A SECOND WISH?

"Serving up Wishes"--The Rest of the Story

So, there's more to the "Serving up Wishes" story than what I previously posted!  You see after the event a kind and generous man whom we had never met before offered Josh an amazing gift!  His name is Mark Miller, and he was so touched by Joshua's story and wish that he, well, he pretty much gave Josh a second wish.  In the video that they showed that evening, it showed Josh opening a Detroit Piston's t-shirt on Christmas morning.  Mark Miller gave Josh 4 front row, court side, tickets to see the Detroit Pistons play the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland.  He also offered to fly 4 from Boise to Portland for the game and arrange for a hotel.  On November 11th, 2013 Josh, Drake, Kyle and Uncle Kevin were headed to Boise for a trip of a lifetime!  This was Josh's first time flying, and he loved it!

To their surprise, Mark Miller had given them what he had promised and so much more!  They were picked up at the airport by a stretch limo!!  They couldn't believe it!  Josh said he felt pretty classy riding around Portland in a Limo!  When they arrived to their hotel there was a Portland Trail Blazers sweatshirt waiting for Josh along with a table covered with all of Joshua's favorite things!  After indulging in the goodies and taking in the beautiful hotel, it was time to head to the game because, wouldn't you know it, they had dinner reservations at the "Court side Lounge" inside the arena!  Mark had arranged for that too!  After an amazing dinner they were headed to their seats--COURT SIDE!!  

  They saw Rasheed Wallace's bald spot up close and personal, got to throw back some balls to the players as they were warming up, Kyle met one of his all time favorite players from back in the day, Joe Dumar, received hats from the cheerleaders, and even got a game used towel. 

Thank you Mark Miller for your kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness that turned this trip into a dream come true for 4 huge NBA fans!

4 Months Cancer Free

June 10, 2013

4 Months Caner Free

Joshua's scan in June revealed a cancer free Josh!  That day Kyle and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary.  I can't think of a better gift than that!  

We were given the go ahead to have Josh's shunt removed.  That was done the next day by Dr. Riv-Cambrin.  Everything went perfectly!  Although, Josh was pretty upset because his hair was finally coming back in, and then they messed it all up to take out the shunt!  We had to even things out a bit when we got back home.  

This was the first time all of our children were able to visit Josh in the hospital.  There is a strength that comes from being together, even if it is in the hospital!  I am so proud of all of my children, for their strength and for their faith.  Getting Josh through his battle with cancer impacted our entire family deeply!  I am so grateful for their kindness, their patience, their love and their loyalty to their brother in his time of need!

Clean!

Our 19th wedding anniversary celebrated at Primary Children's Medical Center

Josh and Dr. Sato.  She is off to Texas

Waiting for surgery with Dad

Drake and Josh

Dad and Josh

Kyler and Josh

Andrew and Josh

Kelsie and Josh

Grandma Wilson and Josh
Who do you think bought the ice cream?

Grandpa Wilson and Josh

Time to take out the temporary drain they left in

Drain and Shunt free!  

Time to even out the hair.  Mohawk?  Mohawk!  Because he can!

We were able to see Grandma and Grandpa Haworth before they entered the MTC.  They are headed to Iowa for 18 months!  We spent some good time with them at Uncle Dave's.  They will be missed!

Serving Up Wishes

Serving Up Wishes

Boise, Idaho

On Sept. 30, 2013, our family traveled to Boise for the 11th Annual "Serving Up Wishes" fund raiser for Make A Wish Idaho.  They had asked Josh to be the featured wish child for the event a few months earlier.  The event was held at Boise State University in a windowed room that overlooks the BSU stadium.  As tradition holds, the Student Athletes from BSU are highly involved with this fundraiser, along with "Coach Pete" (BSU head football coach) himself.  The students try to win your "wish bucks" by doing tricks and such.  I paid some of the football team to sing "Happy Birthday" to Andrew and then pack him around the room on their shoulders.  They did it, and Andrew loved it!  One football player let Kyle wear his bowl rings and take a picture with them for a small fee.  It was a lot of fun and the student athletes were amazing and catered to our children as they were the only children there!  Andrew and Kyler had the night of their lives!

