SANTA CAME TO MY HOUSE

On Friday the 22nd of December Santa visited Brendan, Kieran, Tara and our friend Aidan at Brendan's house ( pictured). He brought with him two large sacks of toys.

A month ago Aidan entered The David Jones 'Make a Wish to Santa' competition. One of his wishes was 'for Brendan to get better'. Well, Santa saw Aidan's wish and he won the state prize for not only himself but for Brendan too. Santa's elves contacted Brendan and Aidan's Mums to find out what they would like. Santa granted our children's wishes with many gifts and much joy.

A very special thank you goes to Aidan for his special thoughts and kind heart in wishing Brendan well to Santa.

Brendan, Aidan, Kieran and Tara had a great time opening gifts three days before Christmas (Brendan thought Santa was going to arrive in his sleigh). Brendan was showered with gifts that were beyond anything he could of imagined. Santa gave him a Roboraptor, a Ninetendo Wii Play Station, a Leap Frog learning pad and many Star Wars toys. It really was a very special morning for the kids.

BRENDAN and his family would like to wish all our family and friends a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

BRENDAN TRANSPLANT NEWS

Yesterday we found out that the donor in the US is not a good match with Brendan and is not able to be his marrow donor. The search for a more suitable donor is continuing. We have been told that it will take between 1-3 months. In the meantime Brendan is going to try a drug called Enbrel to try and control his fevers and his joint pain. Fingers crossed that this drug will give Brendan some freedom from the symptoms of his illness for a little while and give him the energy to start school in Term 1 next year. Brendan's doctor has been discussing Brendan's illness with other doctors who are on a committee for children with MDS. All the doctors in Australia are in agreement that Brendan needs a marrow transplant. For now we wait and hope that a suitable donor can be found soon.

Tomorrow we are heading off to a holiday house owned by the Childhood Cancer Association. The house is in Inman Valley on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is near Brendan's Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. We will spend 5 nights at the house and spend Christmas day with Anna's family.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone from Brendan, Richard, Anna, Tara and Kieran.

OUR LITTLE DRAGON

Brendan had losts of fun on the weekend at Christmas parties organised by childhood cancer associations.

Santa was very busy going from party to party.

Brendan had his face painted as a dragon while visiting Santa in his magic cave in Adelaide.

Cheers from the O'Loughlins

THREE STEPS FORWARD TWO STEPS BACK

Brendan, Richard and Anna visited Sydney Children's Hospital (Randwick) on the 29th of November. We flew to Sydney in the morning and returned later the same day. While we were in Sydney we met with the Nursing Unit Manager of the kids cancer ward, the Transplant

Coordinator and a Social Worker. We had a look around Ronald McDonald House. There are families from all over Australia staying there, including two from Adelaide and two from Asia currently living in the house. We also got a good look around the Transplant Ward and a small look at a Transplant room. At the end of the day we met with the Transplant coordinator (Tracy). Tracy discussed the issues, concerns and the realities of what is involved when a child is having a bone marrow transplant. Some of the issues around transplants is confronting and distressing. We walked away feeling very shell shocked.

Brendan has a bone marrow donor who is a good match in the USA. The donor is at present having blood tests done to ensure they are a good match. If the donor does not come through, there is some cord blood in storage that is also suitable for Brendan.

Brendan's diagnosis is still an issue. He has 4 doctors with 4 different views on what is happening to Brendan. He may be the only child with his group of symptoms. The words rare and unique are starting to wear very thin.

We are at the point where we want all the doctors to agree so that we can make the right choices for Brendan.

If all goes to plan Brendan will be in Sydney in mid January to begin his treatment in preparation for the transplant. Our time in Sydney will depend on many factors but a rough figure of around 100 days after transplant is what we have been told is the likely length of stay.
Brendan will have another bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday to check what his marrow is doing (this will probably only confuse docs. even more).

We will let you all know more as things unfold.

Cheers from Brendan, Anna, Tara, Kieran and Richard