Arden Quinn Bucher

SO SAD TO BRING YOU THIS NEWS,PLEASE PRAY FOR ARDENS FAMILY

At 8:34 pm tonight, Arden’s journey ended painlessly and peacefully. She joined the angels, including beloved family members, in heaven tonight. Rick, I, and our family are overcome with grief, but we know she is and always will be in our hearts and on our minds. Thanks to the diligence of the medical staff here at CHoP, every effort was made to save her. Hers was a dignified passing, and we were never rushed at all, able to hold her, rock her, sing to her, bathe her, talk to her, as well as hug and kiss her. We have been so profoundly moved by the outpouring of love, prayers, and support for our family. Thank you so much. We love you, too.God’s peace.Rick, Amy, and Grayson

Good Luck Stephan and Claire!

To two wonderful parents to be for the second time

Stephan and Claire,

Just wanted to wish you good luck for tommorow as you await the arrival of your new baby boy, Ethan!

Our prayers our with you for a succesful and pain free ceasar and that you are able to relish every moment of seeing Ethan for the very first time.

Please give Hannah an extra hug and kiss from us and tell her she has got a very important job now of being the big sister and we know she is going to be great at it!

Wishing you all our love,happiness and prayers

God Bless

Mark, Samm,Deqlan and Logan

Happy Birthday Lisa

Dear Lisa,

We wish you a very very Happy Birthday for today and many many more!

We hope you enjoyed your birthday picnic and we wish you all the best for the year ahead, we pray for all the blessings you so richly deserve!

Thank you for all your support and prayers and love for our soldier!

God Bless and lots of love

Mark,Samm, Deqlan and Logan

BYE BYE PORT

Hi Everyone

Just a quick note to let you know we spoke to Prof Beale and he will be removing the port on Tuesday afternoon at Morningside clinic. We need to be there by 1pm and then he will remove the port sometime during the afternoon and we can go home as soon as Deqlan is awake and had something to drink.

We had another trip to our paed last night, as Deqlan was screaming when passing urine, so we thought a bladder infection or something along those lines - when we eventually got to see the paed we where horrified to hear that there are still white spots on Deqlans tonsils! This could be the same tonsilitis that is resistant to the antibiotics or it could be thrush, which would explain the screaming, probably burning sensation when Deqlan has a nappy...so we have some stuff that hopefully clears it away and we have a standby prescription for another antibiotic if Deqlan gets a fever over the weekend. But so far so good,he seems great, no moaning today, so I think we are dealing with thrush, no wonder after two rounds of antibiotics in 2 weeks ..........


Please pray that Deqlan is fighting fit so that we can go ahead with removing the port on Tuesday and that he can heal in time for his Birthday!!!!!

God Bless have a great weekend, will post lots more on Meggies Birthday soon and details on our new addition to our site, the music!

Please, please say prayers for all our warriors, especially for Max and Arden

Great news for Will, his scans are stable!


Love Mark, Samm, Deqlan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Happy 28th Birthday Meggie

To an incredible sister, Godmother and best friend

Happy 28th Birthday Meggie! We hope you have the most magical birthday ever and many many more.

I know this year is extra extra special as you have the biggest gift you could have ever hoped for in the form of your beautiful son, Keaton

I wish you all the love and happiness you could possibly imagine and i wish you all the blessings that you give to others, are all showered upon you

Thank you for being the best sister and friend to me - we share the most amazing bond and i know we always will - it is so much deeper then just being sisters,its best friends and we are such a huge part of each other - isn't it amazing how we don't have to say a word or not even be in the same room, and we know what each other needs .For teaching me so much and for making me laugh, picking my spirits up and for giving me the honor of being Keatons Godmother.

For being the best godmother to Deqlan - for being a part of his healing army from the very hour we found out about the journey that lay ahead of us. For being at every doctors appointment, scan, every hour of every day , even getting to the hospital at 6am in the morning to relieve mom so i would never have to be alone. even now, with a gorgeous son of your own, you both get up and get ready no matter what time in the morning, with your green and camo outfits , and join us at every test and scan - my gratefulness for this, can never be shown or told to you in words - know that this has altered my life in so many ways and there is no amount of times i could say thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our Deqlan who loves you very very much.

For the love you shower upon Logan, for all the guidance and love and making her feel so loved and important - cant wait for her to come and visit you to again, she loves you so very very very much to.

