Let’s bring Bede home.

Posted on January 21, 2015 by isabellanancy

Bede has found his way to his joy again. We remain depleted but Bede has been reclaiming himself which has given us some sweet relief.

Bede needed surgery to explore the source of his internal bleeding, had multiple biopsies and had a special feeding tube inserted into his stomach which is something we’ve been planning on for a while. My understanding is that he is one of two children in the hospital, likely the state, that has this tube. The purpose of the tube insertion is to give him a better quality of life.

Bede was off pain killers in under18 hours and smiling the next day. Like a champion.

The bleeding stopped.

Then slowly the vomiting began. By three days ago it was the first time we had seen Bede in pain in a long long time. I was once again in the position of tearfully saying ‘there is something wrong with my child’ and having people hear that, believe that but have no answers.

Well we found our answers and Bede is heading back into surgery today to HOPEFULLY correct a complication from the last surgery.

Bede has been reclaiming himself. Slowly the requirement for sedation was easing. He laughed more freely. He is tolerating being upright again. He plays. He is happy. Then a unsoothable surge of pain interrupts him. It is unlike the agitation of the last few months as soon as the pain passes he is back and wanting to play music.

I am writing this on my way into see him before the surgery. We’ve just been on the phone together and he is laughing big belly laughs in his daddy’s arms.

I am writing this in the hope that you will all get behind Bede today. Send him love, prayers and positivity. Every time I reach out to you all asking for love and prayers and good vibes he turns a corner. He is fighting the good fight with peace and love and this bubbling infectious happiness that is so filling. The melody to my soul. When people play with him they laugh or cry. His light is bright.

He deserves for this to work. Let’s bring Bede home. Let’s carry him there on a wave of happiness.

Bede may be small but he is mighty.

Let’s bring Bede home.

Our christmas star.

Posted on December 14, 2014 by isabellanancy

Wow! What a big post I have ahead of me. Bear with us – the news is worth it!

We’ve been in such a difficult place over the last few months it’s been impossible to write but we are glad to be moving forward and happy to be updating you.

It’s also been a massive few months!
If you recall first we were told his tumour was growing and we braced to lose Bede.
Then we went to Sydney.
Then we came back and hoped for whatever was best for Bede. Well what a beautiful wish that was. I am so happy and privileged to say the tumour had not grown! The previous scan results were incorrect. The cancer was not winning.

The real magic, the delicious stuff, the hope inspiring soul shaking, world altering stuff happened in between those two scans in Sydney. It’s a long story but one we need to tell you and I can’t find a way to condense it.

In September we made our way to Sydney to see some doctors at that stage with the news Bede’s tumour had grown.

patiently waiting to see the doctors.

In between appointments we drove down to Melbourne to see my beautiful extended family and introduce them to Bede for the first and possibly last time.

Bede wasn’t himself but was wrapped up in the kind of love, generosity, easy familiarity, friendship and self deprecating humour my family does so well. I have barely had a chance to breathe since being back let alone express my deep gratitude to my whole extended family for such a warm welcome.

Bec I can promise you Bede only eats the people he loves the most!

Gus loved Acland street even more than I did as a little girl!

In fact we almost skipped seeing the professor in Sydney that PMH had referred us to as we were having too much soul nourishing fun with the gang. To be honest we were convinced that being PMH’s guy that he would blindly back them up and say all the same things. We went anyway.

He defintitely did not say all the same things!

HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS PEOPLE!!!!!

He said he does not believe Bede’s tumour is terminal.

I’ll let that hope filled glorious sentence sink in for a moment.

He is arguably the best peadiatric neuro oncologist in Australia and he said he does not believe Bede’s tumour is terminal. He said he has seen this before and the patients did not die.

My gosh we have never been so blown away. We sat there in that office like stunned mullets.

When the professor said I do not believe this tumour is terminal I asked him to repeat the sentence as though he was speaking another language. This has never even been a possibility for Bede and then all of a sudden it is. It was a mammoth moment.

