History

Journal History

Sunday, November 20, 2005 11:55 AM CST

It is with great sadness I must tell you all that at 2:00am this Morning with Mom and Dad close by Jonathan became an angel. He fought so hard to beat this terrible disease and many times we thought we had. CANCER SUCKS!!!!

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

Brenda Mom to Angel Jonathan dx January 15,1998, Earned his wings November 20, 2005.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 11:54 AM CDT

Finally you, you say, an update. Well, yes, things have been hectic but as short as this may be
here it is:

Jon has been feeling good except for an extremely low platelet count that was topped off with a nose bleed
on Saturday night which took us to Winnipeg to Children’s Emergency for Platelets at 8:30 pm
arriving back home at 2:00 am. He will start on an oral chemo drug (etoposide) this evening. It
is known not to have too many side effects and will hopefully keep Jonathan stable.

With some help from the staff at Teulon Elementary and a couple of School Board Members we
have been able to get Jonathan back to school this week. The supports they have put in place for
us for Jon are wonderful and it will make the transition back to school in a wheel chair easier than
we expected.

Thank you for checking in

Brenda

Friday, September 30, 2005 11:47 AM CDT

It has been a week since all this new stuff happened to Jonathan. He had surgery on Tuesday and can now wiggle his toes, ankles and move his knees a little. All is going in the right direction. Today they have moved him to activity as tollerated which means he can be up in a wheelchair. This will be a good change for him as I think he is tired of sitting in this room. Not sure what our next step will be as Dr. Israels wants him to recover completely from his surgery before we make any chemo decisions.

Thanks for checking in

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jon and Kent

Friday, September 23, 2005 8:58 PM CDT

As I sit here beside a sleeping Jonathan in his quiet hospital room I reflect on the past 7+ years of his battle with Neuroblastoma and how this is another battle with the same disease but the symptoms are different and scary.

Jonathan has a new tumor that has invated his spine and compressed his spinal cord leaving him paralized from his chest down.

It has all happened very quickly, within the last 24 hours, and he has already had his first of 7 radiation treatments to the area in hopes to releave the pressure and thus bring back the feeling and movement to his legs. If there is no improvement or if things worsen by Monday we will consider surgery to release the cord.

Jon is finding this very difficult but is in no pain. Ken and I are trying to come to terms with this new turn of events and are full of how come's, why's and what's next's.

Please send prayers and strength to Jonathan.

Thanks to our friends and family near and far

Brenda, Ken and Kent

Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:57 PM CDT

Written some time the between September 14 and 17 this is how it was then:

I know, I have not updated Jon's site in a while, It is on "to do" list. But you are right, things have
been good. Jon and I flew to Bethesda, Sept 5, returning on the 6th with ABT in hand. Sept 7,
school started . . . and I have been working lots since then (too much, in fact). Jon completed
round 2 of ABT on Tuesday. He had pain in his upper back and right arm when he started but 1/2
way through the course the pain started to lessen. To me that means the chemo is doing what it
should!! Killing off live disease or at least halting it. He will have a bone marrow biopsy and heart
function tests as well as a CT and MIBG scan next week. If everything is the same or better we
will fly back to Bethesda on Sept 25 returning on the 27th. Boy we sure are racking up the World
Perk points with NWA. I just hope they stay in business long enough for us to use them.

This is how it is today:

We are right in the middle of tests. . . Jon has a CT scan and part 2 of his MIBG scan today.
Tomorrow we will know the basic results. If things are the same or better we will fly to Bethesda
on Sunday if things look worse we will be staying home and doing???!!!

It has been an extremely stressful time. Jonathan seems to have a new pain or ache each day. No
one can feel anything (new tumors protruding) but the pain is real in his upper back and chest area
and today it is his knee. I’m not sure how we will even get to Bethesda if they will have us.

Oh getting to Bethesda that is another thing.. . . STRESSFUL to put it lightly. NIH told us that
they would pay for our airfare, which they did last time. One phone call to them and it was all
arranged. BUT this time I called and told them when we needed to be there and how long we
needed to stay. She said she would e-mail me a confirmation. A couple of days went by, nothing,
then a week, nothing, so I called. Oh Mrs Watson you will have to call Social Work we can not
pay these high prices from Canada!!?? But you just did I said, well that was an exception. A call
to the Social Worker who told me we would have to pay from Wpg to Minneapolis. They would
pay the rest. OK I said and call back their travel agent. She said OK I’ll cancel the Canadian
portion of the ticket and you book it. I will e-mail you a confirmation. No e-mail, No e-mail, I’m
waiting to book with NWA so finally on Tuesday afternoon I just go a head and book as I can’t
wait any longer. I call the NIH travel people and a different agent e-mails me our itinerary. I get
it and it is completely different than what we discussed and she had booked. She has us flying
United out to Minneapolis and we have a couple of hours wait. I can handle that but I can’t find
out if I have to leave the departure area to check in with United then return to the gate. I ask my
agent, her reply is I don’t know. She has us leaving Bethesda at 5:15 in the afternoon which
means we would totally miss our 4:00 flight to Wpg on NWA. Which meant that we would have
to take the 10:00pm flight and arrive in Wpg at 12am.. WELL I LOST IT and told her that this
was unexceptable as I have a sick boy here and if she had let me know that she had changed us to
United I could have then booked according to her new times. She said I e-mailed it I said I didn’t
get it. She said well you got this one. Yes, but some else had to send it to me. WE all use the
same address once it is in the computer. I think I should have reminded her that she needed to hit
the send button as to this day I have not received one of her messages. Anyway she changed our
departure time from Dulles and we will make it home in good time on the 27th. That is if we get
there at all. I’m not sure all this is worth it. Please pray for good scan results for Jonathan and
less pain. Thanks for dropping by and listening to me vent, Brenda

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:57 PM CDT

Well here it is Day 10 and we are still in Bethesda. Jonathan handled the ABT Chemo very well. It is just the after side-effects that are keeping us here. He, again, became very dehydrated and this is his second night in hospital. He has lost his appetite, too. His hemaglobin was low so they transfussed him today. He felt somewhat better and came over to the Children's Inn while Ken and I ordered in some dinner. It is Ken's turn to go and sleep on the cot in Jon's room tonight, so they just left. I will go over after a cup of coffee tomorrow morning. Hopefully he will be dicharged tomorrow as the families from the Children's Inn get to go to a Crab Fest tomorrow evening for dinner. Jon, loves cab legs or is it the butter that you dip them in that he loves. We have no idea what it is all about but if they are serving crab it can't be all bad. We have a flight booked for early Friday morning (our 3 or is it 4th change). I guess reality will hit hard when we get home. Only 1 week till school starts and I have not bought supplies or gone clothes shopping. Then we will be involved in the Push of the Cure again this year on the long weekend. And on that Monday Jonathan and I will make a quick trip back here to get the once over and pills for his second round. He will start Grade 6 on Wednesday Sept 8 and Kent will start Grade 4. Hopefully I will have time to update at some point.

The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:27 AM CDT

Hi from the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

We arrived on Sunday evening the the Children's Inn which is like a Ronald McDonald House. We have a room with 2 double beds and a private bathroom. There are 3 community kitchens and cupboard and refridgerator space are assigned to each family. We have a small TV in our room (adequate) but there are many common areas with large comfy couches and large TV's.

The NIH Hospital were we met with Dr. Fox and the research nurses on Monday is very nice and the people are great. There is plenty of security everytime you enter it is like going through a security check at an airport. But it is no problem. The Hospital is about 1 block from the Children's Inn. An easy walk for most. It is all up hill. It is more like it is above the Children's Inn than accross the street. The first day, I was puffing pretty hard by the time we reached the entrance. But each day it has gotten a little easier. Maybe we should import some hill to Manitoba. For the days that it is raining or the kids are just too tired there is a shuttle that runs there about every 15 min.

Jonathan is on Day 3 of ABT-751 so far he has had no side effects except for being on the tired side. It was hard to get him up this morning to go the clinic for his am blood draw but we made it by 9:30. We now have 3 days off from clinic but he will continue to take his chemo (2 pills) each morning. We will return to Clinic one last time on Monday morning for more blood work and a quick chat with Dr. Fox. We will be flying out of Dulles Airport late Monday afternoon. Because of having to be here so long this first visit our turnaround time is short. Jonathan and I will fly back here on the September 6th for 1 night and a visit to clinic on Tuesday morning flying home on Tuesday night. This will enable Jonathan to be at school for the first day. September 8th.

We have even tried out the Metro (subway) by going into Bethesda for dinner last night. We are planning a sightseeing tour in Washington tomorrow and will have to take the Metro all the way to Union Station. I think we can do it. I'm not crazy about being underground however it is very clean and seems very safe. The tour we have planned is one that we can just ride around on or get off and see things then get back on and continue the tour. Jon wants to see the Air and Space Museum and the Natural Hitory Museum. Ken wants to see the Whitehouse and Arlington Cemetary. Me I just want to find a Target or Walmart or even a KMart. However I don't think I will. I'll just have to wait until we are home.

Thanks for checking in. Hugs to all

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Monday, August 1, 2005 11:33 AM CDT

The Watson’s are traveling again!! Unfortunately there is no spots open in the clinical trial in
Chicago until September SO . . . We will be going to Bethesda, MD to the National Health
Institute (NHI). This is the head site for the ABT-751 clinical trial. I have spoken to Dr. Fox,
who will see Jonathan on August 15th and he should start the drug on the 16th . He will take the
pill (ABT-751) for 7 days then be off the drug for 14 days. I understand that there are minimal
side effects at this dose so we are hoping he will tolerate it well and that we will be able to see a
few of the sites while in Bethesda, which is actually part of Washington, DC and quite close to the
Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Fox recommended that we plan on being there for 10 days this first trip.
After that Jon and I will probably just go ourselves as we will only need to be there for 1-2 days.
Then hopefully, after a few months, if Jonathan is handling the med. well the NIH will be able to
send the ABT-751 to us.

Hope everyone is having a great summer. I will update again once we are in Bethesda.

The Watson’s Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 4:15 PM CDT

After my last entry being so positive, I must tell you about a couple of set backs we have had. On June 29th, just before the July long weekend, we received a call from Dr. Israels telling us that Dr. Cohn in Chicago needed to see Jonathan on the following TUesday, July 5th or we would have to repeat all of his scans and bone marrow biopsies. After just a short discussion we all agreed that we would get to Chic. so that Jon would not have to go through all the procedures again. Ken, Jonathan and I left Saturday, July 2nd for Chicago. We thought we'd stop in Fargo, ND and do some shopping and have a nice dinner, spend a night in a hotel and continue on to Minneapolis or maybe further the next day. We checked into our room and had a relaxing pre-dinner drink and some snacks and headed off to Walmart. We shopped for no more than 45 minutes and I was in line to pay as Ken and Jon waited at the other end of the counter for me. It was my turn to pay and the fellow was ringing through our stuff when I looked up and over to see Ken holding Jonathan. Jon looked stiff as a board and his skin was very red. I ran over and asked what was wrong. I then got a good look at Jon and realized he was having a seizure. A very kind woman came over to offer help she was a nurse and suggested that Ken lay Jon down on the floor. Since he has never had an episode like this before I asked the clerk to call 911. Jonathan was just coming out of it as the perimedics arrived but they suggested we go to the hospital to have him checked out because he has no history of seizures. In Emerg. blood was drawn and a CT of Jonathan's head was ordered. I talked to the Oncologist who was on call in Winnipeg and he said we had done the right thing and he agreed that a CT should be done to eliminate the possibily of any bleeding. Anxiety was running high as we waited in that little cubicle. Jon wanting to go some place to eat and Ken and I unsure of what to do about Chicago. We were not worried about the CT as he had just had one on June 20th, to weeks previous and it did not show anything, so you can imagine our surprise and shock when the ER Dr. came in and asked us how long Jonathan had had that lesion on his brain. I argued with him and said it could not be a lesion as there was nothing on his latest CT from home and that it must just be a spot of NB on his skull. He insisted that it was a lesion. We waited some more while he went and called the Oncologist on call in Wpg. When he came back he told us that they had decided that Jon should be admitted over night for observation, they would start him on anti-seizure medication and that it would be a good idea to stay in Fargo until Monday to make sure he has a good level of the med in his system before we travel either home or to Chicago. Jon and I spent the night at Innovis Health Care Centre and Ken and I decided that we would spend Sunday in Fargo and watch Jonathan then head home on Monday, because we did not know if Jon would be still elegible for the clinical trial in chicago with this new development. When we left hospital they gave a copy of the CT on a CD so that our Dr. at home could see it. We arrived in Wpg on Monday afternoon and headed straight to Cancer Care. We met with Dr. Israels, who along with a radiologist had a look at the CT from Fargo. You can imagine our surprise when she told us that they could not see any lesions on Jonathan's brain. The Ct was repeated the next day and he had many other tests that week. We do not have any answers as to why he had the seizure. I have seen Jon in many situations, sick from chemo, after major, major surgery but I have never seen anything as scary as seeing him have a seizure in the Fargo Walmart.

