Friday Nov 13, 2009 we hosted our first ever movie night at Coquitlam River Elementary school.  This event was to commemorate what would have been Gaby’s 10^th birthday. Guy and I always wanted to do a movie fundraiser since Gaby loved movies and her last birthday party was at the movies…so it was quite fitting we do this fundraiser.

We had Olympic Torch Bearer, Stephen Unser, at the event with the Olympic Torch. What an honor to have a piece of history at our event! Thank you Stephen!!

Luscious Creations donated the little purple (banana/strawberry) and yellow (amaretto) cupcakes and we thank them for their support! They were really yummy and addictive!

We also would like to thank Mr. Mah, CRE principal & Linda the caretaker for putting up with us.

It was a great event overall but it was not without glitches. The main glitch was all about popcorn. Read on…

We borrowed a popcorn maker and had a plan to start making popcorn early to have lots made before the masses arrived. I plugged in the popcorn maker and went off to find Guy, who is our popcorn master! I always burn the popcorn, so I try to stay away from making it! Guy went in to start making the popcorn and turned on the machine, there was a little “POP” and a flash. It caught the corner of my eye from a few feet away and I came closer to see what was going on. Guy was a little perplexed with the noise, but having seen nothing else after that decided to turn the next switch…well…let’s just say “POP, POP, POP” (and no I’m not talking popcorn)…sparks were flying every which way and we could actually see a flame!!! Guy was trying to turn it off without getting electrocuted and Jessica and I were ducking for cover! After what seemed like forever (4 seconds!!) the machine was off and unplugged….but now what would we do for popcorn! AHHHH!!!! Back up? Back up? UH, no….what do we do now? Guy got on the phone to the party rental place, Margaret got on the phone to Assumption church (who by the way does bingo Friday nights and uses their popcorn machine!). The party place just closed, 5 minutes before we called…Margaret pleaded our case to the church and then she was off to snatch the machine from the bingo players. Thank you Assumption Church and bingo players!!! You guys saved the night! Okay, so the other back up would have been microwave popcorn, but we are thankful we didn’t need to go that route.

Overall, a successful event. We had over 190 adults and kids sprawled over the gym floor with another 25 volunteers at various stations throughout and we are so thankful for everyone who came out last night in support of the foundation. We hope to do this one again…hmmm what will the next movie be…

Tanya

 When my teenage son asked me to read a “lil speech” he had to write tonight, I did not expect it to hit me as hard as it did, nor did I expect it to be about life in a cancer family. He didn’t tell me that part, but I guess I may not have been able to read it if he had. The speech is written as “spoken word” for his class assignment and if he doesn’t get great marks then I’d be surprised! Okay, I’m biased, he is my son. ~Tanya

 What Life Is Like In a Childhood Cancer Family by Zac

Just because you don’t see this doesn’t mean its not there

Just because other diseases mark headlines doesn’t mean that’s where it ends

Just because we are few doesn’t mean we aren’t much

I’m talking about kids lined up at Children’s who bear no hair

The moms and the dads who struggle every day wishing they could send

Away the pain the anguish the horror of the beast and drugs and such

When they ravage their youth’s life and they plead despite continuing strife

Doctor, doctor wont you HEAR ME OUT? Won’t you LISTEN TO MY STORY?

No sir! I’m more important, here obsessing in my own glory 

A kid being force fed through a tube in her stomach lies weak and

Pale she wants to go outside she wants to see the beach and play in the sand

But her parents tell her through choked up voices and emotional eyes

You’ve gotta stay inside because you’ll get sick, and she cries

We go unnoticed we’re the ghosts of cancer’s victims walking on the street

A little bald person sporting a bandana is a show but not a treat

The world thinks we are freaks, all except our family who knows

That being a family suffering from childhood cancer blows

Pain fills the heart and sorrow floods through the gates of the soul

It torments but nourishes it hurts but it gets better it burns like a coal

We are a minority there is no use in doubting what is fact

But afflictions afflict us too we desire to escape with our children intact

We are the lost we are the searching and all the missed that you tend to overlook

What I’ve told you here you wont find in any book

Last Sunday, September 20, 2009 we helped our 9th family.

People often ask what the process is and how we select the families that we help. All families are referred to us by BC Children’s Oncology/Hematology Social Workers. The foundation doesn’t have millions of dollars to help every family in Oncology so based on our funds each given month we submit to the social workers how many families the charity can grant to. The Social Workers have been great to work with and we feel very comfortable with their referrals. Each and every family that walks through the doors of BCCH facing a childhood cancer diagnosis is in need of help and hopefully one day we will be able to help them all, but for now we rely on the hard working social workers for their referrals.

The Gaby Davis Foundation is not like other charities. We are personal. We try to meet every family we help. If we cannot physically meet them due to their location in BC we always talk to them by phone and email. We also give each family a “Gaby Pack” which is a backpack filled with stuff for the family. That stuff could be a wide variety of items but mostly gift cards to help with groceries, fuel and other supplies and needs the family has. We also include a fun gift for each family member.  “Gaby Packs” are like a big hug to the family from the foundation. This is presented to the family during our home or hospital visits and given along with the grant cheque.  Each visit with each family is very personal for different members of our board. I have been fortunate to have met or been in contact with every grant family and child. Each has touched my heart deeply and I keep them all very close. We sometimes receive updates directly from the families about the kids and for those who we haven’t heard from we contact the social workers for an update once a year. We have lost 2 of the 9 children that we have helped. We are deeply saddened by those losses and talk about the families and children during our meetings. We are always happy to hear of those children that are doing well or have finished chemo and are trying to get back to “normal” life. Side note: life is never “normal” again once one has been touched by childhood cancer; one just sort of creates a new kind of normal. That’s a whole other blog though.

One day, the Gaby Davis Foundation would like to be able to give each and every newly diagnosed family and child a “Gaby Pack”. That would be about 130 “Gaby Packs” a year. That is one of our long term goals. But until funds are at that level where we can achieve that goal we will continue to give Gaby Packs to our grant families. The foundation has many goals and dreams. Most all come from the legacy Gaby left with us, how she lived her life, how she deeply cared for others. And I am proud to be her mom and to carry out her wish and dream to help families affected by childhood cancer. Tanya

What a great day today turned out to be….it didn’t rain! And there was actually some sun too.

We organized this day – the Volunteer Appreciation BBQ – to thank all the volunteers who have helped the foundation by giving countless hours to run our events. They are the backbone of our foundation, we couldn’t run our events without them. We have about 50 regular volunteers that we call on at various times throughout the year….some are kids, teens, young adults, moms, dads, grandparents, friends and family and we thank you all for all your help over the past 2 years the foundation has been running.

It was so great to see everyone today and I wish I had more time to spend with everyone. I am so thankful for the board of directors, who are all volunteers too.

If you didn’t hear about what happened to the cake I have to tell it here. It’s a good story! One of our board members picked up the cake at Costco yesterday and this morning had it on the counter ready to come to our event when their cat decided the cake was a comfy place to sit down…yep! ON the cake. Now, the cat is a sweet cat but he does seem to find trouble and boy was he in trouble….cuz when they noticed the cat on the cake he jumped and put his paw through the plastic. Well, I think there must have been a bit of shock in the house, but after a minute they were on the phone to Save On – who came through with our cake in 30 minutes! And the new cake was born. It all turned out. And we had a laugh.

Everyone on the board helped tremendously with putting this event together as did their spouses and children, including my own. Also, thank you to those who came to enjoy the bbq and ended up helping clean up at the end!

Thank you all so much! I appreciate you all!!!   Tanya