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| TRAVELS WITH MY DINOSAUR 05 June - 05 August 2003 |
| Saturday 21st June. Every year, the Marietta Bassmasters Fishing Club, in conjunction with the Brain Tumour Foundation for Children, organises a day of escapism for families of children dealing with a brain and spinal chord tumour diagnosis. This year's event was held today, on a 200acre private estate, set deep in the beautiful Georgia countryside. When I contacted Mary Campbell of the BTFC, to confirm arrangements for Monday's Camp Twin Lakes outing, she invited me to join the festivities, and I enthusiastically accepted. We began the day with breakfast at a Crispy Cream in Atlanta. This is a chain restaurant, selling the most fattening array of doughnuts you could imagine. This is serious calory intake folks, for breakfast, anyway - I'm sure you gain pounds just by looking at the possibilities! I chose two varieties I would normally consider as dessert in the UK, doughnuts oozing syrup and souce, and thoroughly enjoyed them without the slightest quilt. After all, what are holidays if you can't break the rules? For the fourth year running, the "Fishing Extravaganza" was generously hosted by Julian and Chris Danielly, at their delightful home in Loganville, which is aproximately 1hour drive out of Atlanta. This is a highlight of the year for many children, who talk about the event for month before and after. What a turn out - well over 100 children and their relatives shared in the joy of the idyllic lakeside location. One young survivor even bought his bald python (his make-a-wish gift) along for the day! Mary too particularly enjoyed the day - it's one of the few BTFC events which doesn't require her all in organising as it's staged through a great collaborative effort from local businesses and the Marietta Bassmasters. Publix Supermarket donated the wonderful food for our BBQ lunch, whilst Apparel Manufacturing and Home Depot (a D.I.Y. store chain) employees volunteered to help out at the event. Gifts were also made as prizes for the children in the grand draw. I particularly enjoyed meeting two families, and sharing time with them. Katy's older brother was diagnosed with a brain tumour before she had reached double figures. Her young age and the lack of sibling support at diagnosis made life difficult for her. Her concern for her brother, and her lack of understanding about his illness created fear and isolation which she found difficult to express. In our truly serene surroundings, she spoke at length about her own experiences as a sibling, and of the support and encouragement her family has received from the BTFC. Support organisations are increasingly recognising the need to provide support for siblings of sick children, and there is no doubt in Katy's mind that the BTFC is doing a good job in responding to her needs as a young teenager. Her love for her brother was self-evident: "I hope Danny gets a prize" she whispered to me as we watched the draw from our picnic spot under a shade tree. In fact all registered children received a prize, survivors and siblings alike - a just reward for the children touched by this ruthless disease. Victoria is relatively new to the world of childhood cancer and its implications. Her son, Royston, was diagnosed last autumn with neurofibromatosis and an optic nerve glioma, and is currently receiving chemotherapy. ONGs are very rare, and it's ironic that I met Victoria at an event I hadn't even heard of until a week ago. She's a lovely lady, a single mum trying to juggle two lively boys, one of whom has cancer, a career and a battle with the insurance company which refused to pay for her son's treatment. She learned about the BTFC earlier this year, whilst attending the Tools For living conference which the foundation co-hosted with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. This is the first family event she and her family have attended, and they seemed to be having a wonderful time. Despite feeliing the sickening side effects of chemo, Royston spent several hours on the lake with his brother, catching fish and revelling in the opportunity of getting close to nature, breathing fresh, country air and just being an ordinary boy for a while. We said goodbye to our fellow fishers as the afternoon shadows lengthened, and headed back towards Atlanta. An important detour was called for on the return trip, however. Mary's son is a huge Harry Potter fan. She had taken him to the local bookstore at midnight, and although he was not able to buy a book then (they had not pre-ordered), children were entertained by an amateur dramatics company who had donned HP costumes and read extracts from the first four books throughout the night. Today brought more luck, and a HP book was duly purchased. i wonder how long it will take Joanne's young fans to plough through the 800 odd pages of this volume?? Thank you, Mary, for a great day. |