You are such a special friend, not only to me, but all those who know you - nothing is to big for you to help with, no problem to insignificant, no friend will be left heartsore without you trying your everything to cheer them up and help them out

Your enormous and giving heart to any project you can help with - again no words to say thank you for the choc projects you have initiated and handed over in absolute honor of Deqlan and others fighting nb and other cancers - you always give to everyone in need , in anyway you can

I could go on the entire day on the amazing person you are

Please always know how much i love and appreciate the compassionate, loving, caring, supportive, giving sister, and friend you are

I am so proud to call you my sister and best friend and i love you with all my heart and soul! cant wait to get to see you today to give you a huge hug to wish you the best birthday ever , holding the most precious gift you will ever receive,Mr Keaton John Du Plessis

love you Meggie, God bless
Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

Charlize Beetge

It is heartbreaking for me to tell you that little Charlize Beetge, went home to be with Jesus.

She was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma at the age of 4, just 1 month before Deqlan was diagnosed. We spent a few hospital stays together and visited in each others rooms sharing photos and stories and prayers.

After 11 rounds of chemo, surgery to remove the remainder of her tumor in her abdomen, Charlize was considered to be doing well, until March of this year, when the monster returned , even worse then before.

Charlize, leaves her heartbroken parents and 6 month old sister and many others who have followed her journey and prayed for this sweet, shy, gentle princess.

Thank you to you all for praying for Charlize, i now ask you for your prayers for her family and friends who have to face the toughest days ahead.

God Bless you Charlize, we will never forget you, rest in Jesus
All our love
Mark, Samm, Deqlan , Logan and all our family and friends

A change in plans

Hello Everyone

After a lot of phone calls and discussions between various different and important parties we have had a change in plan with regards to Deqlans port removal , vaccinations and therapy sessions!

You know what they say, a change is as good as a holiday!

Because the live vaccinations , in the form of the mmr and chicken pox vaccines, can cause complications if administered to close to an anesthetic, and because Dr De Jager feels it is more important to get the port out then give vaccinations at this stage -we have decided to first have the port removed, wait a few days until Deqlan has recovered and then administer the first of the vaccines. This way, we minimise compromising his system by having him healthy and strong into the anesthetic to remove the port.

Our amazing surgeon Prof Beale is away in Australia at the moment, so we can only chat to hom on Friday when he returns, and will only then know when the removal will happen. As you know , there is no discussion that no other surgeon will ever touch Deqlan again.

So, this means that Deqlan will probably only have the vaccines after his 2nd Birthday

This means that the format of you of the vaccines changes from a 6 in 1 , to a 3 in 1 - this means Deqlan will need an additional 3 injections to catch up on everything we need to give him , so 10 in all!!! Shame, poor guy, but we will work out the schedule as best as we can as to minimise side effects and not jab Deqlan with to many shots in one day. So, things are going to take a little longer then we planned, but this is Gods plan and thats the plan we are going to follow - we believe that Deqlans port didnt work 2 weeks ago to perhaps lead us to removing it first, so we trust that this is the right way to go .It just means that Deqlans Birthday party will still be a little smaller this year to continue limiting germs, but next year, boy oh boy is going to be a huge celebration with you all!

The other suggested change comes from our therapists. We are going to try and do a few different things to see what kind of reactions and progress we can get out of Deqlan. As mentioned before deep pressure excercises seem to be a firm favorite with Deqlan and we definitely see results. These include brushing Deqlan down every 3 hours, swinging in a hamock, lying on the floor, sliding on his tummy and his big favorite at the moment, the jets of the jaccuzi- we definitely see a calmer, less frustrated Deqlan after this activities, especially after the jaccuzzi. We are also going to start swimming lessons which we know Deqlan will love.

So we are going to continue these specific activities at home, and try and teach Deqlan things straight after, when he is calm and ready to take it all in . We are also going to try and set up play dates with a few buddies who dont go to school , at least twice a week to increase Deqlans interaction with kids his own age and bring the activities we wouldve done at therapy, into the play session with his friends. Another suggestion by the girls is horse riding therapy for movement integration .

Instead of having therapy at the centre, our therapists will work through us, in Deqlans home environment. We will monitor his progress over the next 6 weeks and then sit down again to decide what works best for our soldier. By this time, Dr Smuts will re evaluate Deqlan again and give us her opinions and suggestions.

