Disney World: Izzy's Wish Came True

We had an amazing trip to Disney World this last week. Thanks to everybody who helped us get excited about and ready for the trip--UM Stars, Disney bucks, Disney toys, Make-a-wish, Give Kids the World and the amusement parks. Izzy was feeling great which made it possible to really suck the marrow out of Orlando.

Warning: Slew of pictures to follow.

Monday
We knew that we were in for a fantastic vacation when the limo showed up to pick us up in the morning and take us to the airport.



We spent the rest of the day at the Give Kids the World Village (GKTW) that was a mini Magic Kingdom where we stayed for the whole week.



(They had free ice cream at GKTW, and the shop was open from 7 AM to 9 PM. You can guess how many trips we made there.)

Tuesday
Tuesday we took the Magic Kingdom down to china town. They gave us a permanent fast pass to use on all of the attractions which was incredible, but it also made for a day of little breaks as we went from ride to ride to ride.




(Izzy and Jack Sparrow)

(A pretty freaky little roller coaster)

(We had a sweet Florida rain storm hit us as we were heading to our car for the night--Yes, I was excited)

Wednesday
We spent another fun filled day at Disney World, specifically Animal Kingdom in the morning and then Magic Kingdom in the afternoon when Izzy had her dinner with the Princesses.




Thursday
Thursday morning we spent some quality time with Mickie and Minnie and then headed to Sea World to hang with the dolphins and friends. The girls loved feeding the sting rays and the dolphins. That night GKTW had a Christmas parade during which Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up.


(Dang I look good in this one. The girls were wearing me out.)

(Izzy and Haley--a fellow leukemia fighter at the UM Hospital)

Friday
We decided to take a day trip to the East Coast and let the girls get their first taste of the ocean and a little sunburn. That night Izzy and the girls had a Princess party at GKTW.




Saturday
Our plane didn't leave until 7 PM so naturally we decided to spend some more quality time at Disney World after one last ride on the GKTW carousel. We rode on this carousel literally 5 times a day, every day of the week. I got close to puking a few times. At the Animal Kingdom, Lorin and Izzy got to be in a Lion King Festival show.




An Amazing Trip
After 24 carousel rides, 10 rounds of Buzz Lightyear's Coaster, 2 rides on It's a Small World, 1 ride on every spin in a circle and go up and down attraction, an African safari, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shamu, sting-rays, dolphins, a trip to the beach, 3 days at Disney World and one day at Sea-World our little Izzy's wish was fulfilled and our family has more strength to keep fighting.

Thanks again to everyone who made the trip a reality.

More Photos

Here are a few more shots that Myra Klarman, Izzy's photographer, posted on her blog. To see the full post go to: http://relish.myraklarman.com/make-a-wish-princess-izzy

Make-A-Wish threw Izzy a great party at Jump City to get her excited for Disney World. She was on steroids all that week and so took it a little easy at the party. But she was definitely excited and had a great time getting to meet 3 of her Make-A-Wish Stars (The group of U0fM students who are sponsoring Izzy's Disney World trip wish). I'm waiting for some pictures to post of it.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for Disney World pictures . We leave in 5 days! YEAH!!!!

Fairy Princess Photo Shoot

Isadore was really lucky to be invited by Make-A-Wish to her very own photo shoot with a professional photographer. (Http://myraklarman.com) Myra and Izzy became friends very fast and got some great shots! She sent me a "sneak peak" of the pictures:


Elephant Ears (http://relish.myraklarman.com/elephant-ears-kerrytown)--an adorable kids clothing shop at Kerrytown (in Ann Arbor) was so awesome to let us come and model their clothes (the fairy costume Izzy is wearing was one of them) thanks to Myra's hook-ups being their photographer. The 2 owners treated Izzy like a star and showered her with gifts. We had so much fun! Stay tuned for more of the photo shoot. Izzy will be featured in Make-A-Wish brochures and possibly the Elephant Ears store.

And while I'm at it...Cory and I got to go to MBA formal. Like High School prom, the girls all met together to do hair and make-up before. Then we danced until we couldn't dance no mo' with our good friends the Ingmires and the Maynors. We had a blast! (I would just like to say thank-you to my wardrobe coordinators, the Costley Women; my make-up artist, Elizabeth; my hair coaches, Sara and Megan; my child educators, Ben and Telia; and my dashingly handsome Man in Black...who made this all possible :)

Quick ER Run

Izzy has had a few hiccups this month. She felt nasty for a week of steroids (5 days at the beginning of each month). And then Thursday afternoon she got a fever that cost us 6 hours at the ER. The ER doctor wanted to admit her as her ANC was at 600 (500 = neutropenic = automatic admittance). I told him 600 for Izzy is a pretty great number. They are used to normal kids who's counts are 5 to 10 thousand. Anyway she was asking for her chest tube to be unhooked so she could run and requesting Cheetos. So I got a hold of the on-call oncologist and we convinced the ER doctor to let us go home--hallelujah! Fortunately her fever never came back and she's feeling great again. So basically, this is an excuse to post some cute shots!