As part of the program, KTVB had put together a short video clip of Josh's wish. Here is the You Tube link.  http:youtu.be/M2Dk3cAnCPU (It is posted on my facebook page as I couldn't get it to post here)  It captures his wish beautifully.  After the video, Josh spoke about his wish and the impact it had on his life.  A couple of lines out of his talk that really touched me were, "My wish gave me a chance to stop thinking about all of the things I couldn't do and instead focus on something amazing that I could do.  I could give!"  He ended his speech by saying, "People have said that I gave my wish away.  I like to think that I was able to make 7 dreams come true instead of just one."  He received a standing ovation!  Everyone was so touched by Josh and what he did with his wish.  People said they were so inspired by his story!  I was so proud of Josh and grateful for the opportunity for others to witness what an amazing son Kyle and I have been blessed with!

Andrew and Kyler

Josh

Kelsie

Andrew after they sang "Happy Birthday" 

We asked the shorter football player what his trick was.  He said, look how short I am.  That is my trick!

Josh and Kelsie with BSU football players

You too can have your picture taken with this BSU football player, and his rings for a small fee.

Coach Pete with our family (minus Drake--he was working potatoes and couldn't leave!)

My brother Richard got to come and spend the evening with us.  It was a highlight for me!  His wife went into labor that night so he had to leave a little early!  Sorry Jess!

Josh and Kyler, Dawg!

This BSU basketball player was spinning the ball on his finger, bounced it off his knee, and caught it again on his finger while it was still spinning.  Kyler was impressed!

Back to Life

 

1st Post Treatment MRI

 

Josh had his first follow up MRI and lumbar puncture on March 11th.  Everything looks great!  We are thrilled with the news!

 

Getting "back to life" has been harder than we anticipated it would be.  The chemo and radiation has taken such a toll on Josh's body that he is extremely tired most of the time.  We were all so excited for Josh to go back to school and do all of those things that he has missed doing that we didn't take into consideration that he might not have the energy to do it all.  He has been frustrated with the price he has to pay after he exerts himself to do fun things.  "Fun" comes at a high price!  It doesn't help that he got the flu shortly after his return to school and also a spinal headache from his last lumbar puncture.  He has had to go back to "home bound" study for school and we are all trying to be more patient with his recovery!  Recovery has been harder than treatment........we didn't expect that.





                                     This is what Josh has been up to since treatment ended:

Josh and Brianne Groom all dressed up for the Valentines dance.  They had a progressive dinner, played games and made it to the dance for a whole 20 minutes before it was over!  He had a blast!

Josh and Rylee Cook in their matching t-shirts for the Spring Fling.  The weather wouldn't have told you it was spring as they had to dash to the car in a hail storm.  They played games at the old Jr. high, ate pizza, sculpted ice cream and actually made it to the dance in good time!  All the couples in their group had matching super heroes t-shirts from Captain America to Iron Man.  It sounded like a lot of fun!



We took a trip south to try to warm up and to see Grandma and Grandpa before they leave on their mission.  We had a blast at the Clark County Fair and enjoyed our time with family!  It was 90 degrees in southern Nevada.  We had a hard time coming back home to weather in the 40's.

Drake was a hit with the ladies!! 

Josh, Uncle Quincy, and Jensen

Josh and Uncle Kevin who is often mistaken for Kyle



  We haven't seen Lex for a number of years and had to miss her wedding because of treatments.  It was so good to see her and meet her husband Tim. 

 

 

Bryson (Kevin and Di's son) won his round of "Mutton Bustin'" and we were all so excited for him.  He was the only contestant that stayed on the sheep the entire 8 seconds!  Way to go Bryson!