I am very excited to try something new and definitely to be around other kids , Mark and I know that this is going to make a huge difference for Deqlan.

Enjoy the new pics they are from the past few days- we had our first braai at our new place and were thrilled to have Grandpa and Nanna, Great Grandpa, Conrad , Meggie and Keaton as our guests for the afternoon .We had a great time watching the boys get up to mischief, especially our monkey we discovered a 'sand pit' in the garden beds of our garden. Deqlan took great delight in tasting the sand, rubbing it in his hair and throwing it all around him - how it didnt land in his eyes i dont know! Deqlan showed everyone how much he loves the sprinkler and then we decided to go for a walk to the park after dinner. The boys enjoyed a bath together , but little Keaton was ready for sleep time by then and nodded happily off into the land of nod, while Deqlan continued to play and entertain us for a little while longer! The other pics are of Monday, even Keaton was sporting his green outfit in support of our soldier remaining NED !!!

Well , its a big week for a lot of our family and friends please help me pray as follows:

1) For Will's scans on Wednesday and Thursday to show great improvement

2) For little Declans tumor to respond to chemo and be destroyed completely

3) For Arden to heal and for her respiratory problems to be resolved

4) For Ruans stem cell transplant to be a huge success and for courage and patience for his Mom Yolandie

5) For Dee's psa cancer levels to be down and for him to remain healthy and well

6) Miracles for Max

Please remember all our friends around the world, their families and friends, our angels in heaven and their loved ones to.

Have a great week, and please please continue the prayers for Deqlan , always to remain NED

God Bless and lots of love

Mark, Samm & Deqlan

BE STILL KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Rejoice in The Lord!

Hello Deqlans Prayer Army!

We are back with great, no, fantastic results in tow..

VMA -3.2
HMA - 7.1

All well within normal range! Dr De Jager is ecstatic at Deqlans progress and how well he is looking and how great his results continue to be.

Deqlan is 14.8kg and 95cm!!!! That means that by adulthood he will probably be over 1.8m!!!! Must be those genes from my Grandpa!

The great news is that Dr is happy for us to start vaccinations! But, seeing the port wasnt working last week and seeing we dont need it any more and please Dear Lord ever again, Dr suggests we remove it , as there is risk of clots forming if you leave it in to long. So, Plan is get to the port out asap then start vaccinations. Prof Beale is only back in the country again on Friday , so can only chat to him then- hoping to get a spot next week some time. So we have decided to get the first set of vaccinations tommorow, then have at least 1 week to recover then look at doing the removal of port - then get the second set of vaccinations 1 month after that..so we are on the road that i have dreamt of for so long

I was saying to my mom and mark this morning that the best word to me is NORMAL - i dont need anything else, just normal.

Thank you all for your prayers, words of encouragement, and for always being there for our soldier .

Thank YOU DEAR LORD Above all us for continuing your miracles in Deqlan, for answering our prayers as we pray for them , thank you for keeping Deqlan in your loving hands .

We are thrilled and will let you know what we decide to do re surgery and vaccinations, please pray that all goes well tommorow with the first vaccinations and minimal side effects

Please continue to pray hard for Deqlan to remain NED always and please pray for all our warriors around the world

God Bless and all our love
Mark, Samm, Deqlan

REJOICE IN THE WORLD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE!

Happy 4th Birthday Will!

To Our Dear Friend Will,

We hope you have the most fantastic 4th Birthday Weekend!

I cant wait to see the photos and cant wait to hear about the f1 surprise...i can just imagine!

We wish you lots of love, happiness, fantastic health and of course cars !

Also praying for wonderful scan results next week!

Hope Jack gets to have some Birthday cake to!

Stay the amazing inspiration you are, know that your Dad and Mom and Eve love you so very very much!

Sending you lots of love, prayers, hugs , hope and birthday hugs from South Africa

Mark, Samm, Deqlan & Logan and all our families

Happy Feet

Hello Deqlans Prayer Army

Hope you are all well - i know we have been very quiet - reason = we have been very very very busy!

First bit of news is that Deqlan has tonsillitis, again...i seemed to think Deqlans sinus where blocked over the weekend, and then after Deqlan not wanting to eat anything on Monday i decided to TRY and look down his throat and there they where - lots of tiny white sores - we immediately got Deqlan to our GP, as our Paediatrician offices where closed already. After waiting for over half and hour ( and that's not easy to entertain Deqlan at a doctors office ) we eventually got into the rooms. Deqlan was immediately upset, i am sure he knows when something could be an unpleasant experience.