We are in hospital now, Jonathan is getting another round of I.C.E. chemo, As soon as we have a new date from Dr. Cohn we will set up the scans and workup for Jonathan so that they will be within 14 days of our appointment with her. I figure that it will either by August 9th or 16th. One thing for sure, we will not be going to the Walmart in Fargo!!!! maybe Target, but not Walmart.

Thanks for thinking of us and I will try to keep you updated.

Brenda

Friday, June 24, 2005 4:37 PM CDT

It has been a great week here at the Watson household!! After a short stay in hospital due to low
counts and fever Jonathan was discharged on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday, he had scans and a
GFR (kidney) test. And today I got the results from Dr. Israels. Both his bone scan and CT scan
are much improved from his last scans in January. Bone scan still shows that there is some bone
marrow disease even though his biopsy in May was clean. After a heart test and blood work on
Tuesday the results will all be sent to Dr. Cohn in Chicago and we will get a date to see her,
probably July 5 or 12th. Jonathan left with the dedicated nurses, staff and a couple of doctors
from Cancer Care this morning for a weekend camping expedition. He was so excited. There is
only 1 more day of school here (Monday). I am glad there will be no more lunches to make for a
while and the kids and I can sleep a little longer in the morning, on the days I don’t work. Hope
you all have a good weekend. Thanks for checking on us. Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

PS Cate if you happen to check this please e-mail me.

Friday, June 3, 2005 2:34 PM CDT

I guess it is about time a sat down and let you all know what just has been happening in
our lives over the past 6 weeks. First of all while Jonathan was recovering from his first
round of I.C.E. , with the help of some friends we took the kids to Disney World for a
week. We flew out of Minneapolis, where the airfare is much cheaper, and we were
able to spend a night going and coming home with Cate , Jon and Nicolai. Thanks
guys. Even though Jon’s blood counts have recovered from his last round of chemo he
is still extremely tired, all the time!! At first we thought we had just wore him out in
Disney and he just needed some extra sleep. No amount of sleep seemed to help. It
just so happens that we is now suffering the late side effects of the radiation treatments
he had to his skull in March/April. No one from the Radiation Department thought to tell
us that 6-8 weeks after radiation to the head or spine people can suffer extreme
exhaustion (Radiation Somnolency). People have been know to sleep 20-24 hours a
day. Jonathan is not quite that bad but he is struggling. School just starts too early, no
matter what time he goes to bed, so I have been taking him in at morning recess
(10:30) that why he gets a couple of more hours. Some days he makes it till the end,
some days I have to pick him up at 2 or 3.

Oh yeah, he also had bone marrow biopsies done the day after we got back from
Florida. AND the biopsies show that there is no neuroblastoma present in his marrow ,
it has been 2 years since he had clean marrow. If his counts are up we will have
chemo next week Tues.-Friday. Hopefully this 2nd round will be easier on him. Anyway,
take care and thanks for thinking of us.

The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, April 28, 2005 10:56 AM CDT

Jon has been in hospital since April 22. We went to Clinic for a platelet transfusion and by the time we arrived he had a pretty good fever. He has been receiving the usual cocktail of antibiotics and has been cultured and swabbed in most every way possible, but nothing has grown so the Dr. figures it is just a neutropenic fever, meaning his blood counts are very low and they are just fighting each other which will cause fever. His port stopped working also on Friday so he had IV's over the weekend. With receiving numerous blood and plattlet transfusions and needing to keep up with the hydration and antibiotics they needed more lines to run everything. A PICC line was put in on Monday. I think that Jonathan is probably one of Dr. Divikar's only patients who has said:"Stop, I can't see what you are doing, please prop-up my head so I can watch." We did and he did extremely well. Not so for Mom and Dad who both had to leave the room for some air. Hopefully the PICC is only temporary as it is just like and IV only the tubbing enters his arm and continues up to a large vein in his chest. So he still have the IV thing coming out of his arm. His port will be replaced before his next round of Chemo.

We will be in hospital until his blood counts show an upward trend, which hopefully will only be over the weekend.

I am looking forward to getting home and if you can believe it cooking, doing dishes and laundry.

Thanks for checking in on us. I'll try to keep things up to date and let you all know when we make it home.

Brenda

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 10:26 AM CDT

Hi to all and thanks for checking in on Jonathan. I know some of you must have been sending good vibes and prayers our way ‘cause he feels so good this morning. Well, I guess anyone would who for the first time in 3 days wakes up in your own home (not his own bed, mine) after 3
restless nights in the hospital.

OK , I’ll go a little further back. Jon finished all his radiation treatments on March 31st and on April 1 he was suppose to start his second round of the oral chemo he was on. But his blood counts were too low and Dr.Israels decided to wait until Tues. the 5th and check them again. Well, on Tuesday they were down even more and Jon was again suffering pain in his legs and arms. This told us the Oral combination was not working and that we had better switch gears pretty quickly, and we did. Dr.Israels decided that we should try the I.C.E. combination of chemo it is 3
drugs given over 4 days in hospital. So needless to say, pillow in hand Jon was admitted on Friday, April 8 for a weekend stay. He did real well and only had one episode of vomiting. He was very tired as were Dad and I but we made it through and came home late Monday afternoon.

He will rest at home today but he is hoping to get some ½ days in at school later this week, we’ll see.

Thanks for thinking of us and I’ll try to keep you posted.

Brenda

Thursday, March 17, 2005 12:43 AM CST

Oh Boy . . . What a week!! Jonathan had a CT Scan on Monday, all that day he
complained of a stiff/sore upper left arm (could it have something to do with hanging on
to the back of a sleigh that is being pulled by a snowmobile at his brothers birthday
party). Motrin was given. He woke us up about midnight that night complaining of
severe pain in his right wrist and forearm this time again does it have anything to do
with the birthday party and the new play station 2 games that the boys both played for
hours on Saturday, Sunday and Monday? He tried to go to school as the grade 5 and
6's were going curling for the whole day. BUT he called me by 9:30 to pick him up. He
was really in distress with the pain in his right wrist and forearm. After a call to his Onc.
I got him on regular doses of morphine and Motrin. He struggled with the pain all day.
Again that night he woke us to tell us, this time, that the pain in his wrist was gone.
Wednesday we had an appointment with the Radiologist and stopped to have a quick
consult with Dr. Israels too. It was decided that: 1) Jonathan would go on the Oral
Irinotecan and Temezolimide pill and 2) that he would need radiation to his entire skull.
By the time we arrived home there were messages from clinic saying that the Oral
meds would be ready on Thursday could Jon and I come in to meet with the Pharmacist
for 10 am. Yes of course. Also a message from Radiology could Jon start his radiation
treatments on Monday, March 21st at 2:30. Perfect, no problem we will be there.

So, here we are at home after taking his first doses of his new oral chemo this morning
at Clinic. Jon is really tired so will spend the rest of the day resting. (Oh yeah, so am I
but I must do a couple of things first before I get my afternoon nap). Tomorrow is
another curling day at school so hopefully he will be up for it as I have volunteered to
help in the morning. Next week he will attend school in the mornings (that he can) and
have his radiation in the afternoon. We will do a few rounds of this and have more
tests then decided on the treatment in Chicago.

Thanks for checking in. Keep Jon in your prayers.

Brenda

Saturday, March 12, 2005 3:16 PM CST

We are so disappointed . . . The lesion on Jonathan’s skull has flared up again after only 18 days
since his last round of chemo. This tells us that this combination of chemo is no longer working
for Jonathan and we will have to try a different combination for a couple - three rounds. Jonathan
will also, probably, have some radiation treatments to this spot on his skull. Once we get things
under control we will then be able to head to Chicago to start ABT-751. Thanks for checking in
and I will keep you posted.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Friday, March 4, 2005 2:34 PM CST

Good Morning Thanks for checking in,

It is a wonderful day here in rural Manitoba, temps are to be around 0 today and +3
tomorrow.

We have heard from Dr. Cohn in Chicago and Jonathan will need to be there for his
first appointment on Tuesday, March 22. We are taking Kent with us. The 4 of us will
drive to Chicago via Minneapolis which enables us to spend a night with good friends
Cate, Jon and little Nicolai, Thanks guys. It sounds like we will have to be in Chicago
until March 25th. We are all a little excited to get going and move onto yet another
phase of treatment for Jonathan. Thanks for checking in, I’ll try to update while we are
away but remember “no news is good news”. Or it means we are just too darn busy
having fun to sit at a computer.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, February 9, 2005 4:37 PM CST

We heard from Jonathan’s Oncologist today. All is test results have gone to Dr. Cohn in
Chicago. Dr. Israels spoke to Dr. Cohn today and she thinks that the ABT-751 Trial is a very
good choice for Jonathan and she looks forward to meeting him. BUT the Clinical Trial has been
Closed until March 1/05. So Jonathan will do another round of Chemo next week or the week
after then we will head to Chicago in March, sometime around the 14th/15th. Well that is all our
news for now. Take Care and thanks for checking in.

Brenda, Jonathan’s Mom

Tuesday, December 14, 2004 11:08 AM CST

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS

Once again, thank you for visiting Jonathan’s webpage. We are busy, as usual for this
time of year getting ready for all the Christmas goings-on.

Jon completed another round of Chemo last week and is feeling great even though his
blood counts are low and will remain that way for a week or so. We have our next clinic
visit on December 28th and his next round of chemo will be January 10-15. We are
trying very hard to keep him healthy and out of hospital over Christmas.

On our next visit to clinic we will have a path-setting visit with Dr. Israels. She has
been investigating a Phase I clinical trial for Jonathan that could be available to us out
of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The treatment is an oral medication that
would be take 1 pill a day for 21 days then 7 days off. I have heard very good results
about this treatment and it is easily tolerated with few side-effects. This is just what we
want for Jonathan so he can be as normal as possible. The chemo drugs we are using
right now have always worked for Jon to control his disease but we don’t want him to
become resistant to them so Dr. Israels feels that he is healthy right now and it would
be a good time to try this new treatment ‘cause we can always go back to the chemo he
is having right now should he not tolerate it or showed signs of progression.

Hope you are all ready for Christmas and that you can sit back and enjoy this wonderful
time of year.

Brenda

Tuesday, November 30, 2004 3:31 PM CST

I know, I know, you never thought you'd hear from me again, did you! Well just when you think it is safe not to visit Jonathan's pagev 'cause you know everything that is on it. Here I go and change it. Oh well such is life, I suppose:

I had a long discussion with Jonathan's Oncologist today. She has been in contact with Dr. Susan Cohen from Northwestern in Chicago (Chicago Memorial Children's Hospital). They have the NANT Phase I ABT-751 open there and feels that it would benefit Jonathan. Dr. Cohen is finding out which of the prerequisite scans and tests can be done here in Winnipeg and which must be done in Chicago. Then we will apply for approval from MB Health. While this all takes place Jonathan will continue on Topo/Cyclo for another round next week. He handled his last round so well that it was easy to forget all the cancer stuff for a while.

