We're officially done with fundraising for this year and wrapped up the final garage sale yesterday...boy we're exhausted! We had so many amazing people show up in big ways for us from the generous shoppers and repeat customers to friends/family volunteering and working their tails off preparing, running, and cleaning up after the sale. It's so hard to keep track of how many man hours go into this endeavor but it's a LOT. Where it gets humbling though is that our needs are ALWAYS met.-.both fundraising and labor. Everything from family giving up days of their time to help prep or watch the kids to the random knock on the door asking if we need any help from a neighbor/friend. Harrison really is the connector...he brings everyone together to make this event special and unique.
We went down to LA in early July for Harrison's 4th stem cell treatment and this time the main theme of the effects we've noticed so far are improved eye sight (by almost 50%!). You used to have to be within 3-4 feet of him to get him to lock eyes with you and react to your expressions but now it's improved to 5-7 feet which is mind boggling. We've also noticed improved gross motor and he was able to grip a musical shaker handle at Music Therapy for several minutes with only the support of his elbow and wrists. We haven't seen that since before his spinal injury in 2020!
While we were down there, we stayed a couple extra days and made sure to have a family vacation since it's so rare for us to be anywhere far away from home since he can't fly on an airplane. We were able to go to Universal Studios and we all had the best time. The staff there were incredibly kind to us and took the time to talk to both Harrison and his little sister Hattie to make them feel special. We had several rides that accommodated his massive chair - his favorite was the Kung Fu Panda theater and his worst was the Water World experience lol. It was too loud for him and he did not like it one bit but meanwhile his sister (she's 2 y'all) is grinning like a drunken sailor and clapping her hands together with excitement with all of the stage fighting lol. We also found a really neat special needs playground inside Griffith Park called "Shane's Inspiration" and he got to play on the swings and go on a super fun merry go round (he LOVES movement!).
The rest of our summer was a little on the subdued side with a huge focus on fundraising and just enjoying staying close to home. We spent a lot of time with friends/family around the pool, went to a couple baseball games, enjoyed nature, and went to lots of festivals and community events.. We celebrated Harrison's 7th birthday with a special Mommy and Daddy outing to Pierce College's Science Dome where we were able to see an incredibly fun laser/projector art show with calm/inspiring music. He loved it and was mesmerized for a good portion of the show haha.
We're gearing up for returning to school and Harrison will be going into 2nd grade. He'll have a new daytime nurse going with him this year so it may be a little slow to get into the routine again. She is very nice and I think she'll be as good of an advocate as her predecessor who transitioned up to Seattle Children's to work in rehab after finishing her MSN.
Until next time! <3
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