Doctor had a look at Deqlans throat and immediately said it didn't look good at all - after explaining that Deqlan had just 'recovered' or so we thought, from a previous bout of tonsillitis, he suggested that the previous antibiotic could possibly not have killed all the baddies it shouldve, and it just flaired up again. So our soldier is on 7 days antibiotic now and we had to cancel all therapy for this week so we can hopefully get rid of the bugs for good!

He seems a little better the last few days, playing and running around and getting up to his favorite tricks but Deqlans eating is really shocking at the moment - the only thing he will eat is cheese and bread - we were lucky today to get him to eat some salmon, i am celebrating as this is so good for him - but forget any fruit or veges or even his yogurt that he loves...hoping when his throat feels better the food will get better to - maybe his taste could also be changing? i shall continue trying everything food i possibly can to get him to eat better again.

We had a fantastic anniversary yesterday- even though we were not together most of the day, we felt so loved and so thankful for all the messages by phone and blog and email and sms - thank you to all of you for wishing us. Thank you Darling Dee and Mom for the most stunning otterman trays - cant wait to use them, they are to beautiful and we really love them! Thank you so much Mom for the ENORMOUS amount of effort you went to for our beautiful card, every single detail so perfect and so meaningful and unique - thank you so much for all the love you put into it and put into helping us each and every single day.

Thank you so much Conrad, Meggie and Keaton for the funky coasters and serviette rings - which are going to look so stunning with the otterman trays - cant wait to use them either and shall christen them with you soon! Thank you to guys for our gorgeous gifts from Mauritius - i cant wait for Deqlan to wear his Hawaiian style shirt!

Thank you my love for the stunning new cold play cd and jamiroquai dvd - just perfect!

Deqlan is getting so bright and so clever, he has always been, but learning so many new things each day - he understands so much - even though he ain't talking a whole lot , yet, he understands when i ask him to do something , bring us something, etc

His latest game is hiding behind the curtain - this is an amazing achievement that he is initiating a game by himself ( i can see you smiling Anri and Esedra) . I used to do the hiding and Deqlan used to do the finding ..now Deqlan hides behind the curtain and very slowly starts walking forward ..as soon as his head pops up Mark and i scream hooray and clap hands, and the biggest smile appears on his face, he is so proud of himself!

Another favorite is an amazing toy Nanna found called THE FLYING SAUCER! If you didn't know by now, Deqlan loves things that spin , so this was perfect for him and Nanna! Nanna winds the spinner up and lets it fly off into the air! Deqlan takes great delight watching it fly and then runs to fetch it and quickly brings back to Nanna to do it again and again and again ! They have a ball together to say the least!

The weather was awful the last few days, but spring seems to be back in town! Deqlan couldn't be glader to get rid of all the bulky clothes and especially his shoes and socks - see the pic - those are the color of very happy feet!!!! Just like one of his favorite movies...we watch happy feet at least 5 times a week, well the beginning , dancing part of it at least!

I was honored this week to meet Gabby, Celeste and Jacques little princess ! She is to beautiful and cant believe how big she has grown.

Yesterday i got the chance to quickly go and meet Malakai, beautiful MESSENGER FROM GOD and gift to Loren and Darryl. Kai are to gorgeous and i know you are going to get up to lots of tricks with all the boys as you grow older! Cant wait!

Huge Congrats to Philip and Nats and the wonderful news that they are expecting! We pray Nats that you have a wonderful , problem free pregnancy and enjoy every moment to the arrival of your gift from God!

Congrats to Neil and Jelenka and Gianna to - they have just found out Jelenka is expecting the arrival of their second bundle of joy next year! Congrats, we are thrilled for you all!

For those of you that haven't received the invitation to join our prayer group, please let me know if you would like to - OUR CIRCLE OF MOMS - i send out a weekly email requesting prayers for our children/grandchildren/friends anyone in need of a prayer - if you would like to join please send your email address and ill gladly send you all the details!

Have a great weekend everyone, we going to soak up the sun and continue to be patient, put all our faith and trust in Our Lord and pray for fantastic, normal results for Deqlan on Monday.

