About Me

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Bakersfield, CA, United States
Hans was a busy, happy, sweet and fearless three year old when he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. He fought his disease like a "gladiator" for nearly 6 years. Hans was an animal lover to his core. He was 'guarded' at home by his three cats, Black, Orange and Cotton. He also had his Golden Retriever, Honey, to keep him company. Hans enjoyed swimming, biking, gardening, grilling (he had his very own grill!), horseback riding, playing video games, building Legos, and flipping between Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet. Hans loved all members of his family and he was a loyal friend. He had to go through a lot of treatment in his life. But Hans powered through it. His attitude was let's get this done! His motivation was always to get back home, to his family, pets, favorite foods and pool.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hans Holding on Counts

Hi, Okay a quick-ish post/update:
Hans was much the same on Sun and Mon as Sat. Slow in AM and then perked up. We thought for sure he'd need red blood cells, but no...he was like 11.something. He is very borderline on "Plate Loops", so we will recheck on Thursday.
Hans was feeling well enough to SWIM yesterday!!! Kev and I felt confident enough to allow him - so we had a pretty joyous afternoon at the pool yesterday.
Also - we had an interesting appointment for a photoshoot this evening. We had to stick around the Med Center til 6:20 pm. Hans and Elle and I spent a superfun day at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (I read this is the 4th most-visited museum in the US - can you imagine?) admiring butterflies, watching Dinosaurs in 3D IMAX and checking out Geopalloza. Hans is some how hard-wired to 'rock out' when we walked into the exhibit of very cool geodes, they were blasting Led Zeppelin and the boy knew he had to drop everything and DANCE in the Disco Ball. It was sooo very sweet, I'd have taken a video, but it was very dark.
Then - the amazing news - Hans actually fully participated in a family photo shoot, and so did Kevin, Elle and I!!! This is the first professional photo shoot of all four of us that we've gotten through. I swear I've made appointments - but someone was sick or moody and it never happened. The extra-cool thing is that it was a promotional photo shoot for Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center's Commit for Life 2009 Campaign (we may or may not be featured). A couple of months ago I recieved a generic "share your story" email from Gulf Coast where they wanted to know why I donated. It was easy to adapt the story I had prepared for Lunch for Life. And, those of you who know me, know that I take many available opportunities to fill out comment cards or share my opinion! It's pretty special that they asked us to partake. There was a professional photographer and a stylist there! So we ALL got touched up. I should be getting a copy of the pictures on disk within a month and I'll post. It was pretty neat - they also had some nice food/snacks and a thank you gift of a pretty candle. I'm just thrilled that it worked out. Hans amazed the photographer and stylist and really hammed it up.
The kids also did art today at the clinic, and Hans entered his watercolor of Honey, Black, Orange and Cotton into the Making A Mark 2008 Art Exhibit. Very sweet! One of the art volunteers there was very impressed with Hans' representationalism for his age. The photographer and the stylist were impressed with him too, and they both told us how smart and funny he is. So- all in all a pretty proud day for us!
Thanks to Donna Arnett for a knock out meal from bucca di beppo, and to carmen and ginger for their in-home puppy catering services:)

Lara

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray for fun!! Wish we could have seen Hans' dance. Can't wait to see the pictures!

Love to you all,
Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Dale xoxo

PS - Hansie, Grandpa gets to take care of Uncle Quinn and Ashley's dogs for 2 weeks. He is feelin pretty lucky!

suzanne said...

Hey Hans,
You looked pretty good this afternoon! Hope you finish up this hospital stay quickly with good news.

Anonymous said...

Hello!

Whoo hoo! Yeah hooray for music and dance!

Museums are one of my favorite places, and I am glad you had such a grand time!

I, too, will anxiously await the photos!

Love and hugs,

Aunt Susy