We always knew the type of tumour Bede has can, hypothetically, reach burn out. Our doctors in Perth had always made very clear that the way Bede’s tumour behaved he would die before he reached an age when that could happen.

Well not according to the professor – he says we’re already there. That the tumour has ‘run out of petrol’. That’s why the tumour kept shrinking 6 months after chemo. That’s why it’s still stable. That’s why while the PMH doctors predicted we’d only ever achieve 20% shrinkage we have now achieved 80%!

He said he didn’t believe the last scan really did indicate growth (turns out he was right!) and that the tumour is no longer behaving aggressively. He said if this was his patient he would start focusing on nutrition, hormones, OT etc and leaving Bede as minimally disabled as possible. He said he would not let them send us home to die again.

There has been a lot to come to terms with including the worst case possibility that Bede lives but is severely disabled and what that means for all of us. There has been a lot to process. That processing has been grounded in faith, love and sharing the news with just a few of our closest friends.

The best case scenario is glorious. Bede will continue to develop and although delayed by all of this he will in his own time reach all his milestones and grow to have a fulfilling life.

As his parent’s and his advocates we have to hold this opinion along side the second opinions we have received from the UK and the US both of which say Bede’s cancer is still terminal and that that won’t change. From the beginning we have said if you gave Bede 1% he would be the kid that made it. I think he definitely has that 1% now and we move forward with reckless hopeful abandon.

I can’t really explain it though. There is fear. Fear we will lose Bede, our shining light. Fear that an unfillable hole will be left in our hearts and family and lives. But Bede teaches and exemplifies bravery for us all. It was sometime ago that I secretly stopped believing this cancer would take him. Fear of sounding like a mother in denial stopped me from articulating it but the belief Bede was hanging around at least a little longer than expected planted like a seed in my heart and mind last November and that seed has just continued to grow.

In the last 24 hours 3 people have cried tears of joy upon seeing Bede. It’s a brash statement but I really believe he is, day by day, becoming the good news story I always believed he could.

All this news made heading into ICU and potentially losing him to pneumonia that targets low immune systems all the more difficult. So thank you for your love, your prayers and your hope.

I want to once again thank you all. Each of you are amazing. You have not given into apathy. You have not become desensitized to the ups and downs of this journey. You have not turned your backs. You have given our son a platform to shine. To be known to the world. To have his life seen and noted. You have fortified us with your prayers and positivity and hope. I once again write this with tears of gratitude and a renewed belief that miracles happen. This year Bede is our Christmas miracle. Thank you for sharing in the joy of him.

Ill say it 100 times the miracle bede has had and continues to need is all of you. Please keep helping us deliver this miracle.

I sincerely hope going forward this blog documents Bede’s triumph, his rich light filled defiance and his beautifully lived life rather than his death. Either way I now have so much comfort that whatever lies ahead Bede will do it his way and that’s just perfect, a miracle in itself.

For now Bede giggles. He is happy and he is whole.
His light bubbles up from deep with in him as he gasps for air between belly laughs losing himself in his joy.

His trademark light is undimmable, he is radiant, all out dazzling. Our Christmas star.

He stretches, he climbs, he explores and you can see him grow.

He is cheeky and his sense of humour is bold.

There is still that foundation of peace, a deep peaceful contentedness that sees him through difficult times but now his cheeky smile, his eagerness and his growth just take your breath away. Where before there was a calm stillness now there is energetic exploration.

Our little boy is growing up. What a flipping delight that is!

He looks like a boy at the starting line. Ready to take on life and embrace every opportunity to live it. Roy and I are 100% committed to providing him with every love filled adventure he could hope for.

Bede may be small but he and his joy are mighty. He’s not done yet.

Note: For now Bede’s still in hospital. We’ve managed to get on top of his lung issues and he is off oxygen. He is needing one of his drugs (a substance that occurs naturally in our bodies but due to the tumour not in Bede’s) every 6 hours via injection. Once we have this sorted out, a tall order, we will get to take Bede home. I’ve lost track of time. I think this admission has been nearly 2 months. SO far it is starting to give us answers though which is good. We are hoping to have Bede home and in good shape to enjoy christmas with his family.