Please continue to pray for our soldier to remain NED and for him to get over his tonsillitis for once and for all

Please also say extra special special prayers for all of our friends around the world. Special prayers at the moment are asked for Max and Arden.

Please also pray for our friend Ruan, who goes into hospital 24 August to start the process of his stem cell transplant, and will remain in hospital for around 5 weeks - please pray its a huge success and that Yolandie, his mommy, continue to be the amazing faithful , positive person she is.

Let us know how you all are

God Bless and lots of love

Mark, Samm & Deqlan

FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU DECLARES THE LORD, PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE

JEREMIAH 29;11

Happy Anniversary My Love

To my one and only Love,

A very Happy 3rd Wedding Anniversary to you! It feels like yesterday that we were in St Francis sitting in the rain when you asked be to be your wife - one of the happiest moments of my life!

thank you for the most amazing 3 years i could've have ever imagined. It has been an absolute roller coaster ride with a lot of ups and downs - a lot of highs and lows, a lot of bright shiny corners and a lot of dark , scary , unknown tunnels - but we have gotten through it, we started in the same cart and we are still together in the same cart , and will always be.

I love you more each day and want you to know that i am so grateful for all you have done and continue to do for us, and for working so hard to provide the best you can for our family.

I think you are the most amazing Dad to Deqlan and Logan . They both adore you. You are Deqlans hero and the anticipation and absolute joy on his face, when he hears your car arriving home, is priceless. The excitement in his entire body , asking me to pick him up so i can take him to your car is a true example of the love he has for you, and always will.

I think you are the best husband i could have ever been blessed with - know that how grateful i am for EVERYTHING you do for us, no matter how small or big - even you getting Deqlans bottle ready in the morning, to buying me appletizer when you go to the shops, and getting Deqlans favorite goodies - warms my heart each time as i know how much you love and care for us, thank you my love for choosing me and I promise to try harder each day to be the best mom, wife and friend to you i can be.

May God continue to bless our marriage and strengthen it with each passing year and that our love is as tough as leather ( the symbol for 3 year anniversary) as bright and colourful as crystal ( the modern symbol for 3 years) and guided by Our Lord light always.

i love you forever and always

Your Angel

I HAD TO POST A FEW PICS TO BRING BACK SO MANY HAPPY AND WONDERFUL MEMORIES OF OUR WEDDING DAY, COULDNT RESIST!

OUR CAMO SOLDIERS

Some pics of Deqlans army in their camo outfits! Please send some more, would love the share them on the blog! There's Nanna, Deqlan,Mama and Dada waiting at Dr De Jagers rooms, Me and smiley boy Keaton, pity you cant see his full camo outfit, Sam, Mia and Liam all wearing camo for Deqlan all the way in the UK!

We are back!

Hello Deqlans Prayer Army,

We are home, later then expected, but we are home and have smiles on our faces.

I did not sleep so well last night, don't think Mark did either - i think i just kept waking up and remembering to pray each time i woke up - then Deqlan was awake at 230am - couldn't figure out what was wrong, but eventually, all the he wanted was a cuddle and to snuggle into my neck and quickly fell back asleep!

We started off at mass this morning, celebrating the assumption of Our Lady, met Great Grandpa, Nanna, Meggie and Keaton at church. Deqlan and I both received a Blessing and our hearts filled with peace and hope and trust and thanks.

What a sight to see our family this morning, Great Grandpa who gave up his communion for Deqlan today, Nanna in her green outfit and camo shoes. Meggie in her green outfit holding Keaton who was 'decked' out in camo from head to toe - to gorgeous for words - thank you to you all for being there for us today and every single step of this journey - the effort you went to to get up so much earlier and sterilise everything Mom, before you came to church, Meggie and Keaton to get up and have all your bags ready for the day and be at mass at 8am is no small feat - and we appreciate it more then you will know !

We then went off to Little Company of Mary and started by inserting the needle into the port to draw the blood - no blood - more heparin - no blood - more heparin - no blood - little bit of force on the needle - no blood - little bit of saline solution - no blood - oh oh - what on earth is going on? The port didn't seemed blocked as everything was going in, but nothing coming out? We decided to go to have the ultrasound and then go back down to try again - Sister Alida put Emla on two spots, just in case we would need to draw blood from somewhere else...