We have been busy with hockey, curling and school of course and with Christmas coming things are busy, busy, busy. Our church put a float in the "Parade of Lights" parade last Friday, the kids had a great time helping to make the float and riding on it while all the Sunday School mother's walked behind. We have also started practice for our Sunday School Christmas Pagent. This weekend our good friend Vicky will come out to visit. The boys are happy as they want to show off their hockey and curling skills to her. Love to all who visit and hope you are all getting into the Christmas spirit.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Tuesday, October 12, 2004 10:51 AM CDT

The Push for A Cure was a success. It all began with a send off fundraising diner at Beach Boys Restaurant in Gimli, Manitoba on the evening of Oct. 6. A wonderful pickeral (walleye) fish dinner was enjoyed by all. Jonathan was not feeling the greatest and arrived in his wheelchair but managed to exit it for a lengthy photo-shoot with Rob and Ed (the warriors) on top of the Avalanche (the thing being pushed). Check back for pictures, I hear they are great!! Rob and Ed started pushing at sunup from Gimli as Jonathan and I headed to Clinic with a fever. Jonathan was admitted to hospital to receive some antibiotics and fever control. Rob and Ed pushed til sundown. Friday morning at sunup Rob and Ed started to push again. As the day wore on and they got closer to the finish line it was apparent that Jonathan would not be able to drive the last few miles as planned. We called the convoy fequently for updates and Rob called us at about 6:00pm just after they finished the almost 80 km treak. Everyone wanted to come to the hospital to see Jon but I discouraged it as his immune system was real low. Jonathan was feeling a little better on Saturday and was up to a few X-Box games when Rob came to visit. With blood counts slowly on the rise we were released from hospital on Sunday and spent the rest of the long-weekend hanging out at home and catching up on yard work and laundry. Jon must have been feeling a little bit better on Monday as I had to referee a few minor squables. This morning's blood work told us that Jonathan's counts continue to rise slowly. I think he will even go to school this afternoon. He is scheduled to start another round of chemo on October 25 (only 12 days from now) it may have to be pushed back. Thanks for checking in on us. Jonathan continues to fight like the true warrior he is and we are his back-up and support.
The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, September 22, 2004 3:13 PM CDT

just new things were too normal around here and that it wouldn’t last. Jonathan was
experiencing severe leg pain on Monday evening and over night. Which prompted our Onc. to
order extra blood work on Tuesday. The LDH marker was again elevated thus meaning disease
progression again. (UUUGGGGHHH) We will go back to our old faithful chemo treatment,
Topotecan/Cyclophosphomide beginning outpatient on Monday. We met with Dr. Isreals today
she is looking into some other treatments for Jonathan also but we will probably stick to this at
least until Christmas. Keep him in your prayers.

Brenda

Monday, September 13, 2004 9:43 AM CDT

Jonathan started his 2nd round of Fenretinide on Friday and again seems to be handling it with few
or no side effects. He is in a grade 5/6 split class and so far he is loving it. Mrs. Carman is a
great teacher and she seems to have captured his attention early in the year. Kent is in grade 3
and has Mr. Enns (who Jonathan had in grade 3). He also is a great teacher who is gentle and
soft spoken, I think Kent and he will get on just fine.

I have gone back to working my one day a week at the Auction. I’m unsure as to what else I
want to do this winter. I am looking into some distance education courses through our local
college. Sure wish I could find secretarial work in our town as I have to stay close to home,
because the days that Jonathan is on the Fenretinide I have to be available to take him his mid-day
dose at 2:30 pm. Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that things are good and to watch for
updates and pictures from the “Push for a Cure “, Oct. 7 & 8/04.

Thanks for checking in The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, August 19, 2004 9:55 AM CDT

Jonathan will not do another round of chemotherapy before starting on the COG Clinical Trial for
Fenretinide. In fact he will start to take the drug (pills) tomorrow, Friday, August 20/04. He will
take approximately 8 pills, 3 x a day for 7 days, then have 14 days off. After all the chemo he has
had this sounds simple. I hope it is! Due to the fact that it is a Clinical Trail he will be watched
very closely for disease progression. I understand he can be on it as long as 30 rounds which
would be about 2 years. There are a couple of new drugs that look very promising for
Neuroblastoma that are in Clinical Trials in the US. Hopefully the FDA will have approved them
when and if we need them.

The weather has been cold, cold, cold here and we have used our pool very little. I’m thinking of
winterizing it already. We had a great weekend in Grand Forks with Auntie Leslie and Uncle
Shayne and our friends from Minneapolis, Cate, Jon and Nicolai. I can’t believe that the summer
is gone and school is about to start again. We are invited to the Korotash’s annual golf
tournament this weekend, which is always a blast but we have had to say no to the golf but we
will try to make it to the bash in the evening. We are still trying to get to Lundar Beach for a visit
with the Jacks and the Campbells but it will depend on Jon’s health and the weather. Jonathan
has once again been asked to be the honorary driver for the Push for a Cure2. This year all of the
proceed will go to Cancer Care Manitoba for Pediatric and Breast Cancer research. I will have
pictures and more information in the near future.

Thanks for checking in and I will try to keep you updated.

The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, July 29, 2004 2:54 PM CDT

Hi Folks, Thanks for checking in. Jonathan has had his first round of chemo after his disease prgressed and it really knocked him for a loop. I guess we had just forgotten how it can do this. We arrived home from hospital on July 22 and managed to stay home until Monday, July 26. We knew Jon was getting more and more sick but, we could not get him to drink or eat. Monday he was re-admitted with dehydration and a fever. We have now over come all of this and are back home as of today. Boy where has July gone. 2 weeks vaction and 2 weeks of hospital hardly seems fair. Hopefully August will be better. We do not have all the test results yet as the radiologists get holidays too, I guess. I'll talk to you all soon.

Brenda

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 10:49 AM CDT

I am sure most of you are wondering what has been going on, I will try to give a quick update while Jonathan is sleeping.

July 1 we left on our Westward treck!! We hit Calgary, AB, Fernie, BC and Medicine Hat, AB before returning to Manitoba. We had a wonderful 2 weeks and many, many thanks to Lewis and Tracy or should I say now Uncle Lewis and Auntie Tracy for the great hospitality in Calgary, The Hyatt can’t even hold a candle to you two. Thanks to Tracey, Quinn and Cal for spending the day with us while we were there too. And to my “adoptive” family. Erin, Bob and Morgan along with Auntie Leslie, Thanks for the great evening, wish it could have gone on all night like the old days!! Billy Who!! It was great to see you, it has been too long. Just wish your girls could have been there with you. Barb, Rod, Darren and Nicole. It was short but fun. The boys have told everyone about their ride in the Trans Am and how Rodney almost got a ticket.

However, on the day we left on our trip we did find out that Jonathan’s disease has once again progressed. Maybe that is why we had such a good time, as we knew we were coming home to a couple of tough weeks of treatment for him. We were admitted to Hospital on July 16 for 5 days of chemo and tests. Today is day 5 and the first day he is feeling even a little bit like talking or eating or moving around. We do not know the extent of the progression yet but I will try to keep updated as the test results come in.

Please remember Jonathan in your prayers as I believe we have a tough few weeks ahead, yet.

Hanging in there, the Watsons, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan & Kent.

Monday, June 14, 2004 3:28 PM CDT

Well, Jonathan completed another round of Irrinotecan on Friday. He had pulled muscles in his
left leg during a baseball game on Thrusday evening and was in a lot o pain on Friday. We saw
the physiotherapist at Clinic on Friday she suggested taking Advil on a regular bases and to ice
and rest the leg as much as possible for the next 24 hours. On Saturday morning his leg felt much
better and he is now back to normal. We are all looking forward to the end of school which is
only 10 more days away (but whose counting). The kids are tired of homework and I am tired of
trying to make exciting lunches. We will be heading to Calgary on July 1 for 4-5 days then on to
Fernie BC for 3 nights then a quick 1-2 nights in Medicine Hat on the way home. We are looking
forward to visiting with everyone out west.

Thanks for checking in.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Sunday, May 2, 2004 5:23 PM CDT

Thank you to everyone who has visited our webpage looking for an update, well, here it is:

Things are still Good!! Jonathan’s test results are in and the Irrinotecan is still holding him. All
scan results show no change or slight improvement. So we will continue on with this
chemotherapy for another few rounds. He has his first baseball practice today, he is swimming
every Monday with his school. Golf lessons start next week and as always he rides the ATV or
go kart as much as possible. Kent will start soccer soon and, as always, is busy helping Dad.
Next Saturday we will participate in the Wish Foundation Annual Charity Ride. This is a trail ride
that raises money for the Wish Foundation, which sent us on Jonathan’s wish trip in 1999 (oh so
long ago!) We will not be riding horses but we will be riding in a horse drawn wagon for the 12
mile trail ride. Then there is a dinner and barn dance. Each year this North Central Interlake
Chapter of the Wish Foundation raises lots of money to help sick kids get their wishes.

Anyway, all is going well and we hope the same of you and yours.

The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 9:01 AM CST

Good Morning to our regular visitors and sorry if I have kept you looking at the same
update for a few weeks. BUT NORMAL life is hectic. . .

Jonathan finished off his curling season with 2 wins on Saturday. His rink won the B
division in the Bantam (ages 9 & 10) curling league at Petersfield Curling Club. (Check
out the new picture of his team) He played lead all winter and loved it he really
improved over the season and is all ready talking about next year. Ken curls his last
game tonight for the A division Championship in the Teulon Curling Club Men’s league.
We had Kent’s birthday party on Sunday and took the kids on a horse drawn sleigh
ride. There was a lot of pushing off and a lot of stops to pick up the kids as the snow
was too deep for them to run in. And me well, I have joined Curves and try to get there
to work out 3 or 4 times a week. I am still working one day a week and more when I
have time. We are going to be in Grand Forks, ND for a weekend with the kids during
spring break then my wonderful hubby has bought tickets to see the Bellamy Brothers
(old country music) at a casino in Minn. for my birthday in April. We will be away from
the kids for 3 nights. I hate to say it but I can’t wait. We are also busy planning our
summer vacation to AB in July.

Oh I guess I should mention Jonathan’s health. . .

He had a round of chemo last week and did great but we had to again go into clinic
yesterday for hydration. No one is sure why but he gets really de-hydrated after his
week of chemo. But it is nothing we can’t work around.

Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for checking in on us.

The Watson, Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Saturday, February 28, 2004 12:35 AM CST

Well, since my last update things have slowed down a little around here. However, Jonathan did end up having a nasty virus after our busy week and ended up spending it all at home. I guess because of his sore throat he was not drinking as much as he should and ended up getting dehydrated and spent the Friday at clinic getting fluids. But all is well now. We are heading out ice fishing with friends this afternoon. We have never done it before so the boys are excited. It is a nice warm day, just above freezing, so I am looking forward to it also. Thanks for checking in.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Monday, February 16, 2004 3:11 PM CST

I bet many of you were thinking the Watson family must have fallen off the edge of the
earth because it has been so long since I updated Jon’s web page. Well I have good
news we have just been having a good time being a normal family. Ken and I have
been busy working and running the kids to curling, skating and birthday parties and Oh
yeah the kids favorite the Monster Truck Rally that was held in Winnipeg a couple of
weeks ago. Last week was a busy one, Jonathan had his 6th round of Irrinotecan
(Chemo) so we were back and forth to the hospital every day. And it was my Mother’s
80th birthday so my two sisters were home. Ann, Neil and their grandson Travis stayed
with us and Carrolyn stayed with Mom. We hosted a Coffee and Cake night at the
seniors apartments were she lives on Thursday night and I had everyone for dinner on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Saturday we all went to Winnipeg and stayed at a
hotel with a water slide for the kids and a gaming lounge for my Mom. We went out for
a nice dinner on Saturday night and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Well today it
is back to reality and Jonathan is home from school with some stomach upset and a
little bit of a sore throat. I personally think he is just tired out from a long week.

We are going to have scans after Jon’s March round of Chemo and then look at
switching to a harsher agent if there is still a lot of disease in his marrow. But for now
we will sit back and enjoy this “normal” life for as long as we can.

Thanks to all of you who keep checking in on us. And especially to the BWC for all the
cards and notes that Jonathan and Kent get and for all my tea in January.