Tada! Bede’s back.

Posted on December 5, 2014 by isabellanancy

I can’t really put into words my optimism right now.

tada…. i’m back!

Bede has been out of PICU for a little while but there was the strong chance he would have to go back especially as we were finding it difficult to maintain IV access. While that chance was there and still so strong we didn’t want to jinx it too much. Now that is looking less and less likely.

laughing after an ICU doctor said he probably wouldn’t make it

I have a lot of updating to do and I will. There is still so much big positive happy news to deliver! We need to fill you in after you all so happily ‘held this space‘ and to give you the results of our last MRI scan when we all wished for whatever was best for Bede.

For now Bede seems to have made such a strong comeback. With the incidental adjustment of some meds he is the most himself he has been in months. He laughs freely and happily and it’s glorious.

Our happy little bumble Bede

We know he’s not out of the woods yet, we know his recovery is slow almost too slow but his soul, his spirit, is strong.

We will CT his lungs on Monday and hope there is nothing unexpected or too bad there.

Hope is tangible and although Bede is still on oxygen he is nearly crawling!

Slowly but surely we are making ground.

I feel positive, optimistic, uplifted and happy all his teams are communicating with each other and us.

Gus has made his high flow oxygen tubing his teething toy.

Bede has made his high flow oxygen tubing his teething toy.

this is too much happy for 3am!

So the big update is being drafted as we speak…. Get excited Team Bede, get excited.

For now I just wanted to share these pictures and let you know that once again your love and prayers and positivity have helped carry him through a storm that some thought he could not weather. Our last post received hundreds of Facebook shares, thousands of visitors and views from dozens of countries. We are so deeply humbled and thankful that so many of you are getting behind Bede. We truly believe it is making a difference in his life.

Bede is small but he is mighty.

Hold this space

Posted on September 16, 2014 by isabellanancy

We have so much to share with you all. As soon as we have had enough time to sit with all the different pieces news and process them ourselves, as a family, I promise you we will.
As soon as I feel like I can adequately convey the light and shade of it all I will.

In the meantime I wouldn’t get too invested in any of the third hand whisperings that are doing the rounds and I can’t let them rush us.

We have some more big positive posts coming up and we can’t wait to share them with you.

For now here is Bede.

His agitation has passed. He can’t tolerate any feed at the moment and has been losing weight. He ended up needing a general anaesthetic just to get a drip in so we could hydrate him and yet he does not falter.

Bede is irrepressible, unstoppable.
He is nearly crawling and always laughing.

He is growing and developing.

He is hope.
He is light.
He is shining.
Busy embracing life and rolling around after his brother or the dog. He is enjoying himself.
I can’t help but smile as I type this just thinking of him at the moment is such a delight. He is so happy and cheeky and fun.

Thank you for your patience, for standing with us. Thank you for your love.

We are both so grateful

I promise the updates will come soon.

Issy and Roy

Bede’s tumour is growing.

Posted on August 14, 2014 by isabellanancy

As I write this it’s late. Roy’s been doing the heavy lifting with nights lately but tonight I am alone. Waiting to give the midnight meds and hoping he drifts off soon.
We have been buying time. Buying time to process our reality, buying time to let Gus sort out everything he has going on at school, buying time while we figure out what we want to do.

But there is no time to be bought and I am sick and tired of half sentences, half answers. Not lying but not disclosing. Holding our secret close when we all know a problem shared is a problem lightened.

Three weeks ago we posted about Bede’s MRI and received the results pretty quickly. Since then we have wrapped ourselves up in the love and comfort of our closest friends and family.
We have had twice weekly meetings with Bede’s primary doctor.

We have tried to keep on swimming while the difficult wave filled nights have threatened to drown us in exhaustion and in our own thoughts.

