Taelum & also it's still not too late to donate!

Me & Taelum:
The comment I most hear since the shave is "you have a nice shaped head" but I think that Taelum has a nicer shaped head than me!! This beautiful 9yo girl was diagnosed earlier this year with Ewings Carcinoma of her pelvis. Her Chemo makes her feel pretty yucky but She usually still has a smile for me :) We had to play around with her anti-emetics (nausea medications) & even though she still feels yucky with her Chemo, at least She isn't vomiting all the time anymore.


And yes it's true... It's still not too late to sponsor me!!!


I'm keeping all donations coming in in a high interest savings account for the entire month so that I will have the interest credited at the month turnover to add to the final count :) Not to mention I'm still waiting on a few of those pledges to come in!!!


Cuddles with Rachy:

Two baldies wandering the corridors of the ward (I was making the most of the opportunity for cuddles without being connected to any IV lines or feeding bags... a rarity) :)

It's done... I'm bald!

The morning of the shave... Mum had to get some pics of my hair b4 it came off lol









And ones from the back too :)













With Giac before the painting... he was already planning his attack lol











And with Ryan... he's a bit shy :)










The painting begins...














Wow... what colours!














Ryan in deep concentration... this is tricky work ;)






I tried to comp the paint out a bit but ended up toweling it & then brushing it through... that pulled out some hair... ouch!








Erin & Carol plaiting my hair before the big cut...










And the cut begins...













Giac showing off a plait lol :D












Captain Starlight interviewing me :)











And the clipping begins...











A bit of a reverse mowhawk to start off with ;)















... The finishing touches!











Giac thought he should reattach one of the plaits ;)











My first touch....











I was having fun :)











Smiles for the cameras :)











Do I look good in pink??











And it's over :)











Like the paint work?? Giac made sure he painted my scalp lol











Left side...











Right side...



































































































And the rest are all just muddling together lol

Imogen

Me & Immie doing blood pressures:

Actually... we were only pretending for the photo ;) But we did do BP's after the camera was gone! That's one thing that Immie had to have LOTS of... BP's... & never liked having done :( The best trick I found was one night when Immie had to have 15min BP's for a couple of hours during chemo... I got the cuff on her arm and left the room... each time the cuff pumped up her daddy counted with her until it finished... & I looked through the window & wrote down the reading :D

Imogen was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in February 2007. She has been through chemo & surgery but... on 18 July 2007 was titled NED (no evidence of disease). She will continue to attend clinic checkups over the next few years to make sure she stays that way!

It's lovely to see Immie looking so well, smiling & playing again... & her hair is growing back! To support Immie please visit the family's blog: http://www.theholmesgang.blogspot.com/

1 day to go!

Oh wow... it's less than 24hrs until I will be bald!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous with your donations... all of 3B thanks you :) We have passed the goal of $1000.00 & I have revised it to $1600.00

Just a reminder... everyone is welcome to come watch & have a go at the clippers too if you like :)

1pm @ ward 3B, Level 3 PMH - hairspray colouring

2pm @ The Starlight Room, Level 7 PMH - shaving

& it's not too late to make or pledge your donation as I will be accepting up until Friday 16th November... can you help the tally reach $1600.00??

The first $1000.00 will be able to buy an oxygen monitor for the ward... we currently do not have a reliable functioning stand alone oxygen monitor & have to borrow one when required (annoying for everyone involved believe me!).

The second $600.00 will be able to buy a Kangaroo feeding pump... which seem to be in short supply on the ward at the moment as a high percentage of our kids end up on one at home & they are borrowed from the ward.

Kaitlyn

This is Kaity:

Kaity is 8yo & was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage IV at age 3 & a half. On her 4 year anniversary of diagnosis she has relapsed. In early November Kaity will be coming in for scans to see how far it has spread. Please support Kaity by visiting her caring bridge page http://www.caringbridge.org/ne/kaitlyn/

Happy Birthday Ashley :)

This is me with the birthday girl:

Ashley had her 10th birthday today :) We got to have fairy cupcakes (made for her by the physio department) & icecream cake - yummm :) And she had a special party up in the Megazone with her friends this morning!

Ashley was recently diagnosed with a Peripheral Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET) which is a type of Ewings Carcinoma & her tumor happens to be in her spine. She has been through a few operations already & is now on her second round of chemotherapy.

I don't think there would be many people who can say that they spent their 10th Birthday in hospital having chemo! Happy Birthday Ashley! We all hope that you still had a nice day :)


Only 5 days left til the big day! Still have a fair way to go til the goal... If you are thinking about sending your donation later I would love to hear from you now so that I can add your pledge amount to the tally: shaveforthekids@gmail.com

Less than 1 week to go!

Wow it's already less than 1 week left to go til the big day!