Sunday, January 4, 2004 2:37 PM CST

HAPPY NEW YEAR From The Watson's and may you all have a happy and prosperous 2004!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. The kids have been off from school since December 19th and it has been a whirl-wind of visitors, parties and celebrations. So I think, as a Mom, it is time they get back to school on Monday and let's try and restore some routine back into this household!! Santa was good the the boys as always and so were all of our relatives and friends. They have had many, many hours of enjoyment out of the PlayStation 2 they got from our friend Rob, especially now as the weather has turned bitterly cold here in Manitoba. Today's high will be -25C or for our friends in the U.S. about -15F.

Jonathan will start his 5th round of Irrinotecan on Monday and we are not expecting any surprises. Hopefully he will breeze through it as in the past and will be back at school the following week.

A special Thank you to all the Bears Who Care, who have been sending Jonathan and Kent little cards and crafts over the holidays.

Take Care and thank you for checking in on us.

Monday, December 15, 2003 3:17 PM CST

Thank you to all who keep checking up on us. Jonathan had just a short stay in hospital, only two nights but it has really wiped him out. He does not have much get up and go but he went to school today, the first time in almost 3 weeks. He requested that I stay around home incase he was too tired to complete the day. So I put off on my planned day of shopping in the city(not hard for me to do)but so far no phone call and the boys are due home in 30 min. Christmas is getting closer and we are trying to get things in order. Most of the presents bought, none wrapped though, cards are sent and lots received, house sort of clean, company coming this weekend, it'll get done. Just incase I do not get around to updating again before Christmas Day. Remember that no news is good news and we wish you and yours a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas and all the best in 2004.

Love The Watson, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Monday, December 8, 2003 10:47 AM CST

Jonathan has been admitted to Children's Hospital with what we hope is the flue. Both Ken and Kent have been fighting it. I'll post more when we get home.

Brenda

Monday, December 8, 2003 10:44 AM CST

Jonathan finished his 4th round of Irrinotecan on Dec. 5. He did real well, again. However, our whole household and community are batteling the FLU so needless to say Jonathan now is having his turn. We were admitted to Children's Hospital on Sunday with a fever. I have not seen any doctors today but hopefully it will be a short stay. Thanks for checking in Brenda

Monday, November 17, 2003 2:24 PM CST

Let me see what can I tell you?? Jon is feeling GREAT in between his rounds of
chemo. I guess that is why it has been so long since I’ve updated this site. You know:
No news is good news. That is just an excuse. But we have been busy, busy.
Jonathan and Kent curl on Saturdays, Ken curls on Monday nights and the boys just
got a kids ATV. We have been back to Theif River Falls to the water park with the boys
and friends. I have been working extra, which is a good thing but other things get left
behind. We have parent/teach night this week but I don’t think they will surprise us with
anything. Both boys are doing well in school and Jon’s marks have improved a lot this
year. We don’t have any final results from Jonathan’s last set of scans but all the
preliminary reports looked good.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Brenda

Monday, October 20, 2003 2:10 PM CDT

Has anyone noticed the temperatures here in Manitoba in
the last few weeks? We have been having a GREAT FALL!!
Which means that we have gotten a lot of outside work done
(or at least Ken and the kids have). Yesterday they cut up a half ton truck load of old planks for Grandpa’s wood burning stove. As usual the kids got money from Grandpa and
Daddy got the blisters and slivers from the wood. But it
really was good to see Jonathan outside working along side
his brother and his Dad. As a reward we had to have a
bonfire after dinner.

Jonathan will have a week of tests next week which will
include a CT Scan, a Bone Scan and an MIBG Scan. This
will hopefully tell us that the new chemo drug he has been
on is doing it’s job and getting rid of all those nasty cancer cells. The first week in November he will have another round of chemo.

Hugs to all and thanks for checking in on the Watson’s.

Monday, October 13, 2003 11:44 AM CDT

Jonathan finished his second round of Irrinotecan on Friday. Again it was quite uneventful, “Thank God”. I sure hope it is working and it is something we can stay on long term (years if necessary). We will be doing a week of tests the end of October and that will tell us how well it is working. If things are the same or better we will
continue on with the Irrinotecan if the Neuroblastoma has progressed at all we will probably go back to the Topotecan/Cyclophophomide that has worked so well for Jon in
the past.

This being the Thanksgiving long weekend we are just hanging out at home. Yesterday we had10 people for dinner. Ken and the boys were been a big help. I should have some new pictures to up on the website by the end of the month and I will let you know how all the tests turn out.

If any of you have time there is a webpage you should check out www.beebo.info click on angels and fighters and you will see an amazing page of kids who are all fighting
neuroblastoma. If Jon’s picture is not there yet it will be soon. This was put together by a parent from the UK who is on my on-line support group for parents with child who
have NB. There sure are a lot of heros on that page.

Please keep Laurie and Tony Nielson from Lakeville, MN in your prayers. They have just lost their lovely daughter Jessica Lynn to this terrible disease. Jonathan and I had
the great pleasure of meeting Laurie and Jess last Easter at Ronald MacDonald House in NYC. She will be sadly missed by many, many friends and of course her family
http://www.caringbridge.org/mn/jessicalynnnielsen.

Bye for now and Gobble Gobble.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 3:58 PM CDT

Well, we just arrived home from our 3rd day of Chemo. Dr. Israels changed chemo agents this round we are now using Irrinotecan which is recommended for relase patients by both Dr. Cheung at MSK and COG. The first day was rough and he threw up alot in the evening but yesterday, I think, we got the anti-nausea meds right and he has not been throwing up and he has had alot more energy. We will do 2 rounds of Irrinotecan then we will do a full set of tests to see how everything has been working. Hopefully things will be the same or better and we can continue on this path. Today the two strong men, Rob and Dariusz came and spent the day with Jon at clinic they played PS1 & 2 games all day. Jon really enjoyed it and I think that Rob and Dariusz made a good contact with a PR person from Cancer Care who is willing to work with them next year on their "Push for a Cure" venture. Other than that life is sort of "normal" around here. Thanks for checking in.
The Watson's Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, August 21, 2003 5:18 PM CDT

First I am so sorry that it has been so long since I updated Jon's page BUT you see: Life has been sort of normal lately and I just have not wanted to have anything to do with it. This summer has gone by so fast I can't believe it is only about 10 days til the kids go back to school. I'm not ready yet.

Jonathan has been invited to be the "honorary" driver for 2 strong men who are trying to break a Guiness Book Record for pushing a car the longest distance. The record is something like 44 miles in 24 hours and they are going from Winnipeg to Gimli which is about 54 miles. The funds from "Push for a Cure" will go to the Terry Fox Foundation. For those of you who don't know, about 25 years ago, Terry Fox tried to run accross Canada with an artificial leg to raise money for cancer research. His cancer took him before he completed his run but thanks to people like these two strong men his foundation still raises money for cancer research. There was a kick off media blitz yesterday and Jonathan and Kent sat in the car while Rob and Darius pushed. Pictures and film were taken and showed on our local TV's and papers. It was fun for us all.

Jon is feeling great and he won't have another round of chemo until September 8-12. Next week we hope to get away for a few days, so Daddy can relax too.

Thanks for checking in on us. Brenda

Sunday, August 3, 2003 1:44 PM CDT

Well, it has been quite a week. Jon,Kent and I enjoyed a couple of outtings, if you can call them that, this past week. Monday, Jonathan had to have a tooth pulled on Monday so it was off to Winnipeg to the dentist. Then on Wednesday the boys had vision tests in Stonewall so we were going again. It doesn't sound like much but Auntie Kim and little cousin Brandon came along and made it much more enjoyable. Thanks guys. Unfortunately Jonathan's platlets were very low on Thursday and we knew we would be going to clinic on Friday. However Friday morning he also had a high fever so we were admitted to hospital and he is still there with Daddy today. He will be able to come home as soon as his blood counts start to rise. Hopefully tomorrow so that we can salvage one day of the long weekend. Kent and I will go into the hospital a little later today and Ken will come home with Kent this evening. Ken has holidays next week so hopefully Jonathan's health won't keep us from our planned camping trips.

Thanks for checking in.

The Watson's: Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 10:16 AM CDT

This is Jonathan's second day of chemo, Topotecan/Chyclophosphomide. He handled it very good yesterday. Played outside most of the evening with Kent, Auntie Kim and her niece, Jen. This morning he felt find on the ride in and is now hooked up again and playing games with Dawn, the child life specialist. When I spoke with Dr. Israels yesterday we agreed to do a couple of rounds of this type of chemo and then maybe switch to the irinotecan. Once his BM is clean we will continue on some long term, easy treatment, maybe accutane or one of the newer drugs coming out like Finretinide. But we feel we will always have to be on some sort of treatment to keep this monsterous cancer away. Ken and I are just not comfortable letting things sit now.

We have decided to take holidays the first week of August and have a campsite booked for Hecla Island for a couple of nights. We will also spend a weekend at Lundar Beach with the Jacks and are contenplating a long weekend in Burlington with my sisters in September. There are still a few weekend to go before school starts and we want to make the most of every minute.

Take care to all and keep checking in on us.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 3:30 PM CDT

We made it home safe and sound from NYC. A little beat up but safe and sound. Jon is tired today and I am trying to get things back in order.

Our last day in NYC was spent at the Pediatric Day Hospital, we met with Dr. LaQuaglia who did Jon's surgery and all is well in that respect, he can bath or swim (if it was only a little warmer today)now and he can start to ride his bike and play golf as he feels up to it. We then met with Dr. Kushner a doctor on the Neuroblastom team. He told us that Jonathan's bone marrow biopsies have disease in them again, so even though his HAMA is negative he is not elegible to receive his last round of 3F8 antibodies. This was pretty disappointing to us as we had great hopes for this treatment. Dr. Cheung suggested that we come home and do a few rounds of chemo to get everything under control again and he hinted that there would be new trials opening up again soon that Jon would be eligible for. But we don't know if we want to go that route or not. So for now we will start chemo on July 22nd and try to get some summer holidays in after that.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, July 3, 2003 12:24 AM CDT

Good Morning from NYC.

Jonathan was released from hospital on Tuesday, 6 days after his sucessful surgery. We are at Ronald McDonald House and he is feeling well, very tired and a little grumpy but he is getting more of his strength back each day. This morning he wanted some of Grandma's Borscht, well grandma isn't here so I was on a hunt. I ran into Jon's teacher from the hospital on the street and she told me to check the Kosher section of the grocery store and there it was Borscht, not grandma's but pretty good, I just added some dill and of course cream and he ate almost a whole bowl.

I have a sister in Charlotte, NC and she had hoped to get us down there for the weekend using her US airmiles, but the Doctors said NO they would prefer if we stayed close to the hospital. So we asked if they could see us on Thursday and then we could come home on Friday but they want us to stay until they see us on Monday. We will fly home on Tuesday. We are looking forward to getting home again and seeing everyone. At this point we do not have any more treatment planned for Jonathan but we will have to come up with something when we meet with the Dr. on Monday and then hopfully see our Onc. in Wpg on Friday.

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Sunday, June 29, 2003 11:29 AM CDT

Boy, has Jonathan has a big morning, they have removed: epidural cath., bladder cath. and chest tube. Yesterday they removed his NG tube from his nose. He was on sips of fluids yesterday, today he ate a bowl of Fruit Loops for breakfast and wants Mac and Cheese for lunch. You would not believe the food here. It is more like a hotel. We just phone down to "room service" and they bring you what you want from the menu. Kids menu has anything you can think of and Parent menu also has a good selection. Tonight it is Chicken Wellington with Asparagus spears. This is certainly better than what I cook at home. For those of you from Manitoba you can certainly understand why we find this so amazing. Anyway, Jonathan is progressing very well. He has even done all the bathroom stuff today that they won't let you go home until you have done. It is even possible that they will let us go back to RMH as early as tomorrow but I am not counting on it. It will be soon though.

I must say one thing, I will miss is this nice laptop compu,ter, with its wireless internet connection that the play room is letting me borrow.