Bede’s tumour is growing.
The cancer is overcoming the chemotherapy and the tumour is breathing new life, focused on robbing Bede of his. For now, both astoundingly and predictably, it fails.

Bede is here living and laughing, lighting and loving and it looks a little something like this…

He lights the way and I am so happy to just bathe in that shine and follow his lead. His inner joy, his uncompromising happiness and resilient love glisten through the troubles like jewels.

We also have two trips to Sydney coming up to see different doctors. We have people in the US and the UK looking at Bede’s scans. Surgeons, oncologists, radiation oncologists. We are having renewed discussions with our team of doctors in Perth.

We hope to go forward with balanced judgment with an aim to prolong sweet life for Bede but never at his own expense. As our little miracle man keeps on keeping on.

Your prayers, your hope, your love are always humbly received.
I know I have said it before but the miracle Bede has had and continues to need is all of you. We hope you will continue to buoy him with your good will.
If love, hope, prayers, faith, positivity and joy don’t shrink this tumour it won’t be for lack of trying. Please continue to get behind Bede.

The tumour is growing.
Bede is small, Bede is mighty and we are so very thankful.

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth….

Posted on April 28, 2014 by isabellanancy

GOOD NEWS AHEAD:

—-

We’ve been busy living.
We’ve had beautiful Bede’s first easter at home but it was his second easter. We are well and truly in the year of seconds now!

We’ve been home which has been challenging and care intensive but also fortifying.
We’ve been on picnics in parks and lakes and little monastic country towns. We’ve been for bush walks and BBQs and to the farmers markets. We’ve sat in the fresh air and sunshine and we’ve even dragged Bede along to a wine tasting. We’ve had baths and cuddles and snuggles and kisses. We’ve been enjoying the day to day of family life and all during the school holidays so Gus has been around with us.

Most of all we’ve been delighting in our little boy’s spirit. He has the funniest comic timing and his laugh is irrepressible. He will be sleeping and just wake up bubbling over with laughter, watching a movie, in the middle of a conversation, while he’s lying on his play mat alone. His laughter and smiles and light fill the air.
So here’s what getting home and being home have sort of looked like….

Bede’s 15 month birthday…I’m always pinching myself reminding myself that I sat in ICU begging for months not weeks and here we are! living it.

Sometimes its hard to find the baby amidst the medical but then there his soul is reliant and dazzling

Sometimes its hard to find the baby amidst the medical but then his soulfulness is always there.

Mates chilling, waiting for MRI

So confident, bede was so strong and happy going into surgery.

Following his brain shunt reinsertion. This whole process can be brutal and yet Bede retains his tenderness. he is not hardened, he retains his gentle strength

Bede’s favourite place in the world is the shower even at the hospital.

Bede’s osteopenic now as a result of his treatment. A full body scan showed two fractured legs and a collapsed vertebrae

This picture shows bede exactly as he is.

this photo is Bede to a tee.

matching easter pyjamas

world’s most photographed baby

chilling by the lake

brothers

picnic laughs at the park

His joy is whole and pure. He is resettling finding his feet and once again reclaiming his peace. His light shimmers.

Physically he has been temporarily diminished but he is still whole.

He babbles. He says “hi”. He reaches out for hugs and pulls us in until he’s had enough and then pushes us away. Although his illness and his treatment have delayed his development he is so purposeful now.
Most of all he smiles and laughs and glistens with wonder.

We are happy.
Bede has been readmitted once again on the verge of his bowel perforating but thanks to the team we caught it early and he has beat it back and is doing well. The experimental treatment he has been on has involved high flow oxygen which really agitates him but everytime he manages to pull the prongs out of his nose he laughs and delights in his own determination.

That is a determination that has served him well.

A little over a year ago the Bede Update was not yet a blog and was being delivered to around 60 people in the form of a text message. A little over a year ago I sent this text out:

I asked for your positive thoughts for a day and I had no idea I would still be here clothed in gratitude and the deepest humility after a year of support, love, prayers, sunshine and good vibrations or that all of that would now be coming from so many of you.

