Well, Isaac's treatment this week was quite an adventure! It all began when Ellen took Gabriel into the doctor for his chicken pox vaccination on Monday. The doctor looked at Ellen and said that Gabriel currently had the chicken pox and he couldn't get the vaccine. Who knew that he had the chicken pox? In fact, he had 5 spots and they had just shown up that day.So, this immediately posed a problem for Isaac's treatment. Ellen usually takes Isaac and Gabriel to the hospital with her mom. This way, Gabriel can still be with mom and Ellen and Isaac get a chance help while they are at the hospital. Plus, Gabe is still breastfed and won't take a bottle of EBM. With chicken pox, Gabe couldn't come to the hospital, which meant that I had to take the day off to take Isaac to treatment. And it's hard to take time off.
Anyhow, treatment went really well and I really enjoyed my time with Isaac at the hospital. Even when Ellen called me every 1/2 hour to give me a tip on how to do things while we were there! I made sure to take a lot of photos so I could document the complete day of treatment for my next blog update.
The best thing about the day, however, was the visit from Elizabeth Witmer (pictured with Isaac above) and her assistant, Erin Greatrix. Elizabeth is the MPP that really made treatment a reality for Isaac. She's an incredibly caring and compassionate person and truly believed in Isaac and our hope to get provincial funding for treatment. When Erin told her about Isaac, she agreed to meet with me almost immediately. She fully understood that we were running out of time to get Isaac started on treatment and moved immediately to confront the government about the lack of funding available to bring hope to Isaac.
While the Liberals did nothing to show their support for Isaac, and while the Liberals showed no remorse for our family situation, Elizabeth came to the rescue. She continued to push for our cause and brought Isaac up in the Legislature twice. And if we didn't want her to say something publicly about Isaac, she respected our wishes. And when we sent reporters her way, she made time for them over and over again.
Elizabeth showed how incredible she is is by taking the time to visit Isaac during one of his treatments. She cared how things were going. She immediately noticed all the changes in Isaac and recognized how important it was to see the how wonderful and life-saving this treatment truly is for Isaac. Moreso, she wanted to show that she appreciated the efforts that our family put towards saving our son. This is more than what George Smitherman has done and more than what our local MPP, Lou Rinaldi (another Liberal, BTW) has done.
Our family is indebted to Elizabeth for what she has done for us. She's changed our lives immeasurably and has given Isaac hope for the future. That's all any parent can ask for - Hope for their children's future. Although we can never repay her for her kindness and support, I hope that she'll be available for us to send her a card when Isaac graduates from highschool. And I hope she'll be around for us to send her Isaac's wedding photo, and the announcement of the birth of his first child. And I truly hope she'll be available to speak at our celebration party when we make the announcement that we've found a cure for this horrible disease. No matter what the future holds, we have one for our son thanks to Elizabeth.
Take Care,
The Isaac Foundation
1 comment:
I have read through each of your blog entries and your story is truly inspiring. I am extremely happy that Isaac is getting the treatment he so badly needs. I am also impressed with Elizabeth Witmer. Her dedication to your family is obviously motivated by much more then political gain and that is refreshing to see. If only more politicians could have the vision and compassion that she has shown. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Biomarin......
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