Madison and Jack were super excited to see Nate today. Everyone gathered at Nana & Papa’s house for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.
We have so much to be thankful for and we feel very blessed this weekend thinking of how well Madison is doing and we’re thankful for all the people that have helped her get to where she is.
Madison had a great swim with Patricia this morning. They did lots of kicking, floats, swimming underwater and splashing around.
While Mommy coached, Madi visited with Nana & Papa. They went out for breakfast, baked cookies and decorated the house for fall.
Madi had a special day with Nana & Papa. For her birthday present they took her to see The Wiggles! She sang and danced and had a fantastic time! It was a wonderful break from her very busy weeks full of school and therapy – thanks Nana & Papa!
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Today was World CP Day! Thank you for wearing green in support of Madison and her friends and for sharing your pics with us!
Cerebral palsy is the most common childhood physical disability (affecting an average of one in every 500 people). There are over 17 million people living with CP, tens of millions of family members devoting their lives to the care of their loved ones, and tens of thousands of doctors and therapists involved in the diagnosis and treatment of CP.
When people with CP have the same opportunity as everyone else to live up to their potential, they prove how significant it can be—not just for individuals with CP, but for everyone in the society’s in which they live.
One need not look any further than the poets and comedians and computer programmers and writers and activists living with CP to realise what a powerful contribution the community of people living with CP can make around the world.
Thank you for your continued support!
Madison had a great start to her day. Mommy visited her class to talk about Cp and shared some of Madison’s tools with the class, read a book called Lemon the Duck and then celebrated with green cupcakes! Check out the live video on Madi Moves Facebook for a re-cap of the presentation.
Her afternoon was a typical Friday – physio and then swimming at VV. Lots of walking in the gym and water jogging in the pool! Madi and Jack LOVED their swim lesson tonight!
The end of the day was spent celebrating Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Ambos and Aunt Emily.
Traffic! Construction! The worst two words you can say on therapy days like today. Multiple therapists in different locations of the city… it feels like a huge victory sometimes being on time for an appointment.
Today that was not the case. Every appointment we were late for and one therapy had to be cancelled because of traffic, construction, you name it.
Madison made it to Conductive ed and Neurochangers after school and did lots of great work!
Mommy spent over 3 hours in the van (after work) trying to get to where Madison had to be – but seeing her work hard and continue to progress makes it totally worth it!
Don’t forget to wear green tomorrow for World CP Day!
Madison had a great day at school. The letter she is practicing this week is “T”. She liked the alphabet book her teacher read today and loved her pizza lunch. She also got her proofs back from her first school photo! Cheese!
After school, Nana and Madison went to Variety Village and had some down time before physio. Nana ordered an excellent book that Mommy will share with Madison’s class on Friday – World CP Day! This is everyone’s advanced notice to search through closets to find some green to wear before Friday!
Madison did a great job with Stephanie today at physio. She learnt how to walk sideways and they did lots of independent walking.
After physio it was time to pick up Jack and head home. Madison mentioned several times that she was “seriously exhausted” but was excited to get home to see Tiffany! Tiffany and her friend are in school for speech studies and visited/played with the kids for a bit to help with an assignment they are doing. Madison loved the visit!
Madison was excited to share her learning from school today with Mommy…hip hop! She showed the steps she did and jumping up and down in her walker – she loved it!
Mommy and Daddy are always looking to learn from other parents to make Madi’s journey smooth and full of good resources! Here is an upcoming workshop being led by parents if anyone is interested.
After a wonderful weekend of celebration and family, Madison was back at school today. Her favourite part of the day was playing What Time Is It Mr Wolf? In gym class.
After school she headed to Neurochangers for some work on the Geo. A big thank you to Neurochangers for their donations at the golf tournament yesterday.
After some rest and a long drive, Madi went to see Jo-Anne at her new location. Congrats on the opening! Madi LOVED the new space at SMILE.
Today was the 6th Mike Gregoire Memorial Golf Tournament at Deer Creek. It was a beautiful day for golf! Madison and Jack were there bright and early to greet golfers and thank everyone for their support. They visited the putting hole contest, helped set up the banquet room and toured around in a golf cart.
The dinner and silent auction were also a great success! Madison did a great job recognizing two of her warrior friends and here is what Mommy said:
“Thank you everyone for being here today in remembrance of Mike Gregoire, and to support Madison, her friends and the Steven Budai Foundation.
We can’t believe it’s already been one year since we were last here and spoke to you about all the possibilities for Madison – up coming therapies, possible surgeries, new equipment. And now fast forward a year..wow…its pretty unbelievable thinking of everything that has happened because of all of you. Thank you to Lisa, Jessica and Pat for your support these last three years and including Madison in the tournament.
5 months ago, Madison had her life changing surgery in St Louis. It was important to us to prepare her as much as possible for the physical demands of rehab, so thanks to your support from last years tournament we were able to increase Madison’s therapy program to prepare her for surgery.
Last years tournament gave her 60 hours of physiotherapy, 28 hours of swimming, 140 hours of conductive education and most importantly – a strong, confident, happy girl who was ready for surgery.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Thank you to everyone who shared Madison’s story this past year, cheered us on, met with us for hours to help us plan our next steps – thank you to everyone who was a part of preparing Madison for her life changing moment – she is now 5 months post op and has already surpassed her abilities from where she was pre-op.
She’s now learning to walk with canes and take better balanced, coordinated, slow steps. I looked back at what I had prepared to say to you last year. At this point last year, we were celebrating 15 independent steps – our last count a few weeks ago was 100 steps! Thank you for being such an important part of giving our daughter the ability to walk.
-As most of you already know, since we take up close to half of the people in this room – the extended Gregoire families are a force to be reckoned with – its thanks to all of you that our fundraising efforts were so successful. It’s also important to us that we show gratitude and be thankful for what we have.
Like all members of our family, Mike was a man who was involved with his community. He was always looking for ways to help others and give back.
This year, the golf tournament committee decided to honor Mike by looking for other children in the same rehab phase as Madison to help them with their journeys.
We understand the importance of therapy after surgery and wanted to help others who needed the same support. We asked families in the SDR Ontario community to apply to the tournament by submitting a video of how the money raised from this years tournament could help them move forward with their rehab after surgery.
We had many beautiful videos submitted, in the end the committee chose two children, Sofia and Bentley who are here with us tonight. We would like for you to see their videos that they submitted so you can see how you are helping these two warriors continue to move forward
In the next few weeks after the final donations roll in, Madison will be presenting Sofia and Bentley with their donations from the tournament for their various therapies.
Thank you to all our volunteers today who were out on the course all day, setting up the silent auction and 50-50 draw and to Deer Creek for hosting us and providing excellent food and service.
Many of you also donated many of the silent auction items and door prizes that are here tonight so thank you for your participation and support.
Today was an extremely successful tournament – we hope you all enjoy yourselves tonight and thank you again for being here in honor of Mike.”
It was a wonderful day!
Madi Moves 