You have not given into apathy, you have lifted us up and my gosh we are thankful.

So here, almost by way of thanks, is the big MRI news.
The MRI results are in and 5 months after chemo finished the primary tumour is still shrinking significantly month to month. It is not just the necrotized cystic matter but also the solid tumour matter significantly shrinking. This is phenomenal, unexpected, incredible. Miraculous.Our doctor has never seen this before.
We were only meant to be able to achieve 20% shrinkage. We are now so far beyond that.

o the left is Bede;s tumour May 2013 and to the right April 2014. The white specks on his brain stem that used to keep his neck crooked to one side are completely gone.

To the left is Bede’s tumour May 2013 and to the right April 2014. The white specks on his brain stem that for a while kept his neck crooked to one side are completely gone.

Bede’s face as his main doctor told us the news.

We are happy and proud and reassured and validated and just overwhelmingly happy. We have fought hard and he has fought with us and we are finally winning. We are holding on tight to each other and we are so happy.

after hearing the news we went out and had a tequila almost a year since we went and had one tequila to celebrate finding out we would have more than weeks.

after hearing the news i must confess we had a celebratory tequila before getting back to work.

Bede is defying. He is cancer conquering. He is living life on his terms. He is calmly and purposefully setting the rules.

The doctors of course still say Bede is terminal and won’t give us a timeframe but slowly, daringly, maybe naively, wild brash hope starts to creep in. Hope for time, hope for life, hope that we can continue to enjoy his company for a little longer.

It’s not an easy fight. But it is one that Bede fights with peaceful loving resistance. He is the embodiment of so much love and devotion. It’s time we all start getting used to the fact he may be sticking around for a while.

Trying to write a thank you to all of you, the members of team bede, I imagined you all standing in front of me and this is what I would say to each of you…

You have helped me carry my child, you have stilled my hands when they were shaking, you have strengthened me when I faltered and when I was too scared to be positive or scared that my positivity alone was not enough you helped carry a mother’s load. You have held Bede as I have held Bede. Your love has grazed his forehead like the gentlest kiss. When our family faced fear, darkness and despair it was your arms we felt around us.
Apparently miracles do happen, Bede’s life is a miracle and from the bottom of my heart I believe it is you who are helping deliver it. So as I type this through tears of gratitude thank you does not seem enough but thank you and Bede’s life lived so beautifully is all I have to offer.

I hope you will all continue a long this journey with us, carrying him on this wave of good intent, delivering the miracles that love and prayers and positivity have helped deliver

Thank you.

He may be small but he is mighty.

Note:

Last post I said I would update you on all the ups and downs of the last few months but I think its time to let all that go. We sat there with death by our side and predictably Bede stared it down. It was taxing and difficult. For Bede, and indeed all of us, it was brutal. We were in some of the worst places we have ever been. But that is done and now here we are bathing in his light and love and happiness. In this moment tired resilient happiness is our truth.

moving mountains

Posted on March 18, 2014 by isabellanancy

I know it’s been a while. We have been busy living the highs and the lows and basking in Bede’s persistent glow. He has been growing, nourished by our deep love and with an easy happiness that comes from being in your context.

Over the last couple of months we have had some beautiful times spent in the glowing sunshine, laughter wafting through the coastal air, sipping strawberry lemonade, feeding dolphins, dozing in the gentle southern sun and snuggling into the comfort of home. Wishes have been busy coming true. We have also had some extremely difficult times, especially over the last 3 weeks as I held his lifeless body to my own watching his heart rate drop and calling for help.

I have been putting off posting until I had the space to give the joy all the room it deserves and I do not have that in this moment. Bede is busy and so then are we as he makes his latest come back. I suppose I have also been putting off posting until I really knew what Bede wanted. From the lifeless boy we worried for to spending hours laughing last night he has shown us. He is fighting. He is undeterred. He is resolute. He wants life and all the wonder that holds and he is fighting for it.

