hand was holding.
We can drive to the hospital ,
Park in the car park,

Make our way thru the halls of the hospital
And to the appropriate floor,
Settle in a room, turn the TV on,
Give instructions to the nurse,
Silence loud beeping IV pumps,
Direct a wagon AND an IV pole
To the playroom without hitting anything
Make our way back to the correct room
And all this, mind you,
With our eyes closed at any given time.
We know how to draw blood from lines
Sticking out of little kids chests.
We can hold them down with one hand ,
While a nasogastric tube is inserted in their little nose,
And be on the phone with their dads at the same time.
We can live for days on hospital food,
And on maybe only one meal a day .
We know the names of up to 20 different drugs ,
Their purpose, dosage and time to be taken.
We are always on call, 24 hours a day ,
Seven days a week.
We are used to not always looking our best,
Hard to do with only a few hours of sleep .
Make up, hair styling, skirts are words of the past .
We have become addicted to texting ,
hospital, clinic, home, wherever…
We talk sometimes at all hours of the night ,
We know we can count on someone to be up.
Then for one of us , the world stops .
She has to walk away, broken.
This job is over .
The job is over, but the fight is on.
Remember , I said we were in this forever.
We are friends, sisters, temporary nurses,
We are each others rock, each others punching bag,
We listen , we vent , we cry , we laugh together .
We share our lives and our deaths
We share our pain and our victories.
We are strong, but not by choice ,
Sometimes we win , sometimes we lose,
But never are we defeated .
We are not nurses
We are not doctors,
We are cancer mums…

Good luck with your continuing fight victor...our thoughts are with you and your family.

the simpsons

xox

Happy 2nd Birthday little Melon

well...its been a big day today. We have just gone with the flow, and did some gardening and lit lots of candles. We have been overwhelmed with text messages filled with love so thanks to everyone for thinking of us on a pretty tough day. We just wish we could take EVERYONE's pain away. But, we cant...and thats just the way it is...

I would like to share a poem we received by a friend just after Eli died. The poem still sits in the corner of Eli's cot and we read it a fair bit.

Secret Cuddles

Mum...dad...please dont be sad.

For life goes on, no matter how bad.

I may not have entered this world,

as you would have liked.

But worry not, for i am resting now, 

somewhere - in the sky.

No pain, no worry, no more pains in the tummy

Just where i am now, peaceful with so many dummies

I know i will be sadly missed, 

a life too short, not even a glimpse.

These circumstances - i cannot explain.

But only to say, that sometimes...

SHIT HAPPENS

What more can i say.

Please, for me, dont look back on this madness

Forward into the future, you must move on, with happiness.

Remember and cherish the short time we shared,

Better your lives will be this way,

rather than with sadness.

I know that i will always be remembered

Your voices...never fading, so lovingly nutured.

Never forgotten, move on now, you need to,

I have already.

I will always be with you, 

in spirit - you know this!

And in your hearts and thoughts i will lie,

waiting to give you,

My secret cuddles....

whenever my memories pass you by.

Happy 2nd birthday our beautiful little boy. We just so wish you were here...to touch, to smell and to celebrate your life.

We love you and you will never leave our hearts. Everyone misses you terribly, but know that you have changed so many lives in the short time you were with us. 

Happy birthday Eli Charlie and thank you for just being you.

Your mum and dad

xox

Our beautiful little 'superman'

Light the Night & Angel Flight...

Hi guys

Again we start off by saying we have been pretty busy with 'stuff'...we attended Light the Night on September 16 and what a wonderful event it was. Pete and i had a fabulous time. The even ran really smoothly and we would love to send a big massive thanks to all of you who supported us and showed up on the night (and for those that didnt, thanks for all the lovely wishes). We were really moved when we lit up our 'gold balloons'...sadly, we were overwhelmed by the massive number of gold balloons that were there on the night...so many people have been touched by this disease..it just makes us want to do more to take away the pain...but we know we cant...all we do know is that we are not alone.

We got to catch up with little 'will'...a wonderful little boy who was in hospital the same time Eli was and is the only one of the 'fantastic four' who made it to the other side. Will, paige and tash look fantastic and its just so enlightening to see that some people do make it...i hope he grows up to be whatever he wants to be...he bloody deserves it!

So thanks again to all those who came and walked with us...it was a gorgeous evening and will be one to celebrate for us on an annual basis i think. Over 3000 people attended, it was HUGE..and we apologise for losing touch with our group when the walk started! it was chaotic, but a great night all the same.

The other thing we were recently involved with is a great little weekend at Nowa Nowa. Margaret Campbell and her gorgeous 'sisters' and friends did a fantastic job bringing the Nowa Nowa hall to life to raise money for Angel Flight. At last count, they have raised over $5,000 which is an absolute credit to them! They had the Nowa Nowa singers - a group of local men provide entertainment and themed the event as 'a teddybear's picnic'. It was lovely to be a part of. As pete said, it was just so lovely to see so many country people supporting country people. I know Eli's story touched many people on the night, and we were again very proud to share it and the great work these charities do. It was also lovely to see our first Angel Flight pilot 'tom courtney' again. It has been a while, but im sure we will see him into the future as he continues his wonderful work!

Im not going to lie, its been a very up and down fortnight for us, and from here on in i guess its going to be tough for us. Eli's birthday is tomorrow...and we are going to just take it as it comes. No stress and hopefully full of memories. So if you can, please light a candle, perhaps indulge in some twisties and look to the stars. I know Eli will be looking down on all of us tomorrow...

best fly...and enjoy the piccies!

love and hugs

the simpsons

xox

The Nowa Nowa singers for Angel Flight...great voices and fantastic entertainment

Light the Night...

Warming up!

Go cats!

Cards for sale...thanks to the Charity Chooks who keep the motivation to do the best we can!

Leona - Treasurer of the charity chooks!

B - great cook! on this day, the charity chooks made heaps of cupcakes to support RSPCA "cupcake day"...together we made around $165 for the RSPCA...well done girls!

The 'chooks' hard at work making little gift cards....