Ride For Forester - Fundraiser!

Attention Carolina Bikers! Biker fans! Or, just fans of Forester and fundraisers! Please join us on Sunday (this Sunday) at 11am!!

It is late for me to be posting about this (so sorry Molly) but my trainer and friend, Molly Meekins, has put together a fundraiser for Forester happening THIS Sunday. It is a motorcycle poker ride! If you don't know what that is (I didn't), you pay a registration fee, then all bikes start at one location and travel to 4 more stops, ending at the 5th. At each stop you receive a playing card, but there will also be other fun things happening at each stop. At the final and 5th stop you show your "poker hand". Prizes will be given to the best hand and the worst. There will also be tons of stuff being raffled off as well as a band playing, a fish fry, and some dude who does cool tricks on his bike! CARS are also welcome! You don't have to have a bike to join the fun. All proceeds will go to help pay Forester's medical bills!! Hopefully Forester will be feeling good enough to be there for all the fun, too.

It's hard to see the details on the flyer above so here are the details I have:

Sep 20: Ride for Forester!

Registration @ 11am @ Clydes Place (5245 Dorchester Rd, N. Charleston),

$15/Bike $5/Passenger.

Last Bike Out: 12:30pm.

Last Bike In: 4:30pm. @ Checkered Flag (2366 Ashley River Rd. W. Ashley)

Live Band (Numb909) starts @ 4pm. 50/50, Raffles!!

Reminder...

Please take less than a minute to log in and vote 10x for MUSC Children's hospital to get the Xbox upgrade! THANKS!

So far so good today. Forester is having a little snack & watching a disney movie.

http://xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org/default.aspx

Feeling better!

Forester returned home with a smile and a request for steak. What a difference an ER visit can make! He's been giggling and generally in great spirits which is a huge contrast from the weepy, tired, sick, little boy he was this afternoon. We had to say no on the steak..maybe not the best choice for tonight. But, he's having some Gatorade and some crackers and watching a little TV. Thank you so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray that this will be the beginning of managing his symptoms and that tomorrow will be a good day. Pete leaves before sunrise. Forester is always sad when daddy isn't here so please also pray for his little heart and that I can be the comfort he needs while Pete is away. Oh yeah, and pray for my sanity. :-) Love to you all & goodnight!

~Whitney

Still at the ER

Forester and Pete are still at the ER. Forester is getting some color back thanks to the bags of fluid, and is getting ready to try some pretzels. We're praying those go down ok. Tests are being run to make sure he isn't fighting anything else and we're still waiting on results. I'm hoping they'll be home in the next hour or so. Keep praying & thanks so much for doing so! ~Whitney

Headed to the ER...again.

Forester has been home since early Friday evening. Round 4 went ok. He had some vomiting in the hospital but otherwise things went fine. In the last several months we've been able to manage the vomiting pretty well with all of the drugs he's on. For some reason, this month the meds don't seem to be doing the job. Forester has been unable to keep much down since he got home & today he cannot even tolerate a small amount of liquid. This is a vicious cycle because his nausea medicines aren't staying down either... So, per doctor's request we'll be heading to the ER when Forester awakes from a nap. He'll get some fluids via his port and hopefully this will help the dehydration and in general help his body to return to "normal". Please pray for him! He is scared to eat or drink anything now...so tired of being sick. I just feel so bad for him.

Pete is leaving town for the week on business. He was supposed to leave tonight but was able to change his flight to tomorrow morning. Please pray for all of us as the timing of this trip is not great. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your prayers!

Whitney

One way you can help!

As you know, Forester's hospital stays are tough and to be honest, quite boring for him. One thing that really helps pass the time and is something to look forward to is the Atrium Playroom at MUSC Children's Hospital. One of Forester's favorite things to do in the Atrium is play Xbox. Unfortunately, it was broken this week. Children's Miracle Network and Microsoft are teaming up to provide an gaming upgrade to a Children's Hospital playroom but it will be determined by VOTERS. We need this upgrade! Please follow this link, and take the short little steps to vote for MUSC Children's. You can vote 10 times per day! If each of you from this blog would vote 10x each day, I'm sure that MUSC would win this upgrade. We are currently in 6th place. The top 3 win! Please take a moment and VOTE! THANK YOU!!! (more details from this week and future happenings to be posted soon!!)

Here is the official info and link: (thanks Betsy!)

The Children's Miracle Network has partnered with Microsoft to award an upgraded game room to the three CMN children's hospitals that receive the highest number of votes in a national contest among pediatric hospitals.

YOU can help us win this amazing opportunity for the children at MUSC Children’s Hospital.

People who vote also have an opportunity to win one of several Xbox 360 game systems. Each person may submit a maximum of 10 votes per day.

It only takes a few minutes to sign up (heck, it took me 47 seconds, but your results may vary). Register and vote here: http://xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org/default.aspx

Please vote 10 times EVERY day and pass this email along to others!

p.s. The contest runs until 16 OCTOBER.

p.s.s. MUSC Children’s Hospital is currently sixth on the list. Remember: we only need to reach the top THREE~!

Hearing Test

Forester's hearing is still PERFECT! PRAISE GOD!! Woo-hoo!

BRAVES GAME!

We had the very best day at the Braves game! It truly was a boys' dream come true. Forester was given his own jersey, ball and glove all signed by the players. Coach Glenn Hubbard took Forester into the clubhouse and he was able to meet all the players. He said it "was so cool"! Coach Glenn is an amazing man. We just can't express our appreciation to him for making all of this happen. Forester even got to say "Play Ball" to start the game! Thank you sooo much to all of you who came out to support Forester and love on us. I am sorry most of you didn't get to see Forester. He was so wiped out from the heat, the walking and pre-game festivities, he took a 2 hour nap on the couch in the suite & missed half of the game! I am also sorry we weren't able to see and talk to each one of you who came out. :-( It was a crazy day, but PERFECT (minus the loss in the 12th inning!).

A lot has been going on the last couple of weeks and I haven't had a chance to blog. I'm limited on time today too as Forester's 4th round of chemo starts today. He will have a hearing test today (PRAY) and then the 4 chemo drugs will start this evening (PRAY!) Remember all those yucky side effects and keep praying against them. Also, Micah apparently bumped his front tooth a few months back and it has died and become infected. He has to have his 2 front teeth extracted today at 2:30. Please pray that everything goes smoothly. As always, please continue to pray protection over our family from any illness as germs are our biggest enemy these days. It is obvious these prayers are working!! Please keep it up. More very soon. We love you all and thank you so much for your love and prayers for us.

*A professional photographer was taking lots of pictures on Sunday and I know some of you have some that are much better than mine, but I wanted to get something on the blog right away. Here's a little snapshot of our day!