The ultrasound went very very well, Dadda, Nanna, and I managed to entertain, sing, play Deqlans voice recordings on Nannas phone, show toys, eat flings and anything we had to do for Deqlan to lie still for just a little while for the Doc to get a good look. What an absolute super star Deqlan was , amazing little soldier he is.

Thank Our Lord, ultrasound is clear, all looks great and normal and nothing extra, nothing less - we are celebrating this fantastic result! Thank You Dear Lord for answering our prayers.

Of course Deqlan pulled the plasters off his hand and arm and licked the emla off before we could even stop him!

A ride on the golf cart was very welcome by Deqlan and thoroughly enjoyed by us all as we went back down to try and pull blood from the port again


More heparin - no blood - more heparin - no blood - bit of force - no blood - bigger syringe - no blood - oh boy....looks like we are going to have to try a vein in the hand or arm....

Sister Alida went to call a lovely nurse who happens to go to our church and I immediately said ' I AM SO GLAD ITS YOU'

We had Deqlans beloved Dub dvd playing all of his favorite treats, Nanna singing and playing her phone , Dadda holding Deqlan tight and Mama praying - The nurse got the needle into a vein in Deqlans hand first time ( hooray!) but she couldn't get enough blood out (aw no!) so then Sister Alida tried the other hand and after two tries managed to get a little more blood out - enough for the tests. You can imagine how distressed and upset Deqlan was, but was an absolute soldier and was so good and so brave - i am so PROUD to be your Mama Deqlan - you amaze me, you are the strongest , bravest person I will ever know - We love you more then words could ever show you, but i continue to tell you each moment i can - i am so sorry you had to go through a little discomfort this morning and i would take it from you in a second if i could - but you are so brave and such a hero and inspiration to us all, i couldn't have been as brave as you!

Now we wait, and we pray for patience and pray for completely normal results from the blood and urine tests results on 25 August - please please continue to pray army - for Deqlan and all our warriors everywhere!

We are going to go and have a fantastic weekend full of sunshine and smiles and water of course !

Thank you Dada for being my strong,brave, tough, loving, caring , smiling you - i love you so very much and i know that when i am in your arms, everything is alright ..I love you so so so much.

Thank you my love for being the best husband and dad ever - we love you so very much and appreciate all you do for us - thank you for pulling us through tough mornings and for holding us up when we get down - i am honored to be your wife and to be celebrating our 3rd anniversary with you on Wednesday.

Hope you all have a great weekend, thank you for all the calls, messages, emails, text messages - for all your prayers and love - we have the best prayer army ever! A lot of you have said you wore camo today - please send us pics i would love to post them on the blog!

God Bless, lots of love
Mark,Samm, Deqlan

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS, AND I AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

Army get your camo out!

Hello Deqlans Army,

Its that time again - please get your camo and green out in support of our soldiers 3 monthly check up tommorow

I have been wearing camo or green in my outfits the entire week!

We will start with going to Mass at 8am for celebration of the Assumption of Our Lady and of course to ask for special prayers and a blessing for Deqlan from Father Rusell.

We will then make our way to Little Company of Mary to have the bloods drawn and urine sample taken at 9am, and hopefully be all done and ready for our ultrasound at 0930am and then be on our way home - then patiently wait, while we trust , for the results on 25th of August.

Thank you to you all already for all your emails and messages of support , and above all prayers for Deqlan for tommorow.

Please pray that all goes exactly according to plan, that Deqlan is calm and relaxed, that the food restrictions and limited fluid intake brings the levels back down to under 10 for the vma/hva test - please pray that the ultrasound reveals nothing in the area of the primary tumor - please pray for the results on the 25th of August to be completely normal and for Deqlan to recieve the greatest 2nd Birthday gift of remaining NED always.

I have great moments of feeling absolutely positive that Deqlans results are going to be just perfect, and then i have moments where i start to worry a little - but i quickly shrug that off and try and concentrate on how well Deqlan has done and continues to do and that by JESUS STRIPES DEQLAN HAS BEEN HEALED! BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD continues to ring through mny head - and at Mass this pass weekend the message was about faith - if you have faith, even as big as a mustard seed, you can move mountains!

