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.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Made Counts!


Hans and Elle (Elle got many compliments on her boots! Hans should have had a pair, he could have cleared he 42" height restrictions with a pair of boots!)

Elle, Hans and Alex (mike in background)

Daniel and Hans on teacups

Hans on Pirateship

Hans on bee
Hi Guys,
Sorry to not post, but on Thursday we got the green light with a good ANC and we've been out having a fun Spring Break!

Thursday Hans' ANC rose to 1100. Good enough to be out and about, good enough to start Round 5 of Millennium...and knock it back down again! UGH! Hans is already on Day 3. The only adverse effect is that we didn't get the thumbs up to actually start until late afternoon on Thursday...starting the med later has put Hans out of his usual sleep/wake cycle. He has been up 'til about midnight and then snoozing in a bit.

Thursday afternoon after clinic Hans went for a photo session. He had been asked to participate in a "Small Miracles" calendar for the Snowdrop Foundation. He did a good job! The photographer, Alisa Murray, told me that she'd share the link to this shot...I'll share that with you when I get it. While we were out all day Elle was completely spoiled by her teammate Melissa and her parents...they managed to pack in Putt putt golf, a movie and a little soccer practice! Thanks to the sweet Martin family for the gold star play date:)

Friday we went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. We spent the whole day riding rides and didn't get home until LATE at night. We were supposed to be up and out of the house already at a Kids' Unlimited Foundation Fishing Tournament. But, we realized that Hans wasn't going to be able to handle that after such a late night! Ah well. We met up with Alex and family at the rodeo, and then, we ran into another TCH family. We ran into Victoria and her family. Kinda CRAZY considering like 100,000 people show up to this thing every day. We had gone through transplant together in 2007 and were thrilled to see her thriving. Victoria is 13 and she and Elle were set loose on the big kid rides, while Jessica and I hung out and did the littler kid rides with Hans and little Daniel. Hans kept telling me how much AWESOME fun he was having! THANKS to the Kids Unlimited Foundation for sending us tickets and ride booklets!!! It was cute - most of the workers saw Hans coming and they'd just pretend to scan his ticket. He pretty much had unlimited rides. Hans is a fearless little rider. He is only limited by height...just shy of the 42" mark for a lot of rides. But still had tons of fun. Our last ride of the night was a big ski-lift type of ride that took us 40 or 50 feet over the entire carnival. He loved it, and Elle and I had to pull him back in from peering over the edge. Fearless!

Kevin has managed to put all the grass in the back yard! We are happy to have a yard again. This is such a pretty pretty time of year here...not hot yet, just nice and pleasant, we don't want to come inside! It feels so good just to have some normal times.

We are also happy to learn that Hans scan stay on track for March 30 and 31 at CHOP.

Thanks for checking up on us.

Lara

8 comments:

The Harvey Family said...

Hey guys, that is great news!!! I am so happy that you got have some fun over spring brake. Hugs and Kisses all around.

Much Love,
Anna

Anonymous said...

Love all the pictures - looks like everyone was having a fun time! So great that Hans was able to enjoy the day with friends. - Elle, great cowgirl look!

Love to you all,
G.Kathy, G.Dale X0X0

Anonymous said...

Such nice news! Love, p.l.

Anonymous said...

sounds like an awesome time was had by all! Looking good Elle!

Love Aunt Holly and Uncle Michael

Anonymous said...

So glad you are having fun in the beautiful weather! Thinking of you everyday and sending lots of hugs and kisses!
Love to you,
Critter, Colleen, Erin and Claire!

Anonymous said...

WHOO HOO for great counts!

The photos are fabulous...love the smiles, fun, and COOOL boots!

Love to all,
Aunt Susy

Anonymous said...

Great pictures! I'm glad that you could have some spring break fun!

xoxo
Roxie

Anonymous said...

how awesome!