Jonathan, Ken and Brenda

Friday, June 27, 2003 10:56 AM CDT

Jonathan's surgery went very well yesterday. Dr. LaQuaglia was able to remove the tumor, which was a little bit larger than they expected, about 2-2.5 inches, and he was able to save his only adrenal gland (so far) it is quite beat up from the surgery but we are hopeful that it will function properly. They also did Inta-operative Radiation Therapy to the tumor sight while Jon was still under anesethic, this should take care of any microscope disease that is left behind. The preliminary biopsy showed that the tumor was dead, not active Neuroblastoma. We will be in the Observation Unit at MSK for the weekend for sure. Over the next few days they will slowly remove all the tubes that are protruding from his body. Right now he is sitting up in a chair watching Scooby-Doo. Again we are in great debt to Dr. LaQuaglia for preforming his magic in Jonathan.

Wednesday, June 25, 2003 2:44 PM CDT

Just wanted to let you all know that we arrived safely to RMH in NYC last evening. When we arrived we found a party going on!! CHRISTMAS IN THE SUMMER - so needless to say we enjoyed hotdogs on one of the decks and of course there were gifts for all the kids. They really never stop giving here. On Saturday they are taking a bus to the Hersey Amusement Park - sounds like it would be great - but we will not be able to go. Jon has his surgery first thing tomorrow morning. We have to be a PDH for 6:15 am. We met with all the Dr. today but they could not (of course) give us a clear picture as to how long the surgery will take. They are planning, at the moment, for Jon to be admitted to the ICU unit for a couple of days post-op. Hopefully this will not have to be but we will be prepared if it is.

Please send all good thoughts and prayers for Jonathan tomorrow and for the next couple of weeks while he recovers.

Jonathan, Ken and Brenda

Thursday, June 12, 2003 8:23 AM CDT

Good Morning to all,

We are having a very busy week but we are at home. Unfortunately, Ken's Grandfather passed away on Sunday and we have been busy trying to help out with that. Our good news is that we have a surgery date for Jonathan and we don't have to return to New York until June 24th. That means Jonathan will only miss the last 2 days of school. He is happy to be going and feeling well after his bout of chicken pox. Jon will have surgery on June 26th. We had only planned on being there a week but it sounds like we could be longer. Anyway, we will do what ever it takes to get this out of his body.

Take Care.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, June 5, 2003 2:08 PM CDT

Just a quick update to let you all know that we are now inpatient at Children's Hospital in Winnipeg. I brought Jonathan in last night after noticing "spots" on his torso and yes, we have the chicken pox. We will be here until Saturday morning on IV meds. If all goes well then they will let us go home on oral meds.

To all my friends in NYC at RMH and MSKCC I AM SORRY if your child gets chicken pox because of Jonathan. BUT I believe we were already home during his contageous stage.

Take Care

Brenda and Jonathan

Tuesday, June 3, 2003 3:27 PM CDT

Well, it is good to be home again but we have been playing catch-up again ever since we arrived on Saturday. We met with Dr. LaQuaglia before we left NYC and Jon will have surgery sometime the week of June 16, we are just waiting for a date. We hope to be able to start our 4th round of antibodies on June 23. Thanks for checking in on us I'll update as I know more.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, May 22, 2003 1:38 PM CDT

Well, the first week is almost over. It is Memorial Day Weekend here in the US and there will be no treatment on Monday. We are headed to New Jersey for the weekend. We have a room booked at a Residence Inn which has a swimming pool and it has a mall right across the street. We feel that if Jon is feeling good we may as well take advantage of being on the East coast of the US and do as much sight seeing as possible (Not that we have seen everything in NYC by any means but it is very expensive). It is suppose to rain all weekend long and being stuck inside at RMH is not the most fun for any of us. On Tuesday after treatment we walked to Central Park and spent 2 1/2 hours just rambling. We did not come close to covering the whole park. Ken and I only fought about which direction to go once!! Still at 10:00 pm as Ken and I were getting into bed with sore legs and feet. . . Jon he was jumping around and doing tumbles in our room. And who has Cancer?? I guess it is just old age. Yesterday the Child Life Department at Memorial Sloan Kettering had "Prom 2003" for all the kids in treatment and their sibblings. They had part of the cafeteria decorated with balloons and streamers and had a DJ. This girls all had on fancy dresses supplied by various outlets and the boys all got tuxedo tops, bow ties and cumberbuns (sp). It was great, they crowned a King and Queen for each age group and gave out lots of party favours. Jon had a blast and now figures he is a cool dancer. (and of course I think so too).

Looks like there will be more surgery for Jonathan soon, as the scans still show something in his abdomen. Dr. Cheung feels if we can have Dr. LaQuaglia remove it then do Inter-operative Radiation Therapy (IORT) it should take care of it. What they would do is give Jon a radiation treatment after they have removed the Neuroblastoma and before they close his incission. So it is very precise and would only take in the area where the tumor is. We feel this is a good option and Dr. Israels is looking into coverage from MB Health for us.

Thanks for Checking in. Hugs from NYC

Brenda, Ken and Jonathan

Monday, May 19, 2003 3:10 PM CDT

Hello to all from NYC. Jonathan had his first of 9 treatments today and did well again. He had no pain with the infussion of the antibodies and slept right through them. This is a bonus as he then does not require any pain mends so he is more lively and co-operative in the evenings. He had a couple of scans on Friday and Saturday as they are questioning something that is lighting up in the back of his abdomen. We will discuss this with the Dr.'s here once the scans have been read. Dr. Kushner told us today that he thought that Jon should probably have more surgery if they are still unsure of what is lighting up. But we will see what the scans show first.

Take Care All.

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 2:20 PM CDT

Sorry to have been so tardy about updating but I seems that when we arrive home I play catch-up for the first 5 days and then I start packing to leave again for the next 5 days. Anyway, Ken, Jonathan and I will fly to NYC on Thursday, May 15. Jonathan's HAMA is negative, much to my surprise. But I guess you just can't tell by the amount of pain. Dr. Cheung has decided to do another MIBG as well as a CT on the 16th and 17th. I e-mailed him to ask why, was there something suspicious? He replied that they want to check out the back of his abdomen as the last CT indicated it had changed and get this, he is having Dr. LaQuaglia (the surgeon) look at it too. I WILL NOT let them operate without having a PET scan to prove if it is live or dead NB. If it is dead NB, it may as well stay there, I think.
Anyway I promise to be more prompt with my updates when we are in NY.

Brenda

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 2:12 PM CDT

I'm having trouble updating this webpage from my home computer. But I will try to keep it more up to date when we get to NYC tomorrow. Yes, Jonathan, Ken and I are returning to MSK for Jonathan's 3rd round of Antibodies. We will be there for scans and treatment from May 15 to 30th. Looking forward to seeing all the other families we have met at RMH and at Sloan.

Brenda

Tuesday, May 13, 2003 9:34 PM CDT

Friday, April 25, 2003 2:38 PM CDT

We received very good news today, Jonathan's Bone Marrow Biopsies are clean. They found no Neuroblastoma in them. He will continue doing the 3F8 antibody treatment for another 2 rounds but we will not have to test after each round, so we can spend a full 2 weeks at home.

He has handled the treatments this week very well, less pain medication means no grumpy boy in the evening. We are hoping to get to the Bronx Zoo on the weekend but it will depend on the weather.

Thank you for checking in and keep the good thoughts and prayers coming our way.

Brenda and Jonathan

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 4:24 PM CDT

Jonathan has had 2 treatments and has done real well, again. They have shortened the infussion time of the antibodies and I think this has made a difference as he doesn't seem to need as much pain medication. Dr. Kushner told me today that Jon's MIBG Scan is better that the previous one and that the Bone Marrow Aspirates are negative for Neuroblastoma but the Bone Marrow biopsies are not back yet. But all this is very encouraging. Jonathan is less grumpy in the evening with less pain medication so we are enjoying some things at RMH. Leslie is great at helping out, I hope we don't burn her out before we go home.

So long from NYC
Brenda, Jonathan and Auntie Leslie

Saturday, April 19, 2003 1:13 PM CDT

Jon and I arrived in NYC on Wednesday. He had tests on Thursday and Friday and even though they are long days at the clinic, he did very, very well. Being Easter weekend there are lots of activities and meals happening as Ronald McDonald House, so Jon and I are just hanging out. He has already coloured Easter Eggs and made an Easter Basket at clinic yesterday and he made another basket with flowers in it this morning in the playroom at RMH. He loves doing crafts and he wishes his mom did, I'm sure, but crafts are not my thing. I am assuming that all his test came out fine as I did not hear from any of the Dr.'s on Friday afternoon. So we will start his 2 weeks of treatment on Monday. Leslie will arrive on Sunday evening, I am looking forward to having her here. I'll up date as the week goes on. Keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming our way. Bye for now from the Big Apple.

Brenda and Jonathan

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 5:04 PM CDT

I am having problems with the webpage, this is the second time I have tried to update it but it never gets onto the page. Sorry to all of you who checked and there was no update. Jonathan and I will fly to NYC tomorrow morning (Wednesday). He will have some tests on Thursday and Friday and start another round of treatment on Monday. Daddy is staying home with Kent this time, but Auntie Leslie (a very good friend of mine) will meet Jon and I in NYC on Sunday to be with us and help out during his 2 weeks of treatment. Thank you to all who leave the wonderful, encouraging notes in the guest book and thank you of including us in your prayers each night.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Monday, April 14, 2003 1:32 PM CDT

This short time at home has gone by so quick. Jonathan has been to school as much as he could but had to miss a few days due to test that had to be done. Jonathan and I will leave for NYC on Wednesday. Daddy will be staying home with Kent this time. Auntie Leslie (my close, close friend) will meet us in NYC on Sunday and spend the 2 weeks of treatment with us. I know she will be a big help.

Thanks to all who check the site and leave us encouraging messages. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated by us all.

Brenda

Sunday, April 6, 2003 4:38 PM CDT

We made it home yesterday. It was touch and go but we were the last plane out of Toronto. They cancelled all afternoon flights as they again ran out of deicer. Today is Jonathan's 9th Birthday and we have spend a quite day just getting re-organized and relaxing. We are going to Grandma Ruth's for dinner and birthday cake soon. So I had better go.

The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, April 3, 2003 2:20 PM CST

Well, folks, only one more day and we will be going home. I have missed little Kent so much this trip. I know he is having fun with everyone at home but when I talk to him on the phone each night he sounds so much older than when we left home.

We are so proud of Jon, he has been so stong during all this and believe me it is not easy. He has made a lot of new friend here, mostly children who also have neuroblastoma and who are going through the same treatment.
Our schedules are all different but I am sure our paths will cross again. I have connected with quite a few Mom too, and 4 of us are taking out kids to the Little House of Plaster and Paint, just down the block, tonight. The kids can paint either pottery or plaster figures. The Moms plan on painting too, but mostly we are planning on sitting back and comparing notes over a glass of wine or two. Ken has offered to stay and Ronald McDonald House and start to prepare (clean) our room for our departure tomorrow.

Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers. We'll be home on Saturday.

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 4:24 PM CST

Well things have kept getting a little bit better each day. Today we tried a different pain med, Jon still had tremendous pain but it did not last quite so long. I just signed us up to go with the other families from RMH to the Ringling Brothers,Barnum and Baily Circus at Madison Square Gardens tomorrow evening. Jon is very excited about that. Sure hope there are no gliches tomorrow that would prevent us from going. We met with Dr. Cheung today and looks like when we do get home we will be busy with tests and we will have to come back a couple of days early for more tests, so if we get 12 days at home this round that will be good. But as you all know we will do what we have to do to get Jon through this.

Brenda, Ken and Jonathan

Monday, March 24, 2003 5:40 PM CST

Jonathan started his treatments today. He did real well. It went about how I expected it to. He had intense pain in his legs and chest area for about 30-45 minutes. Then it subsided and he was ready to come back to RMH. Just as we got in the room, he threw up all over my pants, his pants, his bedding and the floor. I guess it was just Dad's driving (the wheel chair) again! Tomorrow we will ask for an anti-nausea med before we leave. Jon and Daddy are upstairs sleeping off the effects of all the medicine he got today. Hopefully he will be more wakeful later.