Bede’s resolve is uncompromised, hope pours from him, his eyes glisten with promise and love and his inner joy that he has gifted the world with. His gentle tenderness is profound and unerring even as he scales the highest metaphorical mountains. He is no longer our infant son he has become our little boy. He is robust.

This post is me once again laying myself at your feet and humbly asking all those of you who have followed his journey to please get behind him today. He has another MRI. He has pulled some miracles out of his hat over the last few weeks. From nearly being sent home to die to the tumour possibly and miraculously getting even smaller without the chemo to his spinal cancer possibly taking off. There is a lot riding on today. We are in limbo today waiting to find out if we are approaching end stage or if we are able to keep on making wishes come true. (Melbourne you are in our sights!)

We are tired and we still need to wrap him up in goodness. Today any love, positivity, hope, sunshine, good vibrations, joy, belief you could send Bede’s way are really needed. Our gratitude to each of you runs deep.

He’s done it!

Posted on January 17, 2014 by isabellanancy

We’ve done it! He’s done it!

We got the formal results of the MRI and the tumour has shrunk a total of 50% over the course of treatment.

Let me make that gloriously clear… The tumour has not regrown.

This post has been a little delayed. Thank you for your patience and unwavering support.

I would have loved to shout the news from the mountain tops the day we found out but instead we sat in our doctor’s office, in shock, sedating Bede, holding him while he screamed, perplexed and trying to figure out what was happening. Over the last 2 weeks we have been averaging about an hours broken sleep a night. Attempting to keep Bede comfortable has been an all consuming challenge and no one could get to the bottom of what was wrong.

We finally found a nasty urine infection, a bacterial gut infection and gastro. … the perils of having a suppressed immune system.
Now he is improving. He is smiling more freely and laughing again. His chuckle fills the room.

I am now able to take a moment and bathe in his beautiful light, wrap myself in his warmth and rejoice in his triumph. The news, finally, gently settles and I delight. It hasn’t grown!

With love, positivity, hope, prayers, blind faith and determination… It hasn’t grown! He’s done it again. Multiple doctors looked at that CT. Neurologists, neuro surgeon, radiologists and oncologists. It looked bigger to everyone but it’s not. Bede has done it again.

I do not feel relief. I feel pride. A deep, soul nourishing pride. A pride that is only paralleled by my gratitude to each of you. I am sure I have said it before and it remains true- the miracle Bede has needed and continues to need is each of you.

Make no mistake, your love, hope, positivity, prayers, vibes, thoughts have carried him through as though on the wings of angels.
I am humbled. I am humbled that you have not only taken a moment out of your day to send Bede some love but that you have held him in your thoughts and minds and collective consciousness. That you have wrapped him up in kindness and hope and protective love.

Make no mistake, the love you send Bede helps him in a very real and tangible way.

Our family has big decisions ahead of us. Ones that involve life and death, pain and joy, hurt and time. There is a balancing act ahead. I have faith that whatever is meant for Bede, he will continue to lead us and light the way.

Tonight Gus says that if everyone is confident in Bede, we might just get through. I told him the tumour has not grown and he said “well that’s a delight to hear.” Yes beautiful boy it is!

Bede’s light is soothing. His essence is transitional and strong and gentle.
He is bruised but he is recovering. He is determined and he is joy.
He snuggles.
He will laugh as long as you are happy to laugh along side him and is finding humour and happiness in the most peculiar things.

Roy and I are feeling so blessed to have our family together under one roof again tonight.

He’s flipping done it!

I can’t think of a better note to leave you on than this video we took earlier today. This video lets bede speak for himself. Bede has decided that going to sleep is hysterically funny. He is such a happy boy.

Thank you.

Understated Magnificence

Posted on January 6, 2014 by isabellanancy

I am not sure if I have been doing Bede justice. If I have been able to find the right words. Though I suspect I could search for a lifetime and there would be no words glorious enough to befit him.

