The End Arrived

It seemed so long ago that we were sleeping on the floor at BCCH and looking at a long and arduous journey of 1277 days of chemotherapy for Sam. There were no gaurantees that it would work. No gaurantees that we would make it to the end. The only thing we knew for sure was that God would be with us on this journey. He was with us on this journey.

Yesterday Sam and I went to BCCH for the last procedure - he had his VAD removed by surgery. It was quite a day. We went to chapel at ACS and then drove to Children's Hospital. The Uys were there for us again. It seems like everytime we need them, our good friends are there for us. They met us at the hospital because they had a few hours between flights on their way to Hawaii. We laughed together and shared stories. It was such a great thing to see them at the hospital before Sam's final procedure.

The Surgeon, Dr. Blair, came in and said, "I know what you're going to ask and I have to tell you right now that the answer is NO!" Sam said, "Oh, so I can't play volleyball today with my team at the tournament in Coquitlam?"

The doctor replied, "Uh, well actuallyl that's fine. If you want to play, you can play. I was talking about what most kids ask which is - can I keep the VAD to show my friends. We don't let kids keep them anymore because it is deemed as a bio-hazard. You can play volleyball if you want to but I don't think you'll be feeling up to it for a few days."

Sam had his surgery at 3pm. He woke up in recovery and I was by his bedside. His first words that he mumbled so I could just barely hear him were, "Can I play volleyball now?"

His second words were, "Do you have food?"

90 minutes later we walked out of the hospital, grabbed a bite to eat and by 9:00pm he was playing volleyball with his team - spiking and bumping and jump serving with his team. Sam is a tenacious boy!

So, we're done. The removal of his VAD is the final procedure. No more chemo through his chest. Usuallyl the wait to get a VAD removed is 6 months. Sam waited 2 weeks. Dr. Lucy pulled some strings and got him in early!

Thank you for all your prayers and support. This was quite a journey.

You can check out the video below and some more pictures of Sam's Conquered A.L.L. party.

God is faithful.

Gerry and Debbie