Love to all Brenda, Ken and Jon

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 2:02 PM CST

Just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived safely in NYC and are well settled into Ronald McDonald House. Jonathan had a Bone Marrow Biopsy on Tuesday morning. At home it is done at Children's Hospial in the OR, here it was done in a treatment room, they put him to sleep while we were in the room, then we left for about 20 minutes and it was done. They did not remove his clothes or even his shoes. I know the American's wear their shoes everywhere but during a medical procedure??!! Jon recovered from the procedure with very little discomfort and was dancing up a storm during the Mardi Gras celebration at RMH later that evening. We met with Dr. Modak this morning and he told us depending on what they find with Jon's biopsy and his MIBG scan he would be elegible for 1 of 2 protocols using antibodies. One we could start this Monday (not really the one we are hoping for) the other one would not start until the next Monday. Ken and I have decided that it would not be worth the $800.00+ airfare to go home for 1 week and then come back so we will stay no matter what. But it will be a long, long week. We will find out for sure on Friday which he is elegible for.

Love to all from NYC

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Monday, March 10, 2003 9:21 AM CST

I guess it is about time I updated this. Much has happened and until we knew for sure
what we were going to do, I was holding off.

We will travel to New York City on March 16 and will be staying at Ronald McDonald
House while Jonathan has a couple of tests at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre
(same place where he had the big tumor removed in Dec/00). If both tests look good
we will proceed with 2 weeks of Antibody Treatment. We are scheduled to fly home on
April 5, one day before his 9th birthday. We wanted Jonathan to have Antibody
treatment following his bone marrow transplant in 2001 but our Dr. at that time was not
for them and thought Antibody treatment should be used for a relapse treatment not as
a preventative treatment. So here we are at relapse and I guess I am glad that we
have this treatment to go to, but I am not convinced that this would have happened had
if we could have followed the path we wanted too. Anyway, Ken and I will both go with
Jonathan and Kent will be staying with Grandma and Grandpa Watson. It will be a long
three weeks but we will manage. I will keep this updated as much as possible from
Ronald McDonald House, so check back often.

The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Monday, March 10, 2003 9:20 AM CST

Monday, March 10, 2003 9:16 AM CST

Thursday, January 02, 2003 at 04:15 PM (CST)

Happy New Year to all and we hope you all had a joyous Christmas season.

Everything has been great here, Jon completed his third round of Chemotherapy since his relapse in October on December 17. Even though his bone marrow biopsy in early December showed that there was none or very little Neuroblastoma in his bone marrow he will continue to do Chemo and will start another round on January 10th. We will be using different chemo drugs this time to prepare him to go to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in NYC for Antibody Therapy. Atleast that is what we hope to do. I have been in contact with the international finance people at MSKCC and they tell us before we can even start antibody therapy we need to put down a $300,000.00US deposit. Our arguement is that he has already been there for 2 surgeries and that all thoughs bills were paid by Manitoba Health. So why wouldn't these ones be? They are looking into waiving the deposit, hopefully we will hear something this week or next. The unfortunate thing is that there is not alot of other treatment out there that will work for Jon as his bone marrow is too fragile to take much more chemo. I'll keep you posted.

The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Sunday, December 08, 2002 at 01:18 PM (CST)

Thank you to everyone who visits out webpage and leaves wonderful messages in our guestbook.

We had some very good news this week. Jonathan had a bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday. The Nurse Clinician from Cancer Care called us late on Friday afternoon to tell us that the lab could hardly find any Neuroblastoma in the bone marrow aspirations at all. HIP HIP HORRAY!!! What does this mean, you ask? Well it means we do not have to start our next round of chemo until Dec. 13 AND that probably now we will have a longer time inbetween rounds. I feel we are back in control. Now we are just waiting for approval from MB Health so that we can go to NYC for an antibody treatment that has been very successful for Neuroblastoma kids for 15 years. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 09:10 PM (CST)

It has been another long week in our household, Jonathan was re-admitted to hospital with a fever on Sunday, November 24, but we expect him to be home tomorrow. I am trying to keep up with both my part-time jobs so Ken has shouldered alot of the time at the hospital with Jon. I may have to take a leave or cut back on what little hours I do work. We are finding it difficult to keep up with all of Jon's homework when he is feeling well enough to work at it. All these fevers are a new thing to us, during his first 5 round of heavy duty chemo he was never re-admitted inbetween the rounds of chemo. And then when he was on the same drugs he is now in 00/01 his counts would recover quickely after each round. But I guess his bone marrow just isn't what it used to be and also there is quite a lot of disease in it also. He will have his bone marrow tested on December 4th then we will start his next round on the 6th. So it would be really nice to be home over the weekend. Keep us in your prayers.

Love
The Watson, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 11:21 AM (CST)

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell everyone that after enjoying 14 months of
remission, Jonathan has relapsed in his bone marrow. He has undergone the incursion
of a port (instead of a central line), bone marrow aspirations and one round of
chemotherapy using Topotecan and Cyclophosphomide two drugs which proved to be
successful for him before. He will start his second round of chemo on November 15. I
know this is short with not much detail in it but I will try to keep this site updated more
often now that things have gotten rough for him again. We have been home since
November 6 and we have enjoyed this long-weekend tremendously. Thank you for
checking in with us and I hope to have new pictures up within the next few days.

The Watson Family, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Monday February 18, 2002 3:08 PM CST

WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY, the sun is shinning, the birds are singing, it seems like spring is just around the corner and JONATHAN'S BONE SCAN IS ALL CLEAR.

In January we found out the the PET scan in Edmonton showed no activity (great news) but it did not work very well on his head, it picks up too much brain activity. The MIBG scan that was done in Edmonton showed a spot on Jonathan's skull. So a Bone Scan was done last week. Today the nurse clinicial told me that the bone scan is ALL CLEAR, no leasions on the bone, not even his skull. HORRAY!! Thank you to all of you who continue to check the webpage, even though I don't update very often anymore.

The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Tuesday, December 11, 2001 at 03:02 PM (CST)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS

A quick recap of 2001:

Last Christmas found us winging our way home on Christmas eve
after spending 3 weeks in New York City for Jonathan’s surgery. Nothing
so exciting this Christmas (I hope). After a return trip to NY to have one more small surgery in
March Jonathan began a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) at the end of April. We were fortunate
to be able to move into “Will’s Place”. A fully furnished and equipt apartment across from the
General Hospital in Winnipeg, where Jon spent the first 5 weeks of his BMT. I spent my days
with Jon on D6 and Ken spent his nights. All in all, Jon did real well. The 3 of us spent
another 8 weeks at Will’s place while Jon had radiation treatments and while his immune
system built its self back up to the point were he could go into public. Kent spent his time
with Grandma and Grandpa Watson during the week and would either come into Winnipeg to
be with us on the weekend or we would come home to Teulon. We were finally able to move
home completely on July 12, just in time for a visit from my niece Tracy and her family,
husband Gregg and daughter Lindsey from North Carolina. It was a short visit but we really
enjoyed getting to know them all a little more and look forward to when we can be together
again.

In August, with Jonathan’s immune system getting stronger every day we took to the highway
for our annual camping frenzy. August long weekend found us once again with the Jack’s and
the Campbell’s at Lundar Beach. Next came a weekend with the Smerchanski crew at Hecla
Island then, with a lovely, rented motor home it was off to Minnesota and a week of touring
around Bemidji. On our second night at Stony Plain Campground we met our neighbours, also
from Manitoba, Bill, Yvonne and Jess Spanjer from Emerson. It took only a couple of minutes
to find out we had many friends in common and spent the rest of the week gossiping about
them, not really, we were too busy riding bikes, fishing and touring the area to talk about you
all too much.

September brought the much awaited day. . . Kent’s first day of kindergarten!!!??? I don’t
know who was more excited him or Mom. But, he is flying through his ABC’s and 123's and is,
as always, helping Dad out on the farm as much as possible. After being away from school
since April, Jon had a rough start in Grade 2, but is doing good now. He is also enjoying
curling in Little Rocks on Saturday mornings.

As for Ken and I well, Ken is still at Misericordia Health Care Centre and life has become so
normal here that I have even been able to go back to work 2 days a week.

We just found out that we will have to be in Edmonton Alberta Dec 17, 18 & 19 for and MIBG and a PET Scan. This will determine if there is any active disease left in Jonathan after BMT. We are confident that there is nothing going on but if there is we will discuss our next step in treatment with our Oncologist in the New Year.

Hope this finds you all happy and healthy and ready for Christmas.

The Watson’s: Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, September 12, 2001 at 02:36 PM (CDT)

Once again the Watson's are going through a busy time. August saw us swimming at Lundar Beach with the Jack's then the Jack's swimming at home with us. Jonathan won a pool from the JSF Foundation. Weather permitting we have enjoyed it very much, the boys have turned into little fish. Jonathan had his central line removed in late July due to an infection as we all love the fact that there are no more dressing changes to be done after bathing or swimming. We also took a week's camping expidition to Minnesoda. It was not long enough and we truly enjoyed our time at Cass Lake with our new found friends from Emerson, Yvonne, Bill and Jessica. End of August brought the start of school, Jonathan is in grade 2 this year and Kent has started Kindergarten. Jon had to miss the first day to have a liver biopsy done. It has been a long wait but at Clinic yesterday we found out that there is no disease in either Jonathan's liver or Bone Marrow. HORRAY!!!! (when we have time we will celebrate) So for now we will just watch the liver and see what is up. The tooth fairy is a regular visitor to our home these days and yesterday Jonathan lost 2 more teeth, for a total of 8, unfortunately only 2 of those 8 have grown back in so far, so corn on the cob is out of the question this fall. This weekend is Uncle Bob's wedding it should be a galla event with all of the Watson boys in tuxedo's and mom in her new dress (pictures to follow). So, all in all things are about as normal as they get around here. I have even started working out of the home one day a week and I am putting in an appliation to work casual in our local school division for secretarial and library clerk positions. Thank you for visiting Jonathan's webpage, he is happy, healthy and we can't ask for more.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Thursday, July 19, 2001 at 10:02 AM (CDT)

Good Morning all,

First I must apologize to those who check here on a regular basis to find the same old
update that is now outdated.

Jonathan finished his radiation treatments (14 in all) on July 11. They went great, only
a little nausea during one evening car ride. Everyone at radiation was surprised he
was not more tired (only Mom was). Jonathan had a battery of scans and tests before
we left Winnipeg. There is still some questions about his liver. The Doctors will meet
with the nuclear medicine radiologist who reads the scans on Monday, July 23, when
they are all back from holidays. We will see the Doctors on Tuesday, July 24 and
should know what is going on at that time. He will possibly have to have a liver biopsy
in the near future.

We moved out of the apartment and home to Teulon on Thursday, July 12. One week
later I think I finally have everything put away. My niece and her family were up from
North Carolina from July 10-15. We really enjoyed their visit even though we had a
limited amount of time to spend with them. The summer seems to be whizzing by now
that we are home. We put up a 3ft high splasher pool for the kids and with our hot
humid weather we have been enjoying it every day, some times twice. We also have a
few camping trips coming up. Lundar Beach on August long-weekend the Hecla Island
the weekend after. We have also rented an RV and are going to the Bemidji area of
Minn. for a week of camping.

Jonathan is looking (hair growing back) good and feeling great. He and Kent actually
spend a good part of each day playing together. I am actually enjoying being at home
with the kids this summer. I’m not getting much housework or work work done, but who
cares, the Manitoba summers are just to short. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers
and be sure to drop by if you are in the Interlake area this summer.

The Watson’s Ken, Brenda Jonathan and Kent

Friday, July 06, 2001 at 03:38 PM (CDT)

We will be moving home on Wed. July 11. That is the day Jonathan will complete his
radiation treatments. We have been going for treatments twice a day all this week plus other tests in between. Jon’s liver functions are still coming out on the high side,which indicates to the Drs. that his liver cells are leaking enzymes. He has no symptoms but it is like he has or has been in contact with Hepatitis C. He will probably have to have a liver biopsy the end of July to see what exactly is happening but we believe it is just long term side effects from all the chemotherapy he has had in the past.

I am taking a night off tonight and going to the Paul Brandt concert at the Club Regent Casino with our friend Sharon Jack and daughter Alana. Ken will take Jonathan out to Teulon and I will travel out with Sharon and Alana after the concert. I’m looking forward to our girls night out.

