Updates
Our progress towards raising our 1m target
Today our quest to find Santa continued starting with a more than mellow reindeer sleigh ride giving us a brilliant chance to sneak in cuddles with our boys at the same time! This was followed by driving skidoos, playing games with the elves, then finally getting to meet the big man himself!!!
Everything is planned with meticulous precision. When you first arrive you hand over some pre wrapped gifts as well as your children's letters you'd 'posted' to Father Christmas (all secret squirrel much like a parental undercover mission!) Along with this you give a few brief notes to give Santa enough to hoodwink your kids and convince them he knows them! Safe to say both George and Alex were utterly blown away and yes mummy cried but that's also because today is a hugely significant day.
Once you've had an experience like cancer it appears you relive key anniversaries for quite some time after. The 13th of December is yet another for us as back on this day in 2017 George finished the last of his 14 rounds of chemo finally getting to ring the End of Treatment Bells! Needless to say, even though we're having a brilliant time away, today I've been on the brink of a whole heap of emotions all day... if nothing else it was pretty inevitable I'd have a breakdown on poor unsuspecting Santa (!)
He gave all four of us giant gold chocolate medals telling us we're on his good list 😁 The boys beamed as they unwrapped their presents as well as melting our hearts as they chatted about how they were going to tell all their little friends, even the non Santa believers! 'He knew I had cancer' said George, '...and that I shaved my hair off to raise money for the Giant Pledge' Alex quickly followed!! ❤️ (Funny they didn't recount the 'more reading, less iPad' comment that Santa also happened to mention!)
It's safe to say we've all had the most amazing last couple of days away! The boys have had a fantastic time and we can't thank Starlight Children's Foundation enough for making an otherwise stark anniversary become more of a distant memory...the end of a shocking year of treatment now also the day we met the real Father Christmas!!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate to help beat childhood cancer or join the team with your own fundraising event in 2018 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
Day two of our super special Lapland tour you can safely say we squeezed in activities galore! From husky sled rides to tobogganing and snowball fights we're all utterly exhausted but it was so unbelievably worth it. Even better, we've not so much as had to lift a finger! It's all organised and pre booked so we just sit on a coach with the only chore of the day being to take your hats, gloves and scalves on and off!
Everything is built around helping the children to find Santa. Today starting at the enchanted forest with Woody learning to become a husky pulled sled driver. We then met and ventured around various elf houses and Christmasy locations loving seeing Alex and George getting sucked in and enjoying all of the magic 😍
Yes it's cold and for George the walking to and from our cabin to the meeting points is quite challenging but nothing a good few thermals, a kick sled and a Christmas jumper or two can't handle. To think on this day back in December 2017 George was having his last round of chemo at The Royal Marsden - Sutton, how he's coping so far is truly quite remarkable!!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate to help beat childhood cancer or join the team with your own fundraising event in 2018 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
Today we've had the most magical day, starting off in a spectacular way. Last night our elf on a shelf was up late throwing clothes around and getting ready to seriously surprise our boys ...aka Woody and I running around like lunatics packing and working out how best to tell Alex and George we were going to Lapland!!!!!!
Every child with a life limiting disease can apply for a once in a lifetime, single big wish from one of a number of amazing children's charities. You may remember we talked about Starlight Children's Foundation before, well today thanks to them we embarked on a 4 day #NorthPole tour!!
Safe to say the boys reaction was priceless! They didn't grasp it at first but went straight for the Father Christmas cookie tin they spotted first off instead🤦🏼♀️ We quite literally had to spell it out to them (they must have not seen the passports and just assumed the candles were another of my little obsessions!) After that the crazy excitement and mayhem began along with the last of the frantic packing!
...'so we're not going to school today??!' 'You won't be in school for the rest of the week!!' 'Isn't that where Father Christmas lives??!' 'Yes and fingers crossed we'll get to meet the big man himself!!' 😁
We honestly can't begin to tell you how lucky we feel. From the minute you arrive they make you feel special and the boys were captivated and mesmerised from the get go! Sadly we know far too many families where their wish is the last thing they'll ever do before the child's disease takes over for good. For many it's the only holiday they'll have due to the cost you face when caring for a child with cancer (there's not really an insurance policy for that and yet one or both of you inevitably have to give up work ☹️) But equally it's just an amazing opportunity for the children to make magical memories with their family ❤️
All quite the contrast to this day last year where George was starting the last of his 14 rounds of chemo for the year...!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate to help beat childhood cancer or join the team with your own fundraising event in 2018 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
This evening we had the absolute pleasure of watching year three through to year six do their Christmas performance at the boys school in a mash up of a Dickens Christmas. They all looked so cute dressed like urchins dancing and singing songs and yet they all looked so small up on the big stage. (I'm sure I wouldn't be saying that if I was stood next to them but this was easy for me to say being that we were at the very back of the hall like meerkats trying to see them!)
The room was packed out with eagerly awaiting parents so when we arrived, albeit it in good time, we split up to give us a better chance of finding seats. Woody and George got an absolute result sharing a chair thanks to another parent helping us. You clearly have to handle these things with military precision or work with pack mentality if you mean business!!!! That said part way through the evening we noticed someone leave...queue us making a rouge seat changing maneuver during a short break in the performance (!)
The weeks leading up to Christmas really can be so very special. Yes it's often hectic and there's lots to organise but when you boil it down having moments like watching your children do their Christmas performance makes you beam with pride #preciousmoments. I say that as another Marsden child passed away this week. Our thoughts go out to his family whilst they experience the unthinkable happening to them this Christmas.
One thing's for sure we're making the most of Christmas this year as you never know what's around the corner! Can you believe this will be the last week the boys go through their school doors for 2018 #makethemostofeverymoment
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate to help beat childhood cancer or join the team with your own fundraising event in 2018 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
After a grim start to the day with it chucking it down for most of Alex's rugby practice our afternoon snuggled at home soon made up for it! Alex doesn't seem bothered running around in all sorts of weather but I'm most definitely a fair weather sporting mother! George and I hibernated eating sausage sandwiches in the club house then hiding together under an umbrella outside on the sidelines.
When we got home I had a cheeky snooze trying to shrug off the last of this chesty cough that keeps waking me up at night that doesn't seem to want leave me. When I woke up we had the best visitor arrive on our doorstep!!! Yes George's old teacher Mrs O'Neill not only came to visit us but is also running a Giant Pledge event at her school next week so came to collect buckets, capes and wrist bands etc ❤️
George was showing her his two wobbly front teeth then just a she was packing up her car he appeared beaming with one having fallen out proceeding to tell Mrs O'Neill all about the tooth fairy 😍 You've gotta love the innocence of kids. Our two both still believe in tooth fairies as well as all things Father Christmas! On this day last year we were on the Momentum Children's Charity Santa ride on The Watercress Line Steam Railway. Such magical moments with all the excitement of Christmas bringing the biggest of smiles to the sickest of children!
Later today the boys then wrote their letters to Father Christmas with much excitement and glee! We managed to get George to cut his list down having made the mistake of giving him the Argos catalogue to go through and copy the things he likes the look of down (!) 'That'll cost too much and there's no way Santa can carry all of that Georgie!' 'He doesn't pay, the elves make it all mummy' ...touché my little man! Thankfully after our trip to Lidl last week it looks like we could well have Christmas for George at least sorted 😁
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate to help beat childhood cancer or join the team with your own fundraising event in 2018 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com