I dropped Maria off at the hospital after returning some equipment. Praise God we never had to use any of it! Maria's day was to then take the following route:
- Blood test in preparation for next cycle of chemotherapy next week.
- Walk (40mins at her pace) to Woden Shopping Centre.
- A well-deserved iced chocolate at Gloria Jeans Cafe.
- Bus it home.
- Navigate the walk home from the bus stop (15mins by this time as she was completely exhausted).
It may not seem like much to many, but when you consider all things, for us it is another huge step towards greater independence. There is no doubting Maria's tenacity and courage!
I had a string of meetings at work. This was a full (5-day) week as next week I won't be in on Monday because of an appointment with Maria's Oncologist.
It was also a day of a couple of unexpected blessings. The first was an email at work from someone we churched with in the past. Every now and then I am amazed when people come out of the woodwork and say they follow this blog closely. Although they said following our journey had blessed them, their correspondence and encouragement blessed us.
This evening we received an email from a friend who we had sporadic contact with since we headed off overseas. Apparently he and his family have been monitoring our blog for some time, which he claims gave him (in addition to discovering some people close to him had cancer) the motivation to embark on a fundraiser involving a 1,400km bike ride (Sydney to Sunshine Coast). The fundraiser is called "Tour de Cure". Simon is aiming to raise $10,000. As you’ll see in his letter (I saved it at http://www.scribd.com/doc/21884165/Intro-Letter-Simon-McMenamie for viewing),“brain cancer” is one of the causes his fundraising will go towards. I wanted to share this with you as although he says he has felt inspired by us, he has in fact inspired us! If you have a few spare dollars over the coming months, please keep Simon in mind.
