An Update...

Brendon's party was a huge success. There were around 148 people that were able to make it. The weather was beautiful and the facility was gorgeous. Brendon kind of knew about his party, but he didn't know the extent of how big it would be or when it would be. We had a blast and it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. My regret is that I didn't get to visit with everyone more. The day flew by! Thanks to everyone who helped out. There were so many people that volunteered to bring food or to help clean up. We appreciate it so much! Thank you also to everyone for the gifts for Brendon. He was so thankful. He did not open the gifts and cards until we got home that night and we were all blown away by everyone's generosity.

The regular baseball season is all done for Brendon. He chose to play on the after season team so he will have games every Tuesday and Thursday nights for the month of August. It keeps him busy and he really enjoys playing.

Awards ceremony.. Look how huge Bren is compared to everyone else..

We've been to the beach a few times this summer. It's been a really, really wet summer so there haven't been that many nice days to get out. Today we went to Popham Beach with the Dunn family. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we still enjoyed the time together. We walked for miles and splashed in the water. It was great because the beach wasn't overly crowded. It was strange wearing bathing suits and sweatshirts, but it was a good family day. We are all pretty wiped out! Bedtime will be early tonight.

Brendon has been to a baseball camp, a basketball camp and an extreme all sports camp. All of the camps have been day camps. Because the weather hasn't been the greatest, he didn't get to go to the beach very much. He still had a good time and learned a lot at each one. He'll be going to a new day camp on Monday for the next 2 weeks. The week of August 16th - August 22nd he will be going to sleep away camp for the very first time. He is really excited about it, and I'm excited for him. I'm going to miss him like crazy, though. He's growing up so fast!

We have been keeping busy with sports, family outings, birthday parties, and of course...dirt biking.

Have a great night everyone!

Life is Good!

It's been a week since Brendon has his port removed and he is doing great. The surgery went fantastic. He had to give his stitches time to heal so he missed a couple of baseball games, but now he's back at it. He's been riding his bike just about every day after school and hanging out with his friends. School is almost over so now we are looking into summer camps. He wants to go to a sleep away camp for 3 weeks. Yikes! We're discussing alternatives.. :)

His party is a little over 2 weeks away. Please know that if you did not get a personal invitation from us, it does not mean that you were not invited. We do not have e-mail addresses or home addresses for everyone. If someone you know was with us on this journey and they did not get an invitation, please forward the information to them. If you would like a personal invitation, please send your e-mail address or mailing address to me at werdunn@myfairpoint.net and I will get it out as soon as possible. I hope that you all know we did not intentionally leave anyone out. We truly, truly want everyone there!! It's been very hard to plan all of this and keep it from Brendon. I think he's getting suspicious... Just to recap, the party is June 6th from 1-7pm at the Great Outdoors in Turner, ME. We will be providing the food and drinks. There will be baseball/softball games, basketball games, tennis, horseshoes, and lots of other activities.. It should be lots of fun.

License plate update:
We are now only missing Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. Only 12 out of the 50 states!! That is amazing. We are so thankful for all of the hard work that has been put into getting these. I promise to post a picture of Bren's face when he sees them all at his party.

That's about it for now. Thank you for all of the offers to help with the party. We really appreciate it. Have a great night everyone!!

Quick update

Tomorrow at 11:20am Brendon will have his port removed. I know everything will be fine, but I'm really nervous. It's been a long time since he's been in for surgery. It's only a quick procedure, but I'm still nervous. Brendon is very excited to have it out. Please pray for peace of mind for all of us tomorrow. We would really appreciate it.

I wanted to update on the mini bike plate status. Since the last post Washington, Wyoming, and Virginia have been sent. These are the states that we do not have yet: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The party plans are in full swing. Thanks to everyone who has RSVP'd so far. We're very excited to see you all there. I will be in touch with everyone who has asked to bring something. I'm still finalizing the menu. We appreciate the offers.

Have a great night!

Update

Happy Mother's Day! Today I received a very pretty bracelet from Brendon that had his initials engraved on the front (BAD) and on the back it had "courage 2009" engraved. I hope you all had a wonderful day. Mine has been very relaxing.

People have been asking for a list of the states that we do not have for the mini bike plates. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. If you need more information or if you'd like to send one for the state we are missing, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone who has mailed them in so far.

