"Canuck Crazy"

Vancouver was amazing!! We visited the sunny West Coast (it was pure blue sky the entire time we were there) from March 18 - 21 courtesy of the Believe in the Goal Foundation. Here's a run-down of the many trip highlights ...

- Limo rides to & from the airports in Wpg & Vancouver. The kids thought this was pretty cool and we reminded them it was VIP treatment!

- Arriving in Vancouver early enough on Thursday morning to catch the SJ Sharks' morning skate. Dane hung over the gate waiting patiently to see Joe again and all his other "buddies" (Blake, Heatley & Marleau) from San Jose. He was NOT disappointed and managed to squeeze a few more autographs out of them!!

- Receiving a tour of the Vancouver Canucks dressing room, locker room and work-out area courtesy of our host for the weekend (G. Carnegie, Skills coach for Vancouver and part owner of Total Hockey in Wpg - great guy) and "Red" (the Asst Equipment Manager). Check out the photos of the kids holding Luongo's face mask!

- Watching the game Thursday night and getting the royal treatment once again. This time Dane was visited by Fin (Canucks mascot) who delivered him a bag of Canucks "stuff", however we likely ticked that mascot off when he saw Dane all decked out in Sharks gear. Next was the camera person putting Dane on the jumbo tron with his Sharks stuff (greeted by some boos from the GM Place fans). After the game we had VIP passes and went down to where the players come out. We didn't see any more Sharks (they lost 3-2) but we managed to snag many autographs from Canucks for the back of a new jersey the organization gave him. Most notably was getting "Lou's" and many of the former Moose players' autographs (Grabner and Burrows to name a couple).

- Skating at GM Place Friday morning with the Skills Coach. It was so neat to see Dane on the "big show" ice. He got a special surprise when Ryan Kesler (a Canuck star who had just signed a 6 year $30 million contract THAT morning) joined them for the skate. He passed Dane the puck and played 1-1 keep away. Our son thought this was pretty cool and was topped only by Kesler snapping the end of his stick off, autographing it and giving it to Dane!

- Watching a second game at GM Place - Canucks vs. Red Wings on Saturday night (Hockey Night in Canada televised this game). It was a great offensive game - Detroit took 54 shots on Luongo and the game went to OT. We were all hoping for a shoot-out but the Red Wings scored with .2 seconds left (yes, .2) to win 4-3. And our Dane is no dummy - he made sure he wore his Canucks gear to this game and cheered for the home team! We went down to the locker area again post-game and met a couple of Wpg Red Wings, D. Meech & D. Helm.

- Seeing and taking their photo with "Mr. Hockey". For you die-hard Team Canada fans, you will recognize this guy from all the games at the Olympics. He is like Dancin' Gabe ... a true celebrity in Vancouver now.

- Believe it or not, we did do a few other things at that didn't involve hockey. To Ashley's delight, we visited the Olympic Superstore and purchased all (yes ALL) of the Olympic mascots and those snazzy red Olympic mitts. We all walked to the Cauldron and took some photos. We also took the kids to Stanley Park and the Aquarium (very cool place) and to Granville Island. Granville was a bit of a "bust" and it was SUCH fun listening to Dane tell me that day was by far "the worst of the trip so far". That all changed once we got to the hockey game of course. We were put up at a great hotel (Westin) just five blocks from GM Place and the staff treated us royally!

- We had a nice visit with my Aunt who lives in Vancouver. She took some fantastic photos of the kids while they were together and we've included one of them that we love by the ocean.

All in all it was a great NHL Experience and we are VERY grateful to the Believe in the Goal Foundation. It sounds like Dane and Todd Davison share the "edge" factor and that makes the fact they chose our son all the more special. The Foundation is starting to prepare for the big "Sizzlin Summer Showdown" hockey game (to be held August 12) and to give back, I have offered to assist with that event. It sounds like they are going to put my "journalism" background to use and I'm looking forward to the challenge. It will be a good tune-up before I head back to work in mid-September.

Medical stuff ... Dane had his once-a-month chemo today and is now on his five day steroid boost (lucky us). The kids are on spring break this week and we are planning to escape for a couple days to ... wait for it ... watch another Sharks game (this time in Minni). We are staying with my dear friend Tricia and her family (she has been a faithful blog follower since I started jabbering last January). We are looking forward to introducing Clare to her new baby (born last July).

Dane is feeling really well right now and we are thoroughly enjoying our healthy son. He is going to be physically busy this spring ... 3x3 hockey, flag football and swimming lessons. They are all just once a week but the variety will be good for his stamina. We are loving his new "look" - check out those curls!!!

We know Dane and our entire family have been treated unbelievably well these past few months by Children's Wish and Believe. They have given the kids magical gifts that we could not have provided and Dirk and I are so appreciative of both organizations. We wish we could turn back time and make him not have leukemia, but that's not in our power. So we continue to deal with the hand we have been dealt and focus on the positives. It's what keeps us moving forward.

Take care everyone ... Janie & Dirk

"A Nice Break"

Good evening,

I just realized it's been nearly three weeks since I posted an entry, so without planning it, I gave myself quite the break from writing. More importantly though, Dane is experiencing a wonderful break from the Cancer Clinic. For the first time since he started treatment last January, he gets a ... wait for it ... four week reprieve in between appointments. His last hospital visit was March 3 (at PDU for a spinal tap and IV chemo) and he does not have to go back until March 30. Dane's neutrophils have rebounded tremendously in the past few weeks, in fact they were 4.2 on March 2. This is a number we could only dream about before. We are hopeful that now that he has "kicked" the cold virus he's had for pretty much the entire winter his counts will remain in this range so we can stay on the once-a-month visit schedule. The downside to fewer appts is we miss our Cancer Clinic friends, but we are making sure we stay up-to-date with emails and visits.

We can tell Dane's hemoglobin is in the normal range as he's pretty fired up about life in general these days. He's still in the midst of hockey playoffs and tomorrow night his team plays in the B-side quarter final. They are one of the last six teams standing and he had a really good weekend. All of the games are "sudden death" now so it's pretty intense. You need earplugs to watch these games. Yep, it's partly my yelling but we've also got some fans who have whipped up some pretty amazing noise makers. The past couple of weeks have been great fun. Ashley's season came to an end on a very positive note two weekends ago. Her team won the Consolation final in a nail biter - a 2-1 victory. She played like a wall on defence and now has a two month break before her spring league starts.

We are all gearing up for a trip to Vancouver soon to watch a couple more NHL games. As I reported a while back, the Believe in the Goal organization is sending Dane to watch the Sharks play the Canucks. He is PUMPED and ready to meet Joe again. We've had to explain the meaning of the word stalker to him though as we're getting a tad worried Joe is going to think we are following him. He will be armed with lots more "stuff" for him to sign, particularly now that he's a gold-medal winner. I'll report on the trip's happenings in my next entry.

Clare continues to "wow" us on a daily basis. She is full of energy and personality and is getting into everything! She discovered the stairs yesterday ... I am NOT ready for that phase yet. She now tips the scale at 22.5 lbs and is 30 inches tall. She remains a bit of a "monster" but she has definitely slowed down - thank goodness. She already weighs as much Ashley & Dane did at 16 months!

Until next time, take care everyone - Janie & Dirk