You know the blog is a funny beast in some ways. Early on I would pour my heart in to it, my child was laying next to me dying, the emotion was close for the recall. At times I have felt tethered. I have recruited so many of you to back Bede and I so desperately want to bring him to the world and hold him up as a shining example and say this is beauty and joy and light. Sometimes it is hard to write and I have found myself making myself write to honour the support you have given him. Tonight I really want to write.

I want to say that right now he is rolling back and the forth on the floor grizzling but my goodness he is oozing heartbreaking, life altering, world shaking beauty.

Sometimes his eyes are subdued but they are pools of love and hope and wisdom and all the secrets of life that he has been so generously sharing with the people that will pause long enough to gaze into them.

Sometimes his voice gives life to his discontent but the shades of light and love dance within every inflection.

His fingers reach out and grasp me and his daddy, purposefully and with hurried conviction but he is gentle and thoughtful in his purpose.

When he wakes he smiles. His laugh is round and whole and sincere it shakes his core and then it tickles mine.

His head is close to bald but that lets the gentle afternoon light glide across it a little more easily.

He looks within himself as the sunsets and finds a non medicated peace. It’s not synthetic, it’s not prescribed, I have not raised him to have it, it can not be given. His peace wells bountifully from deep within him and if you’d like a piece of his peace he’ll freely, happily, lovingly give it to you.

His light fluctuates it is true but it is beautiful light and it always has depth. When he is defiantly glowing, persistently shining and all out dazzling it is captivating.

There is some how earth within him. He is grounded and has substance and light and weight and hope. They meld together within him and he overflows with the goodness of life. He is beautiful, he is truth.

He is understated magnificence. Who even knew that existed? Understated magnificence.
And yes there will be grief but that is for me and you and his daddy and his brother and all those who have known him or of him or who have been privileged to love him through real time or cyber waves. There is no grief for him.

He has lived. He brought it.
If we choose not to measure life in longevity but by life lived Bede has out done us all. He has found joy and adventure and experience and life in the big things and the tiny things. He has calmly, minimisingly, walked through horrors and let them go.
He has been ever present in every moment. I’m sure you could not say the same.

He has brought it.

So yes there will be grief but it is not his. Yes I posted a post where you could find grief but that is not ours. For Bede is here. What a gift.

A life altering, world shaking, course defining, light embodying, secret telling, profound soul is here. What a joy!

I think the reason I started to feel tethered to the blog and started posting less was because I doubted myself. I started seeing everyone calling Bede heartbreaking. If that is what you think then, and I say this with all my kindness, my heart breaks for you.

He is beautiful and though his life may be fleeting it is impressive, it is joyful, it is the greatest gift I never even knew I was worthy of until he raised me up and made me worthy.

Through all this bigness, big words, big heart, big impact – he is tiny, he is gentle, he is precious. Unwaveringly true.

None of this is cause to call our lives heart breaking. It is not cause for sad face emoticons to be given out like they are going out of fashion. It is not cause for pity. If I am honest, and I fear I may sound abrupt, if that is your take, I pity you.

I am sorry that his light isn’t falling on your face, I am sorry his profoundness isn’t having the opportunity to raise you up, I am sorry you haven’t experienced his healing tenderness. Lean in a little closer, smile a little more broadly, love a little more recklessly, rejoice a little more daringly and you will feel it to. His shine is generous and I know it is not just confined to his family.

Yes I posted earlier today. It was a call to arms of love and happiness and faith and blind hope. Bede is here, dancing his way through life. He has a had a bad couple of days but he is dealing with it with smiles.
Tonight Bede’s love envelops me. His strength fortifies me. His light dazzles me. His tenderness heals me. His persistence encourages me.

I urge you to get behind the boy who will give you whatever you are open to taking from him. Get behind him with positivity.

Tonight the roses are in full bloom, the breeze is in and there is magic in the air. The world is more beautiful, more light, more wonderful because he is in it.
His is a life worth celebrating.

