So we've all been told that life isn't a one-way street but in our case it really is - you give (food, childcare, visits, moral support and now your money) and we take! I can hear people logging off in their droves wondering how many more times they are going to be touched for their credit card numbers and if you've already had emails from me, from Simon, from the rugby club, from the class rep etc etc I am really really sorry and we are really really grateful for all the donations to date -but here I go again just in case I am reaching out to fresh blood! Two members of staff from Dulwich College (Felix's school) are strapping themselves together and hurling themselves out of an aeroplane at 12,000 feet in a tandem skydive to raise money for Rose's charity the Bone Cancer Research Trust. They are fabulous and we are in awe of their bravery and foolhardiness - and we want to give them all the help we can to make the whole thing worthwhile.
In addition to this our great friend Julia and her gang of gorgeous and unnaturally fit friends (never knowingly seen out of lycra) are running the Run to the Beat half marathon in Greenwich next Sunday and are doing so in Rose's name. We love you Julia - you will do it no problem and hopefully no blisters.
The BCRT is a small charity founded by the families of children past and present who have been diagnosed with one of two bone tumours, osteosarcoma and Ewings. There is currently no government funding into research improving the uncertain outlook for these children and therefore the future depends on charitable research grants to bone tumour centres. This means runs, bike rides, mountains climbed and countries crossed by small groups of people raising thousands of pounds to save the lives of children as young as Rose - if you have two minutes and a tenner to spare please please go onto either of Rose's fundraising pages and help crash their targets.
www.justgiving.com/roseallocca and www.justgiving.com/run-for-rose
So - anyway Rose is OK she's having three days at home most of which she has spent throwing up or with a terrible post-chemo headache but is in good spirits and today has FINALLY had her first post-op community physio visit which is great. Simon has been flying around visiting her school and sorting out all the logistics of Rose making short supervised visits to her class at some stage, dealing with community teachers, district nurses and arranging all the outpatient appointments for heart echo, kidney scans etc that need doing between chemos and I have mainly balanced sick bowls on my head and nagged her to do her exercises! Back to the Marsden in the morning for another five days. She is so excited about the jump and the run and visits the pages constantly to see how they are slowly growing and to read all the messages of support - so absolutely no pressure then!