If you would like to attend Brendon's party, you can visit http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/XWLUJEQWRPKYIKEHSZBY/brendondunn and rsvp with your name, e-mail address and the amount of guests that will be attending. It seems to be working out pretty well so far. It's a little more "green" to send the invitation electronically instead of mailing invites out to everyone. Please feel free to forward the evite to anyone that I may have forgotten. I really hope everyone can make it. It should be a fun day!

Please pray that Brendon's port removal goes smoothly on Wednesday. He's really excited to get it out. After his port removed we are planning on going up to the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital to let them know that he's all done. We haven't been there in a while so we're pretty excited to see them all.

Finally, here are a few updated pictures. Enjoy!

Brendon and Grampa Dunn

Bren up to bat.. This one went to the fence.

Brendon pitching..

Uncle Tommy, Bren, Chelsey and Oasis at Chelsey's graduation party. Congrats Chels!

All done!!

Brendon's chemotherapy is officially done. His last day of taking pills was April 25th. All of the scans that he had on April 29th came back excellent. His heart looks great, his breathing is great and the scar tissue from where the tumor was actually shrank! He will have his port removed on May 13th. We are all very, very excited!!

Brendon has been playing on a baseball team for the first time in almost 3 years. He is really enjoying it, even though he is on the minor team. A lot of his teammates are a lot younger and smaller than him. He is keeping positive and using it as a learning experience. He hit a home run the other day, which was great to see. That kid can hit! He has tons of power and it's great because his teammates don't know his story so he's just another kid on the team. No one asks him if he's feeling ok or if he needs to rest. He loves that.

His party is June 6th from 1-7pm at the Great Outdoors in Turner, ME. The address is 68 Naiad Lane in Turner. It's still a surprise to Brendon so please don't mention anything to him if you see him. I will be sending evites and regular invitations this week and the beginning of next week. We would absolutely love it if everyone could make it. I'm asking everyone to RSVP to me by May 23rd so that we can plan for food. Please invite your families and enjoy this great day of celebration with us. I know it's short notice and I apologize. It's been really hectic trying to get all of these last appointments in. We are really hoping for a huge turn out (150-200 people) so please don't be afraid to invite people. There will be lots of games, food and fun! We are very excited.

The bike license plates keep rolling in. You all are doing great! I'll compile a list of the ones we are missing and post it this weekend. Thank you all so much!!

Brendon will be going to his first Red Sox game with our friends Renee and Ben tomorrow night. He is so excited to say the least! It will be a late game so he'll get to miss school on Friday, which he is very upset about. :)

That's about it. I'll post again this weekend with pictures and more information. Look for the invitations coming soon.. If you don't get one, please let me know. I don't have everyone's addresses so I'm hoping word of mouth will keep everyone informed. Please e-mail me with any questions or if you'd like more information about the party. Have a great night!!

2 year anniversary

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of Brendon's diagnosis. It's been a long 2 years but it seems like it has gone by so fast. I can't believe that this journey is almost done. Brendon has been such an inspiration to us. He is so upbeat and so positive about everything. God has truly blessed us. Tonight Brendon said "Mom, Dad, thank you guys so much for always being there for me and for being the best parents' in the whole world.". How sweet is that?

A lot has happened since the last post. Brendon had his last appointment for chemotherapy at the clinic on April 1st. On that day, Andy and I surprised Brendon at school with balloons and snacks for the kids. The teachers were so great to let us disrupt their class! Brendon announced to everyone that it was his last chemo to which the kids all clapped and cheered. Of course the teachers and I were holding back the tears (Not successfully, might I add) at that point. Both teachers said great things about Brendon's attitude and how he never complained about homework, or having cancer or anything like that. Martel has been so great to us throughout this entire process. They have been so supportive and helpful. Here is a picture of Bren with both classes.

The appointment at the clinic went very well. They told us what to expect for this month and over the next year. After which they brought in a present for Brendon and sang For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.. Again, it was hard to hold back the tears. It was a great day! Notice the kiss on Brendon's forehead?? He's such a ladies man. :)

At the clinic

Kisses for Brendon...

