Month: January 2017

Madison’s fundraising for her SDR surgery is going amazingly well thanks to everyone’s help! Thank you for continuing to share Madison’s story and supporting her journey to St Louis. 

www.gofundme.com/madimovesahead
Madison’s story spread all across Toronto and the Durham region today from two different news sources. Her story was shared in the Toronto Sun and The Durham Region News! Thank you Meredith for writing Madison’s press release which clearly went over very well!
Toronto Sun article:

http://m.torontosun.com/2017/01/30/salute-for-shutout-star-frederik-andersen-of-the-maple-leafs
Durham Region News article:

http://m.durhamregion.com/news-story/7094606-high-cost-for-u-s-surgery-proving-barrier-for-pickering-tot-with-cerebral-palsy


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At school today Madi loved trying tree pose and downward dog pose in yoga class during gym!

She spent her afternoon at March of Dimes and with Suzanne & Janine. She did lots of walking practice at March of Dimes under parachutes and with Monika. She practiced her standing while playing with shadow puppets which was a big hit!

After lots of hard work, she visited her Great Grandma Gregoire.

Madison was thrilled to see her poster when she entered the ballet studio tonight for her class. Their sleepover fundraiser for Madison is this Saturday and the whole studio was covered in flyers advertising the event which was very cool to see! Thank you DLDA!

We continue to feel blessed and are so thankful for the support that has come our way in supporting Madison’s upcoming surgery. People continue to amaze us with their generosity in creating different fundraising opportunities within their own communities and networks of people. 

Denise Lester Dance Academy, where Madison takes ballet has a sleepover fundraiser coming up this weekend for all their older dancers. They have an area in their studio set up for Madison to raise awareness about her surgery and the different ways people can support her. Thank you!!

We also received word today that a local pub in Scarborough is holding a fundraiser in a few weeks for Madison. The owners of the Pub are connected to Blessed Cardinal Newman High School where Mommy went, they heard about Madison and the schools current involvement in helping to raise funds, and decided to have something of their own to help. Thank you!!!

Madison and Jack helped Mommy with lots of running around after school this morning. When they got home they played and played and were busy bees all over the house. They decided to try and walk together on a children’s treadmill recently aquired for Madison. Daddy will be taking it apart to use the rails as support on her big treadmill to practice her walking.

After some much needed quiet time, the two crazies headed over to Nate’s house to celebrate Uncle Marks birthday. They played, watched different things on Uncle Marks new home theatre system and had their favourite dinner from Pig Out! 

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After some birthday fun, it was down to business! Lots of brain storming, planning and organizing information for a big fundraising event coming up in March! Stay tuned for more information and the official launch on February 11th!

Madi started her day by baking cupcakes with Nana. She wanted Jack to have a cupcake to say welcome home, a cupcake for Mommy to say thanks for taking care of Jack and a cupcake for Daddy to say thanks for the new laundry room. And of course they were pink!

Madison was super excited to go celebrate  with her friend Cruz for his 2nd Birthday party today. They played with stickers and did some colouring and she loved getting a temporary tattoo! Her and her buddy Ev shared some popcorn and walked around in her walker together. Thanks for the party Cruz!

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Madison went to have dinner with her cousin Nate to have a visit and celebrate Uncle Mark’s birthday. Nate and Madi ganged up on all the adults by throwing food at them and launching volleyballs everywhere. Lots of fun!

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Madison was eager this morning to hear if Jack would be home or not today. She spent her morning with Pam & Medford planning for his return by making him a special card. 

Madison spent her afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa helping Daddy get the new laundry room ready and the house cleaned up for Jacks return. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the new washer and drier and thanks Daddy for the new coat of paint!

Jack is home and is on his way to feeling much better. He will be on meds to help his little lungs for a few weeks and hopefully his appetite will return soon. Thanks for everyone’s well wishes!

Madi got a big delivery today of posters, postcards, thank you cards and other items for her upcoming fundraising events and to send out as thank you’s. Supper happy with how they turned out!

After school, Madison headed to her Friday physio session with Stephanie. Mommy & Jack were still at the hospital so Daddy took her. She showed Daddy how she uses the stairs, swing, monkey bars and sensory wall in the kids gym!

