Simply Thoughts

No more photos of our beautiful smiley girl, Imogen’s sparkle in the last few weeks has drifted away.

I am sad
I have cried a million tears of late, and I have no doubt there will be a zillion more to follow.
I am sad for the pain not just the physically pain our girl is going through and has been through, but also the pain of her no longer being able to do what her friends are doing. No running, no school, no swimming, no laughing, no riding, no scootering, she has become a shell of herself.
I am sad for all the milestone moments and simple moments I will never be able to experience and enjoy with her.

I am angry
I am angry that one cell in Imogen’s beautiful 2 year body decided to become mutant and begin this vicious 3 year cycle.
I am angry that it has been more than 20 years since any firm or partially successful medical treatment for Neuroblastoma has been discovered. I am angry that when treatment begins the odds are stacked so high against Neuroblastoma kids that the chance of survival is very slim. Then even with survival the short and long term side effects from the treatment, can then also threaten their chance of living a normal life.
I am angry that I had to explain to my 11year old son, that the hospital no longer has any idea what to do for Imogen and that she will become an angel soon.
I am angry for all the lost kids and no change to treatment.

I am grateful
I am grateful for Imogen, pure and simple. The lessons and love she has given us, we would have never known.
I am grateful for my close family, Jason, Imogen, Kody and Ashton.
I am grateful for having the last three years, to understand how important life is. I am grateful for the generosity we have experience from people we would have never connected with and also to the family and friends in our live that have step up to the plate every step of the way. You know who you are.
I am grateful for the incredibly strong and admirable children we meet on the ward, and also their super back up team, their family. I grateful for the compassion, their abilities and the love the staff of Ward 3b gave to us, the friends we met along the way and unfortunately the future 3b children.
I am grateful for the theta healing Imogen received and receives that give her back her sparkle. I am most grateful for Mr Lee Reniets our naturopath and forever guru, for never giving up on Imogen, without him this road would have been much harder.
I am also grateful for Dr Alastair Nutall and his Burgess Street family for their generosity, thoughtfulness and compassion for our girl. I am grateful for Imogen picking us when she decided to become our daughter.

Imogen will be celebrating her 6th Birthday this Easter Saturday (a few weeks shy of her actual birth date). Imogen is still firm on the fact that she is not having her 6th birthday but instead her 13th. Who could argue with that, she has given us more love in 6 years then we would have experienced in a life time. Though being her mum I know this is not why she wants to be thirteen, it is so she will be older than the brother she admires so much..bless her : ).

My girly girl is having three Ben 10 entertainers coming, 30 plus friends, our favourite photographer Brandie come take pictures, a HUGE Ben 10 Cake and lots of yummy food prepared by many people.
All we hope for now is Imogen’s pain and tiredness to stay at bay for those 2 hours (10 -12), please send us healing and positive thoughts for this to happen.

With much Love and Hope

Fiona, Jason, Kody, Imogen and Ashton
Forever the Holmes Gang.

Good Morning Blog People : )

Good Early morning blog world,

I was once again awoken from my slumber by baby boy Ashton, wanting a top up to complete the last few hours of the night. It is something I have come to actually not mind, this waking up early surely assists you in getting stuff done. So here I am typing a blog update, one of the many things on my “to do list”.

Nicole (her friend from the resort) and Immie

Life is as usual at the Holmes House….busy..busy…busy.

We have been travelling to Midland daily for Imogen’s natural therapy, combined with a few appts at Rener’s in Attadale, and a very powerful theta healing session in East Fremantle.

We have recently decided to take Immie out of school, as she has been very tired. This time has then been taken up with many a play over at our fantastic friends the Ledgers, spending time with Granma, a little school work and even a visit to Sculptures by the sea.

Though Imogen is tired at times, we still get to enjoy some of our girl’s gorgeous sparkle when she is feeling strong and well rested.

And so we fight on…

Kody and Immie with their merit certificates

Very impressively on the last school day Imogen attended and the first school assembly of the year, she received a merit certificate for being her classes shining star and trying her hardest. Whilst we were taking a million photos of that the senior merit certificates were given and much to our surprise Kody received one too, for his fantastic work and being highly organised (haha..not sure what happens at home : P). The two super stars of the school world for the Holmes Gang did exceptionally well, very proud of both of them.

Moving on to the pool…yes there is still things that have not been completed…grrrr. After many a drama with the sponsored pavers, as in many promises but no delivery from either of the two main brick suppliers. We are trekking ahead and have locked in to complete the paving ourselves this coming weekend (20^th and 21^st of March). On Monday I will be going in search for the pavers, right now I could not care if they are purple, I just want it done. Wish me luck!!. We are calling out to anyone who can give us guidance or assistance in regards to the pavers or help with the paving is more than welcome to send us an email to find out what is happening.

Theholmesgang@gmail.com Thanks in advance if you can help.

We have also decided to use some of the generously donated money for Imogen’s pool to get the solar heating connected. Unfortunately lately even in the hot weather the pool has just been to cool for Imogen who has lost a stack of weight.

Ashton and Daddy at the park

More news…Ashton has had his first tooth come through this week, without his mummy or daddy even noticing, yes Granma spotted it first. He is such a true delight, smiling, rolling and trying to blow raspberries.

Jason finally after 3 years of no air-conditioning, no central loo

king, no power steering, took possession of his new truck. He definitely needed it, and deserved it. He now has plenty of room in the truck to get his work load done more quickly and effectively. It even has a crane to help lift the heavy machine in and out of the truck. As you can imagine this took months of planning and many phone calls to get it just as it was needed. Yay for that!!!.

We have had another drama recently with one of our animal family members, Milly the cat we got Imogen for completing all her treatment, managed to swallow a piece of string which then wrapped around his intestines. On Friday afternoon he had surgery and it was lucky enough that the string had not completely attached it’s self to the intestine wall. They were able to cut it out. He is now in recovery.

Let’s just say Milly has used up one of his nine lives, we will be look

ing at getting pet insurance and our house cleansed to eliminate any more crappy things happening!!!.

Kody and me at the picnic in the park

Well the sun is just starting to peek through the huge clouds here the morning, I am off to enjoy another precious day with all my family, I hope you too get to enjoy one with yours.

With much love and hope

Fiona and the Holmes Gang

P.S. Cheek out our gorgeous family pictures with the incredible Brandie at http://www.dilkarraphotography.com.au/. She has once again out done herself, thank you so much Brandie, we love them.