CKWS News Clip

As promised, here's the video of Isaac's latest news appearance. It should be active soon (sometimes Youtube takes longer than expected). If the clip doesn't work just try again a bit later and it should be active.

Warmest,
The Isaac Foundation

Isaac's First Soccer Game, More Civitan Support, and Celebrity Golf...

Hi Everyone,

Seems like I say this everytime I'm updating the website and blog, but it's been very busy around the McFadyen household over the past week or so. But it's been a good busy, as always!

Isaac started his first soccer game last Tuesday and was adorable! He wasn't interested in playing soccer at all, but that wasn't a surprise to us. He'd been telling us that he "just wanted to to watch" and not play.

Well, that's just what he did! Actually, he has found a new best friend in his coach, Rob. Isaac figured out that his coach was the guy in the "red hat" and proceeded to follow him around for the entire game. In fact, we don't really have any pictures of Isaac's first soccer game that Rob isn't a part of! The photo above illustrates how the game went, for both Isaac and Rob.

It was an incredible feeling, watching our son out there with other kids, being part of his first team. And we didn't have to worry about him being different from other kids. We didn't have to worry about the fact that he was the smallest kid on the field. We didn't have to worry about people looking at him as being special in any way at all. And it was nice that his coach, Rob, seemed to enjoy his company as much as Isaac did his. Rob is the first person in Isaac's life, outside of his friends and family, that has the potential to have a lasting impression on him. And hopefully there will be many more like him in the future. More coaches, school teachers, custodians that will have an impact on his life and help guide him through his day to day activities. What a great feeling that is for any parent.

Guess it should be said that Isaac did get a chance to play goal near the end of the game. Of course, Rob had to take him down there and show him how, but he did it and played the rest of the game in goal! And we're lucky that Isaac gets to play on the same team as his friend, Evan, who is pictured below. Both of them love to socialize, so Tuesday nights will be a great time for them to visit each other...

On Thursday, Ellen, Isaac, Gabriel, and I were back in Kingston for another cheque presentation from the Civitan Clubs. After my first presentation to the organization, I was asked to speak at their East Region Convention, which I was very happy to do so. The audience was so kind and caring, and they received my presentation and our Foundation very well. Each club went back to their membership and asked for donations which resulted in the cheque presentation on Thursday. In total, we were given $6800 from Civitan members, an amount that is very generous, heartfelt, and heart-warming.

The media were there to record the event for the Kingston news and we had the opportunity to be interviewed afterwards. We still haven't seen the final result but I should have access to a copy in the near future. We'll upload the news clip once we get the opportunity.

We want to take this chance to thank the CIVITAN members for their tremendous support and encouragement over the past few months. Their organization truly makes a difference in the communities they serve and we are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to be supported by them. They will play a big role in our finding a cure for Isaac and I look forward to having Civitan members celebrate with us once we realize our goal.

As far as the golf tournament goes, we're still working away at getting silent-auction items donated, teams signed up, and doing everything involved with organizing a successful tournament. Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip will be joining us at the event, as will Peter Milliken, the Speaker of the House of Commons. And of course, Isaac and Gabriel will be on hand to welcome all the golfers to the event and will be travelling from team to team during the day to visit with them, shoot photos and, possibly, putt one in for each team!

If you're interested in joining us for the day, please let us know via email. We'd love to have you attend!

Guess that's it for now.

The Isaac Foundation

Successful Run, Heart News, Don Cherry, and Golf...

Hi All,

Well, it's been a very busy and successful week or two for The Isaac Foundation. Our RUN FOR ISAAC! event at the National Capital Race went very well. Because of our status as a Destination Charity for the event, we received a booth at the Pfizer Health and Fitness Expo. It was a great opportunity to meet people and inform them about Isaac, his disease, and our Foundation because over 30,000 people go through the Expo ever year. We sold a lot of our Isaac Foundation Apparel and took donations from the public to support our run. It was a great event to be a part of and we Thank the organizers for making it such a successful expo.

Race Weekend was truly awesome! Our Run For Isaac! team did very well, some posting personal bests for their times, some running in the full marathon for the first time, some (including me!) running the 1/2 for the first time, and some running for the first time period!

It was an incredible commitment for our runners to make and we truly thank them for their efforts! Everyone worked hard to canvass for pledges, promote our foundation and, of course, train for their races. My family drove the 6 1/2 hours for the trip, ran in the race, helped out at the booth, looked after Isaac and Gabriel while Ellen and I raced, and didn't complain the whole time!

It was really nice to be able to meet new people and bring together a group that cares truly and deeply about our son. They want to make a difference in his life, and the life of others affected by this disease, and it was overwhelming to have their support. Runners that came out will now be life-long friends and we look forward to getting to know everyone well over the coming years.

Initial figures suggest that we made close to $10,000 for the Foundation, money that will go directly towards funding innovative research projects that aim to cure this disease. Thank you to everyone for their tremendous effort!

After we returned from Race weekend, Isaac had treatment on Tuesday and an appointment with the Cardiologist on Wednesday, both at Sick Kids' in Toronto. Treatment went well and we learned that Isaac grew another cm. To most this isn't big news, for our family this is incredible!

The cardiologist told us that Isaac's ventricle is still enlarged, and more so than last time we were there. This happens because of his heart-valve prolapse and the blood shoots back into his ventricle as it moves through his heart. In an effort to control the enlargement, Isaac has now been placed on blood pressure medication. Ideally, this prevents the ventricle from growing. We'll update more on this when we know more.

One of the apparel items that we had made up in addition to our hats, t-shirts, hoodies, and golf shirts, is a hockey jersey. And they look incredible!! I wore it to school one day (a crazy, hot day no doubt) and it was a huge hit. A friend of mine suggested that we make one up for Don Cherry and send it along to see if he can wear it on Coach's Corner. So we did! And it looks great. We put his name on the back and gave him Bobby Orr's #4. Now we're just working on getting it out to him in time for the Cup finals in Ottawa. We've been working away at this idea now for a while and we're hopeful that he'll be able to wear it. Pictures of the jersey for Don are posted below the rest of the pictures of the runners (speaking of photos of runners...sorry we didn't get a shot of everyone. I hope it's understandable! We' had so many runners, not enough time to shoot everyone!) If you have photos of the event, please send them along and I'll try to put a photo album together for everyone and upload it to the main site.

Finally, we're madly working towards our 2nd annual Celebrity Golf tournament. The event takes place on June 23rd at the Inverary Golf Club near Kingston, Ontario. Cost is $500 per team, which will include a $75 charitable receipt, golf, cart, lunch, dinner, and prizes for each participant. Please send us an email if you'd like to register your team as spots are filling up fast!

As promised...here's the Hockey Jersey for Don Cherry! Hopefully he's interested in wearing it. We've got a lot going for us! They're Bruin's colours, Bobby Orr's number is on the back, The charity is for a little boy, We're from KINGSTON!, and they really are beautiful shirts. GO DON!

Guess that's it for now. We'll try to update again soon.
Warmest,
The Isaac Foundation