When I look back these past 2 ½ months seem to have gone by quickly. But while we
where in them it seemed so long when Jon was so sick. Take care all and I will keep
you posted once we are moved home again.

The Watson’s, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 at 10:43 AM (CDT)

Good Morning all, I’m going to try and sneak in an update while Jonathan is playing
Nintendo.

We saw the Radiologist on Monday then the Oncologist on Tuesday, late
yesterday I received a call from the Oncology Nurse. They have put the radiation
treatments on hold for another week. They want to present Jonathan’s case at the
Friday morning tumour rounds to see what the other Dr’s think about his radiation
treatments before they proceed. There are a couple of issues the first being that the
field that will have to be used to radiate the tumor bed will take in the whole left kidney and part of the right kidney, is it better to do a little of the treatment then shield the kidneys and do the rest? If they don’t, I am told the left kidney will eventually stop functioning. And do they radiate the lining of the brain, where the Neurblastoma had spread to in 1999? Both these issues are scary but not as scary as having the cancer come back. We will let the Docs. make their decision first and see what it is. Tomorrow he has kidney function tests. Then a bone scan next week and an MIBG scan the following week. So it looks like our move home will not be until the second weekend in July. That is OK as it is much better to get the radiation and the tests over with before. My niece and family from North Carolina arrive for a visit on July 10 we are looking forward to a big family get together the next weekend.

Jonathan has been awarded the BRAVEST KID AWARD Grand Prize from the JSF
Foundation. This is a foundation set up by the parents of Justin Scott Foster, a little boy
who lost his battle to Neuroblastoma. The foundation, based in New Jersey excepts
donations and holds fund raising events to aide Neuroblastoma research, to financially
aide families battling cancer and to give the Bravest Kid award to a deserving young
child. Eventually the story I wrote about Jonathan’s battle will be posted on their web
page www.jsffoundation.com along with pictures. He will receive a trophy and he gets
to choose what ever he would like for a grand prize (much like Make-a-Wish) the prize
has yet to be finalized but I will let you know. We are hoping that Scott Sr. and his wife
will be able to come to Manitoba to present Jonathan with his prize. That’s all for now,
Love to all and thank you for visiting our web page.

The Watson’s Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Wednesday, June 06, 2001 at 10:46 AM (CDT)

Jonathan is feeling so good he is bored!!! I try to keep his days full but it is hard when I can't take him anywhere public. Yesterday we went walking for an hour, that tired him out. His teacher Mrs. Arbuckle came for a visit last eve. and brought more school work for Jon. She invited us to go on a field trip with the class on June 15, I hope Jonathan's doctor will allow it, he is excited about seeing his classmates. We are still at the apartment and will be until Jonathan has completed his radiation treatments, but we are still waiting to meet with the radiologist, hopefully it will be early next week.

Usually Kent spends the weekends with us here in Winnipeg but I think we will all go home for this weekend. I seems more like we are going to a cottage or camping instead of going home.

If you are healthy and have had chicken pox we would love to have a visit from anyone, so keep us in mind if you are in Winnipeg and need a coffee or something a little stronger.

Brenda, Ken, Jonathan and Kent

Saturday, May 26, 2001 at 10:50 AM (CDT)

Well, all did not work as planned since my last update. They found a central line infection but Jonathan was able to be at the apartment with us we just had to return to the ward every 8 hours for IV antibiotics, so at 6 am and 2 pm I would take him over and at 10 pm Ken would take him over. This worked well and they let us continue to do this all week instead of being on the ward constantly. And this weekend they have stopped the antibiotics and we only had to go over today for blood work.

Ken has gone to Teulon to cut the grass and pick up Kent. Jonathan is so excited because our good friend Vicky and her son teenage son Jason are coming to visit later today and we hope to take the boys either go-carting or miniture golfing this evening.

Tomorrow we have been given the OK to take Jon home for the day we are hoping to get together with family for a BBQ. If all goes well this weekend they will discharge us from the ward to the apartment on Monday or Tuesday, we will still be in Winnipeg for another 4-6 weeks,until Jon's blood counts are up and he has had radiation. But once again: LIFE IS GOOD.

Love to all

Ken, Brenda, Jonathan & Kent

Friday, May 18, 2001 at 07:12 AM (CDT)

Good Morning Friends and Family,

Jonathan's gets to go on a weekend pass to the apartment. HORRAY!!! All week we have been able to spend time there but he has had to come back to the hospital to sleep. He is very excited about sleeping at the apartment. The restrictions on who can visit and where he can be are very important at this point but I think just being with us at the apartment will make him feel better and hopefully increase his appetite. Ken will go to Teulon on Saturday and bring Kent back in to be with us over the weekend. Then, hopefully, if all goes well over the weekend Jonathan will be officially discharged to the apartment on Tuesday. By Tuesday it will be 1 day short of 4 weeks exactly since he was admitted. To be honest, the time went alot faster than I first anticipated, but I wouldn't want to do it again. We will be atleast another 4 weeks at the apartment, while his blood counts come up and he has radiation treatments. Things are slowly getting back to normal. Normal that is for the Watson family. Hope everyone has a good weekend, a long one for all our Canadian friends and relatives. Keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming our way.

Love Ken, Brenda, Jonathan & Kent

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 at 08:15 AM (CDT)

Good Morning to all, what a glorious day!! OK it is, so far, a good day. It is with hesitation that I tell you all that I believe Jonathan is on the mend. Yesterday, he did not throw up at all, he had less diarrhea and his blood counts were up enough that the Doctor let us go to the apartment, via the tunnel system, for diner. He did not eat alot but it was more that he has consumed for a week while in hospital. I think that was the plan, to see if he would eat. He really enjoyed the change of scenery. We also had a real nice visit with Jonathan's teach, Mrs. Arbuckle, she brought letters and pictures for Jonathan from his whole class. It has been so much fun reading letters from the grade one class. On the days that Jonathan's blood counts are high enough we will be able to venture over to the apartment but at this point he will have to still spend the nights at the hospital. Things are going good. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Love, Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Tuesday, May 08, 2001 at 02:46 PM (CDT)

DAY +7

Well, I think Jonathan is starting the healing process. After a rotten weekend of throwing-up, sore throat and just generally feeling crappy. Jon had a good day yesterday and so far today. He is still throwing up a little but not nearly as much. His sore throat, is not sore any more and after 4-5 days with no food he is wanting to try to eat little things. First it was a something with GARLIC, so I found some chips, then a freezie (hospital popsicles are not nearly good enough so daddy bought freezies), now he is slowly muching on Hawkins Cheesies, you know the real big, salty, cheesie, hard kind that hurt even my mouth at times, he says he can't taste them??!! Go figure. He wants spaghetti for supper so I'll make that for Ken and I and then bring some over to Jonathan. Ken thinks he is getting pork chops tonight, but if Jon wants spaghetti, Jon will get spaghetti, Dad will understand. I hope that I am not being to optomistic but he realy does feel sooooo much better.

I am taking a break tomorrow and going to Teulon on business, then bringing my mom back to Wpg with me so she can see Jonathan before she flys away on Thursday to my two sisters' homes for a couple of weeks. It is a good time for her to be going as I think she is quite lonely without us there.

I know we will make it through this long hospital stay and it should get a little easier each day. Thanks for the mail and the phone calls. Love to All

PS: Kent was in on the weekend, it was good to see him. I miss him more this week after seeing him but I know Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bob are spoiling him, that's OK he deserves it, he's a good kid.

The Watson's Ken, Brenda, Jonathan and Kent

Tuesday, May 01, 2001 at 02:16 PM (CDT)

Jonathan had his stem cell transplant today. All went well, it only takes about 1/2 hour. He had a little nausea but nothing more than what he has been experiencing these last 3-4 days. BOY, will I be glad when he is not throwing up all the time. We hope we will only be in hospital for another 4-5 weeks. Today is DAY 0 (transplant day) and we are shooting to be discharged by DAY 30. Then another 4-5 weeks in Wpg. while he has daily checkups and radiation. Good thing our apartment is so nice. We are going to try to get Kent in on the weekends, once Jon is feeling better and can stay alone for a while. All in all things are going not too bad. I'll keep you posted.

Friday, April 27, 2001 at 01:49 PM (CDT)

Well, this is day -5 or is it day -4 now.!!?? The Dr.'s have made the decision to stop Jonathans ASCT chemo 1 day early as his liver functions are not what they should be and this puts him at risk for VOD which is Veinal Occussion Disease (or something like that) and this could do damage to his liver or worse. So we feel that stopping the chemo is a good thing. But it does leave you with the question "has it killed all the cancer"? His latest CT Scan and MIBG Scan both came back negetive meaning there is no evidence of disease. He has been so sick this last 24-48 hours with these drugs, I am glad we are stopping today. Keep us in your prayers. Love to all

Wednesday, April 25, 2001 at 04:07 PM (CDT)

Well, here we are on D6 of the General Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is the Bone Marrow Transplant ward. Jon has started receiving the heavy chemo today and so far so good. There are apartments attached to this complex were families of pediatric BMT patients can rent. They are wonderful and only a 5 min. walk. In about 4-5 weeks Jon will be able to start going back there with us and he will just need to be in hospital to sleep. I will keep you all posted.

Brenda

Saturday, April 07, 2001 at 08:53 AM (CDT)

Good Morning Friends and Relatives: This has and is going to be quite a weekend for our little hero!! Yesterday was his 7th birthday and we had to attend Clinic, but with a twist, a news crew from CBC followed us around interviewing and shooting film of us, the nurses and Dr. Israels. The focus was on Jonathan and the fund-raiser that the Teulon Community is putting on for him today. It is called the JON-A-THON. It is being held at our local gymn and people have gotten pledges to walk 1/2 hour stints on the treadmills. There will be horse drawn wagon rides, clowns, face painting and a big birthday cake for Jonathan at 3:00 pm. We also got our start date for his BMT. We will be admitted to HSC on either the 23rd or 24th the first week will be hard as that is when he will receive the heavy chemo. We are glad to have a date finally and we are anxious to get it over with so we can enjoy the summer. We are going away to a cabin in the Whiteshell area of Manitoba for the Easter weekend. We thought it would be nice to do something, just the 4 of us before we begin BMT and our partial separation from Kent, again. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Brenda

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 at 05:00 PM (CST)

We are ready to go home. New York is a wonderful city but home is as they say "where the heart is". Jonathan is recovering quickly from surgery. We saw Dr. LaQuaglia today and he is satisfied with the way Jon is feeling and recommends that we go directly in BMT when we get home. We were able to go to Mars 2112 today, it is a theme restaurant on Broadway and tomorrow we will pack and go to FOA Schwartz for payment of a bribe we owe Jonathan. Then home on Friday. SEE Y'ALL SOON

Brenda

Friday, March 16, 2001 at 03:12 PM (CST)

JONATHAN DID GREAT!!! His surgery took only about 4 hours. Dr. LaQuaglia removed all the tumor that was around, behind and under his left kidney, aeorta and vein. He does not have to go to ICU at Cornell he is able to stay here at the Pediatric Observation Unit already he is joking with the nurses and bossing them around.

We were able to do some sight-seeing on the couple of days we had before surgery. Wednesday we went on a harbour cruise and saw the Manhattan skyline from the water ways, Statton Island, Ellis Island and for sure the Statue of Liberty. Jon brought his camera with him and took all 24 pictures on the cruise. Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, then to FOA Schwartz, the largest toy store and then for dinner at Jeckel and Hyde Restaurant. It is and interactive dinner theatre. Jon loved it and so did we. Maybe we can see a little bit more before we come home. We expect Jonathan will be out of hospital on Tues or Wed. if all goes well. I have been having trouble accessing my e-mails so if any one has sent anything I'll get it when I get home unless I can get a hold of Sympatico soon. Love to all see you sometime after the 23rd.

