(Long awaited update) What dreams are made of….

Ok, so it’s becoming quite normal to start my posts with an apology as I do not update you enough!
So much has happened and I really should keep this blog active but I just don’t seem to find the time with a 2 and a half year old and a 4 year old running circles around me!

Firstly and most importantly, I will start with Sam. The courageous, strong and determined little boy we all love. Every day is awesome with this boy. He is such a little character and often has us all in stitches of laughter with his crazy dance moves or his silly faces. He is a generous boy, gentle but also very strong (sometimes too strong with his sister). His relationship with Emmie is heart-warming, she is his best friend (although, his dad is a pretty close contender). To watch him and Emmie play like normal kids, having conversations and acting out pirate and princess fantasy adventures makes my heart smile. This is what my dreams were made of!

Of course, as a family we have our struggles, thankfully these are not often due to health, sometimes it’s just down to having 2 hyperactive toddlers to keep entertained! Samuel’s health has been pretty darn amazing! He has had the odd virus but nothing that’s had an effect on his general progress or his heart.

Sam has been visiting his cardiologist in London every 4 months for the past 2 years, there has never been any areas for concern and his doctor (Dr Bell) has been very satisfied with his heart and development. We very recently went down for an MRI procedure to assess whether he is a good candidate for the final stage of surgery. We didn’t expect him not to be due to the progress he’s made but there is always a chance that the MRI shows something up that the echo’s hadn’t been able to see. Thankfully the results were as expected, ‘no surprises’ as Dr Bell puts it, and the pressures in his lungs were good too, meaning that Samuel is able proceed on to the final stage of his surgery.

I obviously feel very thankful and happy with the results but I’m also very anxious and scared of what we have to face and the pain that Samuel will have to go through. I accept that this is what we’ve got to do, what he’s got to do to live a normal(ish) life, to go to school, to grow older, to get married, to have kids and to live the life that God has planned for him. This is what my dreams are made of at the moment!

So we await a date for his final stage, we are led to believe that it will be around October/November time. Knowing this, we have just scraped together and booked a break to Disneyland Paris, we went there around the same time last year and had such a magical time. It is certainly where memories are captured and dreams made true.

On different note, as you already know, this journey has always guided me towards a passion for helping other heart families, well I am pleased to share that I have recently been appointed as Volunteer Services Manager for the Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation, the charity that have always supported us as a heart family. I am based at home and I manage the team of Volunteers that I once was a part of. I never knew this journey could open such doors, we have been truly blessed.