We need to ask you for a very special prayer request for Arden, who is having breathing complications during her second stem cell transplant, her Moms post are more then entertaining, inspirational and motivational and i know they would appreciate each and every prayer! - have added her link to our links, right at the top

Please also pray for Baby Zach, just diagnosed with stage 4s neuroblastoma at 8 weeks of age, his link also on the top of the links, i know how daunting and frightening the first few days of diagnoses are , and every prayer means the world , please pray for baby Zach as he begins this journey of healing

Please continue to pray for ALL OF OUR NB WARRIORS around the world, in everything they are needing light and assistance and above all healing on - Our Lord is a miracle worker!

Have a great day and thank you from the bottom of our heart for all your prayers and love and support
ALL OUR LOVE
MARK, SAMM, DEQLAN

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD
SACRED HEART OF JESUS, WE PLACE OUR TRUST IN THEE, ALL FOR THEE OH LORD OH MY JESUS ALL FOR THEE

HAPPY 23 MONTHS DEQLAN

To Our Darling Boy Deqlan,

HAPPY 23 MONTHS TO YOU TODAY AND MANY, MANY , MANY MORE!

I am so excited that the next time we wish you, will be for your 2nd Birthday! Hooray!

You continue to inspire us with your courage and absolute love for life, motivate us to be the best parents we can be, capture us with your spirit , envelop us with your love. We are more then blessed to be your parents, we are honored beyond words and we thank Our Lord each and every day that YOU chose US and that He trusted US with YOU!

I cant believe how quickly time has gone, the most precious tiny little baby that was placed in my arms almost two years ago, has grown into the most vibrant, energetic, playful, loving toddler i could ever have been blessed with.

We love watching you blossom into the toddler you are becoming, learning so much from you each moment of the day- we continue to witness the miracles happening in , around and through you and again, feel so blessed and honored!

Always, always know how much we love you , we adore you , you are hero and inspiration, our beautiful soldier, we love you chicken with all our hearts!

all our love

DADA AND MAMA

We had a great weekend, really enjoying the warmer weather and already getting into the mood of summer and just wanting to be outside to have braai's and swim and fresh air and especially to watch Mr Deqlan enjoy all the benefits of being outside

This weekend, he discovered the sprinkler Dada had put on to water the very thirsty plants, and you all know what happened next...he started running through them and smiling and taking deep breaths every time the water drops landed on his face and head - he then started running further and further away so he could make his run way longer to get to all the fun! We of course had to cut this all a little short, as its not cut summer yet and don't want any colds to arrive , especially not this week.

We managed to unpack, move things around, and get a little more organised this weekend - got Deqlans play room a little more organised and started on Logans room - boy i cant wait to hear the sound of two kids running around having fun, even fighting, just to have them together again is going to be an absolute gift we have waited for so long.

I have been speaking to some nurses at the clinic, the vaccine help line and our paediatrician to formulate the game plan for Deqlans re vaccinations - now, i just wait the final go ahead from Dr De Jager on the 25th of August - we might, maybe, hoping to - start his vaccines as soon as 26 August - as the vaccine changes in composition after the age of 2 - so we are going to see what we can get done, if Dr De Jager gives us the go ahead, before Deqlan turns 2 in 1 month.

Deqlan LOVED getting into the jacuzzi with Grandpa this afternoon - he is actually still in there and i hear Nanna battling to get him out - this kid is more then a water baby, i think he is actually half dolphin!

Conrad, Megs and Keaton arrive back tonight after a week long holiday in Mauritius - we certainly missed them but hear they have had a fantastic time, cant wait to see the photos and see little keaton in his beach gear!

Happy Birthday Uncle Quintin for the 5th of August we hope you had a fantastic day and wonderful year ahead, with lots of blessings !

Happy Birthday to you Charles for today, we hope you have a great day and great celebrations in store!

Have a great week everyone and please start your prayers for our upcoming tests this Friday, please let the ultrasound of the primary tumor area be totally clear and let the blood and urine tests go smoothly!

Please continue to pray for all of our friends around the world - don't know if you managed to catch the opening ceremony of the Olympics - breathtaking - they apparently spent 43 billion Us Dollars on the games,can you just imagine what we could find if just 1 percent of that, if any of that could be used to find the cure for Neuroblastoma..i don't even think they would've missed that little amount, but to the world of neuroblastoma would've been a huge difference....

God Bless lots of love

Mark, Samm & Deqlan

FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU DECLARES THE LORD, PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE A FUTURE

JEREMIAH 29;11