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~ cANCER SURVIVOR ~
Hello everyone, welcome to my web page! My name is Julianna and I live in Winnipeg, Canada, home of Winnie the Pooh. I'm 5 years old, brown hair and brown eyes, single and a non-smoker. My turn-ons include pink clothes, Barbie toys and playing. My turn-offs are medicine and when my brother stands in front of the tv. Please stop by from time to time and see what I'm up to :-)
On September 4, 2003, the doctors told mom and dad that I have acute lymphoblastic leukemia, standard risk, pre-B cell type and put me on the CCG 1991 treatment plan protocol. Sadly, I relapsed in my treatment on December 31, 2003, and now I'm on Pretty Oncology Girls 9061 protocol...whatever that means. Oh well, as long as mom figures out my medicine and dad keeps changing the kitty litter, I'll just keep playing barbies. I have to go back to the hospital one or two times a week. The needles are NO fun at all, those ladies who always SEEM so nice always want to hold me down and stick things in my back. They don't know that I'm taking names and it's payback time when I'm not so little, mwahahaha!
I have a nice family that I take care of. There's my big brother, Nicholas. He's 7 and in grade 2. People always say to him "nice shades, dude!" because he has something called achromatopsia wrong with his eyes. That's cool though, I always kick butt hunting for Easter eggs! I also have a mom named Mary. Just before I came down with this sick blood thing, my mom quit work to go back to school (for the life of me, I can't figure out big people...going BACK to school?? did she fail or something? when I'm done kindergarten, I'm so outa there!). She's taking dental hygiene in school, and hopefully she can keep doing that, but she might just hang out with me instead, we'll see. I also have a dad named Terry, he's typing this for me as I dictate to him. He's incredibly brilliant and sexy. HEY, I didn't tell you to type that, dad! Dad's an engineer, but what he does best is lie on the floor behind me so that I have something to lean on when I'm watching Spongebob Squarepants. I also have a cat named Lulu. She's about 100 years old in kitty years. She has kitty diabetes, so she gets more needles than I do, so needles are nothing new to me.
My Nonna lives in Brandon, Manitoba, but she just moved in! HOW COOL IS THAT?! Not many kids get their grandmas cooking anytime they want!
My doctors (I've got about 50 of them) say that my prognosis has changed with my relapse (not sure what "prognosis" means, but I think it has something to do with being cute). Well, all I have to say to that is THIS!! Those same 50 doctors told me that I might lose my hair for awhile and that my cheeks might get puffy. Dad says I'll be extra cute no matter what, so don't be shy to hug me no matter what I look like! I'll get dad to update here from time to time so that you know how I'm doing.
Oh, one last thing. Mommy told me to tell you that if you don't wash your hands when you walk in your door, she'll go all Italian on you! Mommy's funny :-)
Luv,
Julianna Banana
The front panel from The Rainbow Society of Manitoba's new mailer. Just the start of my modeling career...will pose for Barbies
Due to popular demand (ok, so nobody actually asked for it, but I'm a show-off), I bring you...
Julianna Banana's Picture Page!
Picture Page #2 added Jan 17
Picture Page #3 added March 9
Picture Page #4 added May 15
RADIATION Picture Page added Sept 23/04
How To Get Julianna's Pink Wish Bracelets
Banner courtesy of Helen!
As the year came to a close, 2003 took one more swing at our family. Sadly, Julianna relapsed in her central nervous system fluid.* CLICK HERE FOR JULIANNA'S THOUGHTS ON RELAPSING *
Journal
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - The Award-Winning Bananavision Sup, all! Yes, I will actually update this page next week when my slacker dad finishes the family Christmas letter. But I couldn't wait that long to share something special with anyone who might still be out there.
Remember Bananavision? So does the Government of Manitoba! Click here and check out the update at the bottom of the page.
Still Luvvin,
Julianna Banana
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - Best...Cupcake...Ever!
Around this time five years ago, chaos ruled this house. I had just relapsed, my grandma just passed away, our basement flooded, and my unpaid ghostwriter/dad fell and cracked his tailbone. To wrap it in a bow, dad spontaneously went blind in his right eye. His doctors never really figured out why it happened, ol' one eye just kept on keeping on, chalking it up as a casualty of fighting my sick blood, and never looked back (pardon the pun).
As the years have passed and chaos slowly morphed into peace and a little more certainty, we have been replacing the nasty stress with more productive and energizing stress. Stresses that put bacon on your McMuffin. Doctor appointments have been replaced with skating lesions, emla patches have become swimming badges, and clinic days have turned into indoor soccer games (who names an 8 year old girls soccer team "Liverpool"? I'm just saying). Even dad has got into the change thing; he changed jobs twice and went back to school to take the degree he always wanted.
So five years removed from the darkest days of your life, how would you celebrate? I can think of about a gazillion different wonderful and constructive ways to live on the blessed side of life. But my dad? Well, he just always has to be different. It's a good thing he can touch type, because his version of 'commemorating' was to lose the vision in his LEFT eye. Nice work, dad, you should be a party planner.
So here I am, typing at you through a visually impaired typist (it's been a challenging month, but I'm happy to report that some vision has come back and it continues to improve by the day). Regardless of how the medical side of things play out, once again the cosmos is screaming out life lessons to me and my family. If you are blessed with your vision, use it, love it and truly live with it! If you're blessed with arms, what's your excuse for not hugging more? Got legs? Then why aren't you dancing? Heck, if you have to fart, then let'er rip with passion. Lord knows my now 11 year old brother sure does. Turns out he wasn't stinky after all; he's a life guru with a smelly zest for life!
Yesterday marked three years since my last pill or poke. Three YEARS, baby! That's three years that three years ago I didn't know if I would have. Take it from me, unsecured time is the most precious time. I celebrated with a special ginormous banana coconut cupcake and a quiet moment of gratitude and hugs with my mom, dad and bro. I've been asked why we didn't whoop it up more, and the bare truth is that we are all actually scared to rub our good fortune in the face of fate out of our fear that everything can still change just like *that*. As gratifying as this wonderful milestone is for me, that latent fear just never goes away, and I was sadly reminded by what is happening to two young gals that so don�t deserve their circumstances. If you are reading this, please, please take the time to visit Samantha and young Madelaine and shower them with your support.
Luv and cupcakes,
Julianna Banana
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: The CK5 Spa / CancerCare Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Links: http://www.lightingchildrenslives.org Lighting Childrens Lives - Child of the Month Jaunary 2004
http://www.tumbleweedfoundation.org Tumbleweed Foundation - Featured Child April 2004
http://www.therainbowsociety.com The Rainbow Society- Manitoba
For all those who want to put the Bridge back into Caring Bridge...
the MONSTER LINKS PAGES are BACK baby!!
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