Thoughts from Yesterday

Ok time for a quick recap for all of our new guests. Our son Isaac is 8 years old. He was born with a rare disease that required a liver transplant at age 3 and then subsequent complications from that meant that he needed a bone marrow transplant this past year at age 8. When we began talking about what he wanted for Christmas back in October, he suprised us both. He came to us and told us he wanted to sell some of his key chains that he had made so that he could buy presents for the kids in the hospital. Keep in mind he is 8. When I was 8, I wanted everything to be about me. But he has experienced more than my wife and I will ever experience. He has spent two Christmases in the hospital and he said that he knew what that was like and he wanted to make kids happy. Fast forward. We put on his website that he was wanting to give presents to some kids in the hospital. We had set a lofty of goal of providing presents for the 14 kids in the Bone Marrow Transplant unit.
The presents began arriving in early November and pretty soon we raised our goal to provide presents for the BMT and HEMOC departments(about 40-50 kids). Then December came and the presents began pouring in. We would receive 10, 12, 15, and even 17 boxes of gifts each day. Two weeks ago we realized that people had gotten on board with Isaac's project and we would be giving presents to the entire Children's Hospital(several hundred kids). Still more presents arrived and when all was said and done, Isaac was able to provide presents to the hundreds of kids in Children's Hospital, Shriner's Childrens, and enough for all of the families staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Cincinnati. What had started as an 8 year old's dream to put smiles on the faces of 14 had ended with hundreds of smiles on the faces of many beautiful children.
The day was filled with smiles. There were times that the joy of the kids receiving the gifts would make your heart break. We laughed, we smiled, and we cried. Thank you so much to everyone who sent have given gifts, money, and your time to make Isaac's Dream come true. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support during this past year. It has been almost 13 months since we have been home. Isaac continues to improve. Pray that his blood counts continue to come up and hopefully we can go home soon.