Brendon and Deb at the clinic

Brendon will have a CT scan, an EKG and a pulmonary function test on April 29th. We will know the results of those scans on April 30th. If everything comes back normal he will have his port removed the first week of May. Please pray that the results are normal. It's been a while since his last scan. He takes his last dose of chemotherapy at home on April 25th. That's this Saturday! Only 4 days away..He is so excited to finally be done with that. Every Wednesday for the past year or so he has to take 15-20 pills throughout the day. Thank God he knew how to swallow pills at a pretty young age!

I want to thank Miranda and the people at her work for all they are doing on getting the bike plates for Brendon. So far we have plates for Maine, New Hampshire, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, New York, Indiana, South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia. I am so excited to give him these at his party! He has no idea that people are sending these to him. Because of the spelling of Brendon's name it's kind of hard to get a plate with his name already on it. People have been getting the blank plates that come with stickers to make your own plate. Those have been working out great! Thank you to all who have sent them so far. We are so grateful! Please contact me at werdunn@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions or if you'd like to send a plate. I will be sure that Brendon knows where they came from and we'll send you back a picture of Bren with the bike plates. Here is an example of what the plates look like:
As far as the party is concerned, it looks like it will be either June 6th or June 20th from 1pm to 6pm. I'm pretty sure that it will be held at the Great Outdoors in Turner. One of the owners, Mary, has been so incredible to work with! She is the sweetest person and we are so excited to have the celebration there. We're hoping that everyone will be able to attend the party and help celebrate this journey we have been on for the last 2 years. I will post an invitation on this page, as well as on Brendon's CaringBridge site (www.caringbridge.org/visit/brendondunn). This party is a thank you to all who have been with us on this journey and a celebration of Brendon's conquering cancer! For those of you who are not familiar with the Great Outdoors it is around 60 acres with tennis courts, basketball courts, ball fields, horseshoes, and so much more! We want people to be able to come to relax and have a great time. We will provide the food and drinks, so please just come and celebrate with us. All are welcome! We just need to have people RSVP so that we can plan the food. I'll post the information as soon as it's finalized. Brendon has no idea about the party we are planning so if you talk to him please remember that it's a surprise. He thinks I'm working on a birthday party for Andy. Is it ok to tell a little white lie if it's for a greater good?? :)

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. Have a wonderful evening.

With much love,
Amber & Andy

Almost done!!

It's been a while since our last post..

Things are going well. There is so much to update on! This post will be pretty quick because I still have tons to do before bed.

The Holidays were different for us this year. Brendon had bronchitis so we were not able to do the normal Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. It was tough, but we made the best of it. He also turned 11 on Christmas Day. He's getting so big~

We've all been battling the cold, flu, chest colds, sore throat, etc that seems to be going around and around.

We are very excited because on Friday morning (very early..) we will be taking a road trip to visit my Dad in North Carolina for a few days and then to visit Andy's sister in Virginia for a few days. Brendon is pumped because it's been a long time since we've taken a road trip. We'll see if he still feels that way 8-10 hours into the trip :) There is still so much to do, but it should be lots of fun. It will be nice to get away from the snow for a little while. We have SOO much of it! I'm ready for spring.

Here's a picture of Bren on snowshoes. This was the first year he tried them and he's hooked! It's a lot of fun.

I would like to close with a request/invitation. Brendon is officially done with his chemo on April 1st. He takes his last pills on April 24th and if all goes well he will have his port taken out near the end of May. We are working on an end of chemo party for him once his port is taken out. I would like to invite everyone who has been with us on this journey to the party. More details will follow as soon as I get them figured out. Right now I'm thinking it will be at a hall in Lewiston, but that might change. I'll let you know. And the request is this: Brendon has decided that he wants to collect license plates with his name on it. We picked up one of those bike license plates when we were in California because it actually had his name spelled correctly. Every since then he has talked about wanted to collect a plate with his name on it from every state.. I was going to go online and just order the plates for the states, but I started to think that it would be so great if the plates actually came from the states. So my request is that if anyone in a state other that California and Maine would be willing to pick up a plate and mail it to us, I would be willing to pay for them. They are around $2-$3 each. He would get such a kick out of knowing the plates actually came from the states. I would like to collect all 50 states and then give them to him at his party. I'll take a picture of the plate this week and post it. I appreciate any help anyone can provide. Please e-mail me if you would like to send a plate and I will get you the address to send them to.

That's it for tonight. I'll post again later with pictures and more updates.. Have a great night!!

Much Love,

~Amber