Sunday, July 1, 2012

Pennies For Carly

Carly has been doing pretty well since her last surgery. It continues to take awhile for her to get back to her baseline after surgery, with a lot of trial and error to figure out how much we should be pumping her shunt. While this does make for a mix of good and less good parts of the day, the good parts are still more common. She recently got a new chair that supports her really well and makes it easy for us to take her around the house and involve her in our daily activities. This should be a great addition for us and will hopefully help encourage Carly to spend more and more time awake and interactive.

Recently we received one of the most touching and caring packages in the mail. A friend of ours, Julia, who is a teacher at Donald Hertz School P.S. 83 in the Bronx, NY spread the word about Carly and her fight against brain tumors. A teacher at the school, Connie Calabrese, and her community service club decided to choose Team Carly fundraising for the National Brain Tumor Society as their project. Through a program called Penny Harvest, this group raised $400 to help support the fight against brain tumors. The package they sent included letters and poems from the kids filled with love and support for Carly, as well as a picture of all of them holding a Team Carly sign they made. It was incredibly touching, and such a great example of how inspiring Carly is and how thoughtful and caring people can be. Carly, Christa and I want to thank Julia, Connie, Jesada, Giselle, Maria, Shylia, Vivian, Joshua, Ariella, Bibi, Chris, Jorge, Daniel, Elisaul and Bernadette and all who supported them from the bottom of our hearts. You helped brighten Carly's day, filled her with smiles and will help her to keep getting better each day.

Love, Brad

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The kids loved doing it and all want to meet Carly!

Anonymous said...

So happy to hear that Carly is doing better and that our gift to the National Brain Tumor Society in her honor has been a bright spot in her day! It is very special to us here in The Bronx, NY @ P.S. 83 to send some love all the way from the east coast to the west coast. Lots of Love and Kisses from Julia, Connie and The Community Service Club XOXO

Anonymous said...

Chick and Clare in Vermont checking in and loving the beautiful pictures! Much love to all of you!!

Brandi Wecks said...

Hi Brad and Carly,
I saw your comment on our blog and I wanted to respond. It's always exciting to meet someone else dealing with all this near by (though I always wish it was under different circumstances.) From the little bit I read, it sounds like you're a few years ahead, but doing the same things, and even some of the same doctors (Scarlett's neurosurgeon is Dr. Sun, and we know Dr. Auguste, too.) I can't believe Carly has needed so many shunts...it makes me really appreciate the three we've had over the last 18 months. As for this current one...I have high hopes, but it doesn't look great. We'll see what Dr. sun has in mind tomorrow. I wish you all the best. Maybe we will run into each other some time - we're hoping to do the walks and events more now that we are able to get away from the hospitals more!

Cameron VSJ said...

Hi,

I have a quick question about your blog, would you mind emailing me when you get a chance?

Thanks,

Cameron

cameronvsj(at)gmail.com