Happy Rosie Day!

November 25, 2011 was the day that changed our family life forever.   The scariest day but also the biggest blessing day for our family.  The day we almost lost our daughter and thanks to God, we were in the right place at the right time.

Today, we celebrate Rosie Day, a year from her life saving surgery. We appreciate the great service from Sick Kids staff and all the support from our family, friends, church, and community.  Thank you for showing us God's grace and love through your love and kindness. We hope that we can continue to be a blessing to others too.

In honour of Rosie Day we are sharing with you a special story.  This story was originally created on December 16th. This was the day when Rosie woke up from surgery finding a tube attached on her chest.  Looking through our 2 year old daughter confused and afraid eyes, I prayed how I can help her understand what's going on.  Then I was inspired by fairy tales and started telling her a story.  The story made her smile and laugh. It also made her calm down and go to sleep.  I wasn't sure how much she understood from the story.  But as soon as she woke up the next day, she pointed at the IV pump and said, "Is that my medicine?" I was so shocked and surprised at how much she related to the story.  I also learned that we underestimate how much a toddler can understand. From that point on, I always explain what's going on with her tests and procedures in simple words.  I think that made her feel more relax and confident with her hospital stay.  The story evolved through her hospital adventures and we made a written one specially made for her.  Since the story helped her so much, we want to create an e-book version to share with others. I hope the book with help other families dealing with childhood brain cancer. A special thanks to many friends who helped edit the story with me and to my sister who is working on creating the illustrations for the story.

“There’s An Egg In Your Head”
A Story for babies and toddlers with Brain Tumour

Once upon a time,
there was a darling little bunny named Rosy.
Like many little bunnies, 
she enjoyed playing with her toys and friends.

One night, she started having
‘ouchy--boo-boo owies’ on her head
and was very sick…

So her mommy called the doctor,
and the doctor said,

“You better go to the hospital,
quick, quick, quick!”

So they hop, hop and hop to the hospital
as fast as they could.

At the hospital, they took pictures of her head.

Click-click-click! 

The doctor said,
“Pretty little Rosy, you are very sick,
THERE’S AN EGG IN YOUR HEAD.
We need to take it out quick!”

The doctor put the bunny to sleep
and took the egg out of her head.

When Rosy woke up,
she had to take medicines. Rosy said,
“Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!” to the medicines.

But the nurses said,
“You should drink your medicines…
so there will be NO MORE
EGGS IN YOUR HEAD”

The doctor also placed a
special tube on her chest.
But the sweet little bunny
didn’t like it.

The doctor said,

“The special tubes are for special medicine

called chemotherapy...
so there will be NO MORE
EGGS IN YOUR HEAD”

The medicines made Rosy sad,
feel icky and lose her hair.

The nurses said,
“You should still take your medicines…
so there will be NO MORE
EGGS IN YOUR HEAD”

And the doctor said,
“Make sure you eat your food
and get lots of sleep…
so there will be NO MORE
EGGS IN YOUR HEAD”

So the cute little bunny had to be very brave

and take all her medicines, 
eat lots of food and sleep a lot.

When she was done,
she felt all better…
There were NO MORE
EGGS IN HER HEAD!

The sweet little bunny was no longer sick

and went home to live happily ever after.

 ~ T H E   E N D ~