Max Update! April 11, 2004

April 11th

Sunday

It's been a busy, tiring week but overall things are going well; here are some of the highlights.

Max attended school for a few hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday he was there from 8:30 until 12:15 - He even went out for recess! I watched from inside the school as he and 4 other second grade boys played basketball - Full court, 2 on 2. Max was the referee and "coach". He was encouraging his buddies to pass the ball, look for the open man. He was so excited when he got in the car, "Dad they're going to be so ready to play next year when the league starts up - I taught them how to set a screen!" He was trying to figure what to teach them next. We decided that boxing-out would be good.

On Thursday he went on a field trip with his class to Pike Place market. It was a really tiring trip, they walked all over the market but he did it!

Thursday night Max decided he wanted to have lemonade stand. He made signs out of sheets of paper he'd taped together: We'll donate to Children's hospital - Lemonade & Orangina. After treatments on Friday he couldn't wait to get started. The sun was bright, it was warm. We setup a little table in front of our house, taped his signs to it and Max sat down to wait for customers.

He got customers. They surrounded him and spilled onto the street. People came and drank lemonade, stood on the grass and talked in the sun. This beautiful little kid - his skin burnt from radiation, no hair on his head, fresh off a days treatments - sitting behind a little table, pouring lemonade for three hours to collect money to give to the hospital for toys. This moment was a miracle - we experienced it. God gave it to the world and for fifty cents you could have a drink of the best lemonade ever made.

He collected $389.29.

Thank you to the many of you who stopped by on Friday and for your tremendous generosity. What a way to kick off what turned out to be the most beautiful April weekend in Seattle's history. It was Good Friday.

It also kicked off a very busy weekend for Max!
After the lemonade stand on Friday we dyed Easter eggs - Max did great - His egg dying capacity far exceeded everyone else's! Saturday we went to the Sonics game. We stayed for the entire game, did some shopping in the team store and ate popcorn and hot dogs. Sunday was Easter - Max completed 2 Easter egg hunts pretty much all by himself, (Beck offered encouragement but really wasn't much helpJ). He even played some pool Sunday afternoon!

Did someone forget to tell Max he's recovering from brain surgery and is in the middle of some pretty aggressive treatments? We knew he was special. We had no idea. On Friday night I again told Max how proud I was of him and that I thought he was the toughest kid in the world. He said thanks and that he couldn't do it without me. "Thanks for all your support Dad".

As amazing as this all is, we know it's very, very hard for him. The treatments are really taxing his body, he has very little interest in eating or drinking and he's really tired of all the "stuff" he has to do that goes along with this - eye drops, moisturizing gel, bandages, creams, anti-nausea medicine, the eye patch, bandages, sunscreen, hats, muscle stretches,… it goes on and on. He wants to be like everyone else - like he used to be… This is not the way an 8 year old boy is supposed to grow up. It is the way he's growing up. Somehow he continues to find the strength and courage to keep being a loving, enthusiastic, beautiful kid.

We have a little over a week to go in this phase of Max's treatments. Beginning April 23 he'll get a 6 week break. Thank you for joining us in prayers and good thoughts for Max. Our community of love and prayer transcends space. Our prayers are heard and they are being answered. Bless all of you for your continued encouragement, for meals, for prayers and for love.

God Bless