Happy Monday all.
We hope you had a great weekend and are enjoying Summer wherever you are. Today we are taking our blog to the East coast as we wrap our arms around a very special little boy, Sam Lee. I met Erin Benson (Sam’s mom) about eight years as we worked in St. Paul, MN. I don’t quite know when it happened but very shortly after we met, it was clear we were meant to be friends. Lots of laughter, many walks around the lakes, some wine tastings (hey, that was our job), a few job moves and finally a BIG move to Charleston, South Carolina – Erin and her husband Mike brought Sam into this world.
Their family has started a rally page to help raise funds as they work to make life as enjoyable as they can while dealing with the unthinkable.
If you can donate, wonderful. If you can simply think, pray, send warm and loving energy their way, wonderful. They need us all.
On July 26, 2013, we took Sam to the pediatrician. Over the past few weeks, he was smiling less frequently and laughing differently but we chalked that up to random toddler behavior. He was also having balance problems, but given that his most recent leg surgery for Ollier’s Disease was in mid-June, it seemed natural for it to take some time to regain his confidence. When his eyes began looking unfocused, we got worried. At noon, the pediatrician recommended we see a neurologist immediately. At 2pm, the neurologist admitted Sam to the hospital and recommended an MRI. At 5pm, Sam was sedated for an MRI. That night, we heard the worst: Sam has a large, inoperable, incurable brain tumor. (The technical condition is called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma – DIPG).