01/27/2010
by Michael Wells It’s Wednesday night and I have the “watch.” Today other than an Electrocardiogram was a rather an uneventful day in the continuing saga of Brady’s war with cancer. While, he still is somewhat febrile, battling nausea and diarrhea he continues to be in good spirits; courtesy of his morphine drip line. I hope this continues through the night and Brady gets a good night’s sleep. I mentioned in previous entries how Sherrie and I are beginning to understand when Brady is in pain and it’s quite fascinating. He will rub his eyes with his hands clenched in a fist while with his eyes closed calls out; Ma Ma, Da Da over and over again. We believe he is telling us his head is hurting and allows us to take appropriate action. Oh, I almost forgot the most interesting part of this day was Sherrie met with Stephen Jones President & CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. She said he was a very nice man and not only listened to your complaints but promised to look into and correct many of them. The interesting part of this meeting other than it occurring in the first place is Stephen is one of our neighbors and has seen us walking past his house on several occasions. It’s truly a very small world. Personally I am absolutely impressed with the fact that a man of his stature and responsibilities took the time to meet and let Sherrie air our concerns. Now that I think of it; there is another topic to bring up. My lovely bride has tendencies to start with small ideas and turns them into huge undertakings. This time she may have taken on more than she can handle but I really don’t think so. Sherrie (and I) wanted to celebrate Brady’s second birthday on August 21st with a rather large backyard barbeque. Well, the barbeque has now morphed into Sherrie’s desire to create a major annual fundraising event. Sherrie wanted to have this event this year but after much discussion she conceded that maybe 2011 would be more appropriate for the size of fund raiser she has started to plan. Sherrie’s goal is to raise enough money to open the vacant 7th floor of this hospital and have the entire pediatric hematology / oncology unit moved there. She has already reached out to several organizations and it looks like this event is going to take place. The date will be around August 21, 2011 and all of the funds raised from it will go directly to RWJU Hospital Bristol Myer Squibb Children’s Hospital pediatric hematology / oncology unit. Oh, I almost forgot her initial goal is to raise somewhere around $100,000.00. I will keep you posted on our progress for the Hugs for Brady Annual Fundraiser to Fight Pediatric Cancer. This is going to be Fun!!! And yes, we are still going to have that really large backyard birthday barbeque this year and everyone is invited! Today was a good day for Brady and for this we are so happy. Please, continue all the good things you are doing: the prayers, thoughts and hugs really do work wonders…“8 Years Later—Still No Cure for Pediatric Cancer” is a series of posts revisiting the journal kept by Sherrie and Michael Wells during the cancer diagnosis and treatment of their son, Brady Michael. Hopefully these entires will provide an understanding of the journey families face when dealing with these horrific diseases and of the important work the Hugs for Brady Foundation does.