I just HAD to share this story I received via email with you all ~ you may need a tissue or 2 (or the whole box) ~ Kym x 

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its

Dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a fatherI also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning..'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball

However, as Shay stepped up to the

Plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team



'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.



Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!



AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?



A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

I've started going to "school"

A big "hello" to all our friends ~ hope you are all happy and healthy

I started going to "school" today :)  Well, not really ~ it's a little playgroup for extra special kids.  We sang songs, we got bounced on a really big ball, we made a REALLY big mess with shaving cream, we painted... WE HAD FUN!  My big brother Rylan is allowed to come too which is good.  Come to think of it, I guess it is school because Mummy has to fill out a school enrolment form for me.  Playgroup is going to help me prepare for when I start "real" school.

I am still a bit sniffly at the moment so HBOT is still on hold.  It's been over a week now and I'm well and truly over having this cold.  I'm just busting to tell you all about the good things that HBOT has done for me as they happen.

I can tell you that I've been trying REALLY hard to crawl properly.  I get up on my hand and knees and try and try and try to move a leg forward but they are just quite uncooperative it seems!

Well ~ until my next blog, I hope everyone stays well.

Despite my facial expression in the photo, I actually LOVED making a mess with the Shaving Cream :)

Get better already little man!

Hi Everyone,

Well, we haven't had any HBOT sessions lately as Mr Cambell hasn't been well ~ nothing serious and not much more than a cold but even so, the cold is enough to NOT be carrying on with the HBOT.   

We look forward to sharing PROGRESS with you all as it happens.

Kym

~: Number Five Dive :~

Hi Everyone :)

We missed out on having a Dive yesterday as Mummy wasn't feeling too good and THAT being the case, it's advisable to not dive.  Daddy couldn't go in with me either because he is away.

Dive Five was tonight and Cambell was just perfect!  No problems at all with his ears while the chamber was pressurising or anything... this is just WONDERFUL for us :)  Cambell was pretty content the whole hour session too.  The only time he got a teeny weeny bit irritable was when big brother, Rylan popped by our viewing window to say "hello" ~ Cambell just LOVES being with his best mate.  If Rylan had his way, he would be in the chamber with us too.  

What's the chamber like for Mummy?  Well ~ squishy!  I'm not sure I will ever get use to getting kicked, kneed, slapped, scratched, pinched, etc in the face :/  You see, I lie down on my tummy in there with Cambell sitting (or lying) down in front of me.  My little champion has no perception of being gentle... hopefully HBOT will help this too :D 

Today, Cam has been like a little Yo-Yo!  He had a thing for climbing onto the lounge chairs and because I don't want him falling off, I've been putting him back on the ground but... straight back up he will go!  He seems pretty chuffed with himself too!

We still have the VERY stinky nappies (I wish you told me exactly HOW BAD they were Dawn lol) and the fact that he has a HUGE appetite since starting HBOT well... need I say more lol.  At the end of the day though ~ it is a great thing that he has such a healthy appetite so I really shouldn't complain.

I hope everyone reading has had a wonderful day and we're SO very happy to be sharing our journey with you all.

This is what the Chamber looks like inflated

We wore red today for Daniel Morcombe ~ RIP



Dive 3 and 4

We've had 2 more "dives" since our last blog entry.  Dive 3 was pretty good ~ Cambell still has a little discomfort while pressurising but this passes quickly and then he will happily play with his toys for the hour.  We tried the Nasal Canulla again and he kept it in for about 15 minutes before ripping it on then it was back to Mummy holding the end of the tube as close to his nostils as possible.  This was very eventful as he was carrying on as if he had ants in his pants lol.

Dive 4 was tonight ~ 13th.  He was really good during pressurising. We popped earplugs (for swimming) in his ears and this seemed to help.  Cam was really relaxed in the chamber tonight, so much so that after about half an hour he dozed off.  The Canulla was tried AGAIN but to no avail.. it lasted maybe 5 minutes.

Why are they called dives?  Well, to put it simply ~ the chamber is pressurised to 1.5 ATA.  This equates to being underwater by about 15 feet. 

No huge improvements to note as yet but I'm certain they are coming :)  He has been really "chatty" today but he does have days like that anyway.  I'm pretty sure we experienced a HBOT "poo" (well 2 actually) today as well... I've heard of these but boy oh boy!!!  I think I will keep a peg in his Wipes case!!

Sound asleep

Session 2 of HBOT

We went for a whole hour last night ~ once again, Cambell was a little irritable at first but only for a few minutes.  He didn't want ANYTHING to do with the Face mask in our first session so we decided to try a Nasal Cannula... well, he loved this just as much!  We did descover that he loved to pop the tube which runs the oxygen into the mask or cannula into his mouth so THAT is how he got his concentrated oxygen last night.  A little odd, yes but at least it's a start.

Cambell had a VERY good nights sleep after the hour session so that is a good thing as Mummy needed a good nights sleep too!    

Our BIG news!!

Ok... we have a little confession ~ a good confession I may add :)

When we saw that the auction was going great guns we sought a little monetary help so that we could order Cambell's Chamber so we had it sooner rather than later... WE HAVE IT!!!  Not only do we have it, Cambell had his first session last night.

How did he go?  Well, he was absolutely terrified for the first 5 minutes or so ~ we had tears, snot... the WHOLE works.  Mummy did manage to calm him down and once he had settled he realised that it wasn't so bad in our little "cubby" after all!  We have a little viewing window and every minute or so, one of Cambell's 4 older siblings would pop by to say "hello".  It turned out to be a bit of a "peek-a-boo" game and did make the time go a little quicker.  We only did a half hour "dive" just to ease Cambell into it and tonight, we will see if we can go a bit longer. 

No changes to report yet but that was to be expected :)

Cambell at Physio Therapy today ~ he has a thing for musical flowers :)

Cambell in his Chamber.  Mummy is in there too... she's just hiding :D

We have a blog!!!

Hi everyone,
As Cambell will be starting his HBOT really soon we thought it was a good time to start a blog so that YOU can share our journey with us.
Before HBOT, these are a few things about Cambell...

* He can soldier crawl
* He has recently started pulling himself up into a standing position
* He has very cheekily climbed onto the couch once or twince
* He one and only word is "Mum" ... what a great word to start with hey?!
* He still goes a bit cross-eyed when he is tired
* He has a bit of a habit of hitting his chin with his fist
* He can pop himself into a crawling position (on hands and knees) but hasn't as yet figured out what to do next
* He's pretty good as far as "nappy business" goes but occassionally gets constipated... part of CP

That's a few things I can think of, off the top of my head.  It will be really interesting to see what changes once the HBOT starts.

One of Cambell's little friends, Blaise (he has CP)  has had HBOT with good results ~ you can visit his blog too.  It's one of our favorites.  Another little friend of Cambell's, Bohdi (he has autism) is having HBOT right now.

I'm looking forward to letting you all know about HBOT - Day 1.  We'll only be starting off slowly though so it may take some days before we have any "celebratory" blog entries.

Kym x