Lorin has been an amazing source of comfort for Izzy--so sweet!

We went to the Detroit Auto Show with the Maynors today! Emmett and Izzy are buds :)

We brought that place to its knees. The kids tested out the cars nicely.

That's actually a car behind us.

Happy Birthday Izzy!

I've recently heard of some Izzy-update withdrawals...sorry, and thanks for caring...here goes:

Obviously no news is good news. In our case, no news has meant we have had more parties going on than we can handle. And Izzy has been feeling so great and loving every minute of it. Here are some highlights:

Izzy reached her 4 year birthday--a thing I questioned would happen 8 months ago. Whew! For her birthday our Make-a-Wish Stars (a group of students that chose Izzy as their make-a-wish kid to sponsor) set her up with a personal phone call from Dora The Explorer!! Not kidding, Izzy even asked her how she met Boots (her pet monkey). And she told Izzy they met up in a tree and decided to go on an adventure together. It was very surreal to hear this television voice through our phone. The amazing chefs at Cake Nouveau also had a special birthday cake sent to her:

Cory and I continued the spoilage with a b-day trip to Chuck E Cheese with friends: (L to R: Izzy, Lorin, Emmette, Ryan, Chloe, Evan, and Brandon)

For Christmas we met Grma and Grpa in Missourri where my brother's family lives with his wife and 7 kids (aka cousins galore). What a rush of fun and excitement! Izzy particularly loved the 4-wheeler rides!

(L to R: Summer, Lorin, Ryan, Izzy, Kimberly, Juliet)
Uncle Karvel with (L to R) Kimmie, Izzy and Summer.
Finally, for New Year we partied all night with the Maynors and the Ingmires (neighbors, b-school friends, rock-band stars ;). And when I say all night, I mean it--due in part to being snowed-in, we slept over and continued the party in the morning.

Izzy has had to continue bi-monthly blood counts as her dosage is causing her ANC to be a bit lower than where she should be for Maintenance. But all in all she is doing better than I ever thought she would, complete with teasing Ryan non-stop and playing with Lorin constantly! Still too good to be true!
P.S. The generosity toward Izzy and our family has quite overwhelmed us this b-day and holiday season! THANK YOU!

Jolly Holidays

We have been flying high with Izzy feeling good this month. The 5 of us are having such a great time together! In particular we have done some really cool Christmassy things:

1. Izzy sang a duet with Lorin in our ward Christmas program. I tried to upload the video...didn't want to work. They did the cutest job, standing up there smiling and singing out. Granted there was a little microphone trouble, but they handled it really well. The first verse you could hear Lorin best and the second verse Izzy announced "I want to sing too" and took the microphone in which you could hear her best. Lorin just smiled and kept singing, so it was really cute.


2. The Ross MBA Partners Club and UofM Childlife specialists were able to coordinate a Christmas Store at the Cancer Center with donated gifts and volunteer helpers to bring some "shopping" fun to the kids who's counts are too low to go to regular stores. They were pumped to pick out something for each member in their families, complete with professional gift-wrapping!

3. Izzy got invited to go on a magical journey to the North Pole with other cancer kids throughout Michigan. Cory took her to the airport where they proceeded to board a plane that took off and landed at the North Pole. Santa and a huge celebration awaited them. She was on the 5:00 Channel 2 news tonight (about 5 seconds worth).




4. Finally, you've got to check this out http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1379704339. I have one question...who are all those cute elves?

Another Transfusion

Contrary to the way Izzy has been feeling, her Hemoglobin was at 6.1 (aka. low). So we are in for a blood transfusion today. All of her nurses and doctors are surprised as she is being very bubbly and fun. Yesterday she had a triumphant moment and exclaimed "Mom I just made it up the stairs without using my arms." A week ago I thought she was practically back to normal, but then everyday she gets stronger and does another thing that I forgot she used to do (like trying to wrestle Lorin)--it's great to continue seeing the progress. Her hair is even 1/4 inch long now! Thanks again for all the prayers and thoughts.