Brenda

Friday, March 16, 2001 at 03:12 PM (CST)

Tuesday, March 13, 2001 at 05:31 PM (CST)

Hi from New York City - Ronald McDonald House

First of all I would like to thank Grant for the partner pass for Ken, because of it another kind Air Canada employee in Winnipeg upgraded all three of us to Executive class for the first leg of our journey. Jonathan is happy to be here and has seen his friend Chris already and his favorite volunteer Rich. Right now he is in his glory playing on the FREE video games in the game room. THANK YOU RONALD MCDONALD!! Tomorrow it is back to reality, we meet with Dr. LaQuaglia at 9 am to discuss the surgery. Jonathan is not the least bit concerned about the surgery however mom and dad are just a bit freaked again. But we know he is in the best possible hands. Must go, I would not want to miss the Mexican Night dinner here at RMH (I hope there are margarita's).

Wednesday, March 07, 2001 at 10:31 AM (CST)

We received approval this morning from Manitoba Health Insurance for us to return to NYC for more surgery for Jonathan. There is no other disease present in Jonathan's body other than this small nodule on his left kidney, which Dr. LaQuaglia will remove on March 16. We will be in NYC from March 13 - 25/01. I'll keep you posted.

Saturday, March 03, 2001 at 02:33 PM (CST)

Hi all, it has been along time since my last update, but all is well. We started pre-BMT testing the middle of Feb. and have now completed all tests required before Jonathan's BMT. However, a small, walnut size piece of tumor showed up on Jonathan's left kidney. When the scan was sent to NYC for the surgeon, Dr. LaQuaglia to see he immediately call our Onc. and said he knew what was showing on the scan, it is a piece of tumor that he could not remove during the first surgery and to get Jonathan back to NYC because with the rest of the tumor gone he could now easily remove it. So our Onc. has once again started the procedure with our Health Care system to have us sent back to NYC for more surgery. The real good news is that there is no disease left anywhere else in Jonathan's body and that this small piece can also come out before we embark on his BMT. So once again we sit and wait. I'll keep you all posted.

Saturday, January 13, 2001 at 03:51 PM (CST)

Hi all it has been a long time since I had a moment to update. Things are good in Teulon. Hope this finds you all enjoying the new year. Jonathan returned to school in full force on January 8 and there has been no looking back since. He has a ton of energy that I encourage both he and Kent to wear off during the day. We are just spending a quiet (?!?!) weekend at home doing some chores that are long over due.

We will meet with the Bone Marrow Transplant Dr. on January 23 to discuss the ins and outs of Jonathan's next treatment step. On January 31 and February 1 he will have a CT and an MIBG scan. This will determine the actual amount of neuroblastoma left in Jonathan's abdomen. I am confident that it will be very little thanks to Dr. LaQuaglia. Peace and joy to all and all the best in 2001.

Wednesday, December 27, 2000 at 10:33 AM (CST)

I hope everyone is full of Turkey and relaxing around your Christmas tree playing with all the wonderful gifts Santa brought.

We arrived home late on Sunday Dec. 24 after a wonderful trip home. On our last leg of our journey from Montreal to Winnipeg a wonderful Air Canada employee who was working at our departure gate bumped Ken, Jonathan and I up to Business or "FIRST" Class so that we could sit together. WE WERE THE ONLY ONES UP THERE. Jonathan slept and Ken and I had an airline steak dinner and a bottle of wine. It really was romantic (if you can believe it). We arrived home to signs of welcoming spread all down our country road and our lane. There were some elves at work. It really was a wonderful feeling. The boys will both be home with me until Dec 8!! I'm not sure I'll get much work done but oh well. We will have a meeting with Jon's oncologist on Friday or next Tuesday. I will post more treatment plans after that. Once again Happy Holidays from our home to yours.

The Watson's, Ken, Brenda Jonathan and Kent.

Friday, December 22, 2000 at 10:52 AM (CST)

I am not having good luck with computers lately, I could not get on one at RMH yesterday and this one at the hospital keeps kicking me out so this will be quick.

WE ARE OUT OF HOSPITAL AND AT RMH AS OF YESTERDAY. AND

WE WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.

Thanks for all your support and good wishes over the last 2+weeks. Jonathans if feeling real good and moving ahead in leaps and bounds. Merry Christmas and we'll see you in 2001 if not before

Ken, Brenda and Jonathan

Sunday, December 17, 2000 at 02:53 PM (CST)

First of all I want to thank everyone who signs the guest book with messages of encouragement. I read them every day then relay them to Jonathan and Ken.

I seem to be the one doing the night shift these days!!?? Ken comes to the hospital about 8-9am then I come back to RMH and have a bit of breakfast then go to bed until around 2-3. I usually return to the hospital about 4-5 with some supper for Ken and I and now that Jon can eat a treat for him. Today it is about 56F but it is raining very hard, I was drenched after walking the 5 blocks to RMH this am (I guess it is better than the weather in MB lately though eh!!) We should be moved to a ward at MSKCC tomorrow after the catheter is out but we are a little concerned with Jonanthan's urine output and don't want them to take it out until he can pee more because I don't think they will get one back in if they had to. All in all we are fine, a little lonely being so far from home but OK. We are still hoping to be home for Christmas but not sure at this point. Love to all Brenda, Ken and Jonathan

Friday, December 15, 2000 at 04:05 PM (CST)

Just a moment to update before I return to the Hospital. This morning Jonathan pulled out his NG tube but the timing was good as they were going to take it out anyway. He has had many BM's so I think he will be able to start on some liquids today. The surgery team also removed the large bandage over his incission this morning. Ken spent the day with him so I am anxious to get there and see what other tubes and monitors were removed. We will probably go back to MSKCC to a step down unit tomorrow. The nurses got a kick out of him this morning when he looked at them after they changed his bed and said OK, NOW WHAT I'M BORED. CAN I HAVE SOME MACCARONI WITH KETCHUP AND WEINER? He is a real fighter, which is good. Love to all.

Wednesday, December 13, 2000 at 10:14 AM (CST)

SUCCESS!!!

Jonathan's surgery began at 8:50 am Tuesday Dec. 12 after 11 hours of surgery LaQuaglia informed us that he had removed more than 95% of the tumor!!! Atleast 2 lbs of tumor have been sent for testing. Dr. LaQuaglia felt that most of what he removed was neuroganglenoma (sp) which is dead neuroblastoma so the chemo and MIBG did do something. Jon will have a CT scan within the next few days to see just how much is left. He is conected to every kind of monitor you can think of arterial line, respirator, chest tube, abdomen drain, catheter and he is very swollen from all the fluids but he is fine and being kept very very sedated. He was moved via ambulance from MSKCC to Cornell Univeristy Hospital to their Ped. ICU and will be there for a few days (this is their normal procedure). Love to all and please keep the prayers coming our way.

Friday, December 08, 2000 at 05:10 PM (CST)

Well, the Watson's made it to the Big Apple and let me tell you it is BIG.

Ronald McDonald House is wonderful. We arrived from the airport around 8:30 Thursday evening and by 9:30 Jonathan already had so many gifts and door prizes that we will have to send them home via mail. It seems that every night some group is here feeding and giving out gifts to the children. Last night they even drew for a trip to Disney World (we didn't win)!!??

We met with Dr. LaQauaglia this morning and he stressed the risk involved with this type of surgery and asked us to think about it over the weekend. And we will but we do feel that we have to take this risk. He told us that he has removed tumors like this or worse from other children successfully. We were able to speak with a few other people that work with him and they feel as we do if anyone can do this Dr. LaQuaglia can. We will meet with him again on Monday am. Jon's surgery will be Tuesday am.

So, for the weekend we plan to do some sightseeing. Tonight there is another party with gifts for the kids so of course Jon will attend. Tomorrow we are going to go to the Empire State Bldg. and to Macy's and what ever else is around there. Then it is suppose to be warmer on Sunday so we will walk to Central Park and go to the Zoo. I would like to take the horse drawn carridge tour through the park but we'll see.

Bye for now I will try to update ASAP after surgery.

Tuesday, November 28, 2000 at 01:08 PM (CST)

Things are spinning more than usual here today. Dr. LaQuaglia's office called this morning and they have booked Jonathan for surgery on Dec. 12. We have to be in New York on Dec. 8 to meet with the Drs. so we will fly from Wpg on Dec. 7 and return with Santa on Dec 24. Just in time to spend Christmas with Kent. I CAN NOT THINK OF A BETTER CHIRSTMAS PRESENT THAN TO HAVE JONATHAN ONE STEP CLOSER TO GOOD HEALTH.

Jon and I have regular tickets but Ken will be flying standby thanks to a good friend who works for Air Canada. While we are in NY I am going to try to keep the page updated so check often.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL LOVE THE WATSON'S

Monday, November 06, 2000 at 10:30 AM (CST)

Hi all, The Watson's had a wonderful time this past weekend at the Candlelighters family camp which was held at a very nice resort near where we live. Jonathan got to play with many of the kids he sees each time we go to Clinic and Kent got to know them too. We had a meeting with Dr. Israels on Friday and the decision was made to hold off on Jonathan's next round of Chemo until we hear from Dr. LaQuaglia at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in NYC regarding surgery. Hopefully we will hear this week from them as they received all of Jonathan's scans and test results Nov. 1. Dr. Israels feels as we do that we have exhausted all of our possibilities in Canada and that if Dr. LaQuaglia can perform surgery this should be our next step as it would then open many more treatment options for Jonathan. We are very hopeful. If anyone is interested there is a wonderful article in the Nov/00 issue of "Parents" magazine about Dr. LaQuaglia and how he is able to save many neuroblastoma patients when others have given up. Keep us in your prayers as we embark down this new road to recovery.

Tuesday, October 17, 2000 at 11:50 AM (CDT)

Today we received a letter from Manitoba Health. They have approved our referral to Dr. LaQuaglia at MSKCC in NYC for surgery. But they will not cover all medical costs, only what they would pay in Manitoba. FIRST priority is to have the tumor removed then we will work on the money thing. We are very happy to hear this and will be meeting with Dr. Israels on Nov. 3 after that we will know what all we have to go through before we get to NYC and Dr. LaQuaglia.

Monday, October 09, 2000 at 11:53 AM (CDT)

Jonathan has been fighting a cold and it seems to take so much more out of him. We saw Dr. Israels on Friday and we received news on from Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto: the surgeons there do not feel that they can remove Jonathan's tumor. Dr. Israels has put in a request to Manitoba Health Insurance to see if they will pay for Jon to have surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City. Dr. LaQuaglia is a surgeon who is an EXPERT in removing difficult Neuroblastoma tumors. He has done miracles when no one else would touch them. He will have to have a look at Jonathan's latest scans before a final decision is made but our first step is to see if we will be covered by our insurance. Hi to all and thank you for your kind and encourageing words to Jonathan in his guest book. I read them to him about once a week. We will keep you posted.

Wednesday, September 27, 2000 at 10:26 AM (CDT)

I'm not sure where to begin but I think I will lump it all together. Jonathan was diagnosed with Neuroblasoma in January'98 at the age of 3 1/2. He underwent surgery but Dr. Wiseman was unable to remove the tumor. He then had 5 rounds of chemo, 18 months of MIBG therapy in Edmonton, Alberta and numerous months on Accutane. Dr. Lees of University of Alberta Hospital again attempted to remove the tumor in January'99. They could still not remove any of it but the biopsy showed that 90% was dead or mature tissue. HOORAY!! But when Neuroblastoma is involved you have learned never get too confident because in November'99 Jonathan's disease again started to progress. The tumor grew, and the cancer spread to his lymph nodes, the lining of his brain, 3 spots on his right leg and his bone marrow. So after his Wish trip to Disneyland it was back to chemo for us. To date he has had 7 more rounds of chemo (Topo/Cyclo) which are done on an out-patient bases at Cancer Care Manitoba and the Winnipeg Children's Hospital we go for a 1 week stretch about every 5 weeks. He has tollerated it very well. If he had a head full of hair you would never know he was sick. This chemo is not a cure but it has made Jonathan's condition stable. Our onc. Dr. Sara Israel's is still looking for a surgeon in Canada to take out Jonathan's tumor. We are waiting word from Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. We do know of a wonderful surgeon in New York City who could probably remove the tumor, but to have Manitoba Health pay for this we have to have explored and exhausted all of the resources in Canada first. But in the mean time he is a happy 6 year old who loves soccer and grade 1 (most days).

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