After physio they headed to the hospital to visit Jack. He is doing much better and finally started to eat today! If all goes well tonight he can go home tomorrow! Madison had lots of questions about Jack at the hospital. She wanted to see the masks, his IV, his special crib and watch the nurses care for him. It was the perfect teaching opportunity  to tell Madison a little bit more about her surgery in St Louis. She now knows that she will have to sleep in the hospital, she will have an IV, she will have medicine and nurses caring for her and most importantly she said she wants a new stuffy like Jack haha.

Madison and Daddy headed home so Jack could rest. They had some lunch and played and then Nana & Papa took Madison back to the hospital for another visit. She was so excited to see her brother again and to tell Nana and Papa all about Jacks taped foot and his medicine and his machines. She is such a caring big sister!

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Madi stayed home from school today so she started her day with sleeping in, making herself toast for breakfast and reading books to her babies. Madi also got a wonderful email this morning from her dance teacher. It was a flyer that said they are having a sleepover next weekend with pizza and movies for all the dancers at the studio for a fundraiser for Madison’s surgery!! They are so awesome!!!

Mommy & Madi were up with the sun and doing stuff to stay busy, but Jack just wouldn’t wake up. Mommy kept trying to get him up, give him his medicine, get him moving – but he was very sleepy. He had been sick since Monday and on antibiotics, but only got worse as the week went on. Finally at 11:00 Mommy forced him awake and decided to take him to the hospital.

A big thank you to Aunt Nadia and Nate for taking Madison for the day and keeping her entertained and happy!

Jack and Mommy went to the hospital to get checked out. After a full 10 hours of being shuffled around, X-rays, blood work, IV -they decided to admit him until at least Saturday because he has pneumonia. Poor little man. 

Who needs a pair? 2 weeks today until Madison’s fundraiser at the home of the Ultimate Leafs Fan. A few tickets are still available. 

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​Madison spent her day with Janine and Suzanne and went to March of Dimes. At bedtime Madi said that she was proud of herself today because she told her new volunteer at school how to do everything, used her canes at Conductive Ed, was a good Mommy to her baby at Janine’s and helped Jack in the tub at Nana and Papa’s house.



Mommy’s former high school, Blessed Cardinal Newman has been an amazing support and cheerleader for us in Madison’s journey towards SDR. The student council and amazing teachers decided to organize a jeans day with proceeds going towards Madison’s surgery. They created videos on YouTube and displayed posters in the halls to inspire and get the students involved in the initiative. Today was a huge success with the last reported total being over $3,000! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Madison visited Grandview this afternoon to get an updated speech assessment. She has made excellent improvement with the projection of her voice and being loud at school without cues or prompting. Her assessment today showed that as well. They worked on projection and clarity with a long voice, not a loud one. Madi loved the iPad game to help with this. It is called ‘Speak Up Sensory Two’. She will be going for a few more sessions until her OT and PT at Grandview pick up again in March. 

After dinner, Madison’s case manager from Resources for Exceptional Children stopped by to touch base on a few things to help us stay on top of things in the near future. We discussed upcoming observations/meetings and paperwork for kindergarten, funding for some equipment, CCAC support for the fall etc. We also had to create a list of team members for Madison’s first school meeting in April. The list seems never ending, but awesome knowing how many people will support her transition. Grandview OT, PT, speech & social worker, preschool teacher, private physio, case manager from Resources for Exceptional Children and her after school program staff. Onward and upward!

Sleep update: Daytime naps have ended. Melatonin trial is going very well. Madison got 12 hours sleep last night with only 1 night awakening. Her school is reporting she is much more awake and engaged and has limited yawning and complaints of being tired. Woo-hoo!

Madison was a wonderful Big Sister today. Her little brother Jack is pretty sick, so she helped Mommy give Jack his medicine and bottle and cuddled with him to try and make him feel better. 

While Mommy took Jack to the doctors, Madison visited with Pam and Medford! She worked on a very special project with Pam on her sewing machine. Madison loves to learn new things so she asked lots of questions, helped cut the threads and pushed the stop button. She had her favourite chicken for dinner and an ice cream sandwich for dessert! 

Today Madison went to check out The Abilities Expo. She stopped by the Freedom Concepts booth to look at their adaptive bikes. She tried one out and loved it! Biking is a part of Madison’s therapy plan for pre and post op strength building. They took her measurements, suggested some alterations and designs and will send a quote shortly. She of course chose the colour pink! She can’t wait for the spring to bike all over the neighbourhood, but until then she will hit the track with it at Variety Village.

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