Thank you to everyone who has donated or pledged so far... the Tally has now passed half way to the goal :D A very special thank you to a certain couple of sponsors who have blown me away with their generosity... you know who you are! But Thank You to everyone... every $1 puts me closer to the goal!

A special Thank You to those sponsors who don't even live in the Perth area... you help prove that we are a global community & can help people no matter where they live! Sponsors have shown support not only from around PMH, around Perth, around Australia (NSW & QLD), but also London & Japan! Who else out there can help?

My Hair

I just got my brother to take a couple of photos of my hair from the back. This is the best one:

Worldwide Online Printing Morley

A special thank you to Worldwide Online Printing Morley for donation of printing of fliers for advertising around PMH.

Baby Blake & The Twins

This is the first group of kids I can show you that you will be helping through your generous donations!

This is Baby Blake:

Blake was diagnosed early this year with a rare cancer called Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumour (ATRT). His Mum took this picture for me today shortly before I changed his Broviac line dressing (long term intravenous access line - dressing must be changed & area cleaned at least weekly) & then sent him home to enjoy his 1st birthday tomorrow, thankfully AT HOME! Yay :D And Happy Birthday Blake! I love this picture... it is so typical of Blake, as soon as I go near him he says "ta" & grabs for my pens out of my pocket :) For more on his story or to support him directly please visit: http://tinyearthangels.com/babyblake.html

This is The Twins - Naomi & Rachel:

Naomi


Rachel

Naomi & Rachel came to us at just over 7 weeks old. Naomi had been having some feeding difficulties & wasn't putting on enough weight so after the GP had exhausted all his avenues he sent her to PMH to be checked. Blood tests were attended on presentation to PMH & Naomi was picked up as having Leukemia. Being identical twins, Rachel had a 25% chance of being affected as well... her blood was taken & yes she also has Leukemia. On official diagnosis they were found to have Infantile Pre B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). They are now 5 months old and have spent less than 1 week at home each since diagnosis. One of my favourite parts of my job... getting to watch them grow & develop... I almost caught a smile picture from them both :) Oh... and the cuddles!!!

Addition to the program

Before the shaving I'm now going to have my hair spray painted different colours by kids on the ward so that some of the kids who cant leave the ward can still join in the fun!

Hairspray Hair Colouring
Where: Front of ward 3B, Level 3 Princess Margaret Hospital
When: Friday 2nd November 2007 @ 1pm

Hair Shaving & Televising over The Starlight Channel
Where: Megazone Starlight Room, Level 7 Princess Margaret Hospital
When:Friday 2nd November 2007 @ 2pm

Rachy

This is my friend Rach... she raised $4000 shaving her hair off for Bluey Day in April this year!


Rachy's brother Ben was diagnosed with cancer when he was only 6 weeks old! He spent many months in the PMH Oncology unit. He made it through the treatments for the cancer but developed other problems. Unfortunately his little body gave in this past January a couple of months after his 8th birthday.







This is Rachy with Benny last year before he became sick again>>>>










And this is one of my favourite pics of me & Benny on the day he received his Lions Club Child of Courage award :)


Your donations will go directly in full to PMH through the PMH Foundation to help many other children not unlike my lil mate Benny! If an 11year old can raise $4000 surely I can collect at least $1000!

It's Official

Yep... It's Official... Shave for the Kids is going ahead!

Where: Megazone Starlight Room, Level 7 Princess Margaret Hospital

When: Friday 2nd November 2007 @ 2pm


Everyone is welcome to come and watch and we will be televising on The Starlight Channel so anyone in the hospital can tune in!

Official shaver(s) have not yet been chosen so if you will be there and would like to have a turn I would love to hear from you!

1st update

Well it has been 1 day since I decided this was a genuine goer. This morning I spoke with Lesley Hooper - Fundraising Manager for PMH Foundation. At her request I have downloaded the PMHF fundraising Agreement which I have since filled in and will fax through to her from work this afternoon :) She says that I will have approval & tax receipt booklets & paperwork by this Tuesday (23rd Oct 2007).

I would like to have the shave done at either ward 3B or the Megazone so that anyone who wants to come along to watch or help shave me can come. I'm currently liaising with 3B manager to find out what is possible. If all falls through I will probably have it done at my place instead.

For anyone who can't make it I will be posting pictures & possibly video on here!

Shave for the Kids

This is the beginning of Shave for the Kids!

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Hi Hi & welcome to my blog :) This is me... a few months ago anyway ;)

I'm planning to shave the hair off my head and in doing so raise some always much needed funds for:

Princess Margaret Hospital for Children
Oncology & Haematology total care unit!

Details are not set as yet but will be posted here ASAP

I would love to hear from anyone interested in sponsoring me!