Havyn the TV Star

First of all, a brief update. Havyn is doing well. She’s now in the “maintenance phase” of her chemo. What that means is that for the next 8 months or so, she gets chemo weekly for 4 weeks and then gets 2 weeks off. We enjoyed our recent 2 week break and got started back last week. Her counts have been good and she’s been a trooper as always.

She’s doing well with her “bones” (scoliosis brace) and her eye patch. We think the patching may be helping with her eyes. We don’t notice the wandering eye as often as we used to. We’re not as sure that the brace is helping as the curvature seems to be getting worse. We’ll know more on both front in mid-December. We head back to St. Louis to meet with her ophthalmologist and orthopedic surgeon. Around that time she’ll also get another MRI so we can see how her optic pathway glioma is doing.

But enough about the boring stuff… how about our little TV star?That’s right… Havyn and I arrived at the “chemo doctor” today and were immediately asked if we’d be willing to be on camera. Thorntons (a local gas station chain) was making a donation of 20 iPads and there were news crews there to cover the moment. The staff at the office specifically wanted Havyn to be a part of it because, well, she’s the most awesome kid ever. Okay, those are my words, but they had some really sweet things to say about her. Here’s the end product:

Thanks to Thorntons for their generosity. I must admit that I was a bit embarassed when I found out that Thorntons execs were going to be in the infusion room. I walked in carrying my soda from Speedway and told them “you don’t see this!” Don’t worry though Thorntons… we stopped by one of your stores after chemo so Havyn could get a slushie. It was delicious and it made her happy. Thanks for iPads and slushies!

Also, in the interest of fairness… I don’t really recall or understand the connection but somehow a group of student from University of Louisville was also a big part of connecting this donation. They have apparently raised more than $300,000 to help fight pediatric cancer. I’m pretty sure, but not positive, that the group is raiseRED.