–

–
(I posted a shorter post earlier today. To check it out and find out why we need your positivity leading up to the 8th of Jan click here.)

Growing.

Posted on January 5, 2014 by isabellanancy

I am not sure what to say or do or how to act. I am sitting here, as what must surely be one of the most blessed and privileged women in the world because I get Bede. I come with humility and humbleness and hope that you will as you have so many times before, get behind Bede.

Bede’s birthday was not our best. If it were any other day we would have taken him into the hospital.

We kept him home not for the photos or the party but just to spare him being needled and examined and scanned on his birthday.
We have been averaging a couple of hours sleep a night for the last 5 nights or so because Bede is irritated. He has been crying a bit, vomiting a lot and grizzling all the time. It was difficult to get food or fluids down his tube without making him distressed.
We were monitoring him at home but knowing within our selves that the tumour was growing.

We took him into the hospital and I knew.
We waited for the scan and it felt like that instinctive feeling you get when danger is coming and I knew.
We got called into the doctors office and now they knew.
Now it was real.
We told Gus and all he had to say was “Come on!”

The scan was just a CT scan which is not overly accurate to compare to the more detailed MRI but it looks like it is growing, it looks like we have regained the 20% we lost. Combined with Bede’s symptoms that is really not great.
The doctors resumed the drug that makes Bede’s face swell up and upped a lot of his other doses to try and make him more comfortable.

Bede is still regularly laughing at us, smiling with us, loving kisses, enjoying playing his piano and is his usual tender self. But there is also distress where before there was none.

His skin is silk, I never want to forget that feeling.
When he sleeps or when he is unsettled his fingers tip toe across the bed looking for me, he grasps me for a moment and then lets go. Happy to have his space but reassured that I am close.
His laugh remains rambunctious and resilient. His magic is soft and gentle and hopeful. His light uncompromising, continuing to lead the way.
He is weakened but he is not diminished.
He is whole.

Everything I wrote in the blog on new years day remains true. He is still evolving and developing and growing.

Every time I look for heart ache there is none. My beautiful, soulful, loving boy is here and I am thankful.

On the 8th of January we have his MRI. That will tell us definitively just how bad a position we are in.

My words can not do justice to Bede in this moment and any words I do have feel like they are all about me and how much I love him and this is about Bede.
Bede is strength and beauty and substance and light and leadership and hope. He is gentle, tender, unrelenting strength and love. He is goodness.

My words fail me, but my deep love for him implores me to write today. To ask you, the people with all the hope and love and prayers and positivity that have bestowed Bede with so many miracles, to please get behind him. Focus your happiness, hope, positivity, prayers, love, whatever you’ve got on Bede. We want as much happy time as we can get to afford him a life filled with as much, wonder, marvel, joy, relaxation, love and exploration as we can. We are not greedy, we know this wonderful life will come to an end, but for now we want more. More for us and Gus but even more importantly more for him. I truly believe your loving and hopeful support has achieved that for him before.

I have said it before and I will say it as many times as I need to…. I promise you he is so very worth it.

As the tumour grows and effects his ability to have food or rest he manages to retain his peace.
As the chaos of cancer begins to grumble and swirl he is grounded and he smiles and laughs.
As the irritation flits in and out he loves tenderly.
We love him deeply, a love that is only paralleled by our pride.

This resilience, beauty, peace and happiness is his defining truth.
He is small but he is mighty. He is uncompromisingly Bede.

(follow up post here)

	Alex on Because you were his.
	Celina on Because you were his.
	Alex on Because you were his.
	Dijana on Because you were his.
	Michelle on Because you were his.

The Bede Update

He may be small but he is mighty

Tag Archives: baby bede

Let’s bring Bede home.

Our christmas star.

Tada! Bede’s back.

Hold this space

Bede’s tumour is growing.

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth….

moving mountains

He’s done it!

Let me make that gloriously clear… The tumour has not regrown.

Understated Magnificence

Growing.