Moving forward: back in NYC

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“Keep going. That’s all you have to do, ever. You really don’t have to be amazing or fierce or beautiful or successful or good. Just keep going. Slowly is fine. Crawling is fine. No feeling is ever final. Except hope.”
-Glennon Doyle

Her remarks spoke to me on so many levels. Maybe they speak to you and so I’m sharing them. And the good news from us is that Charlotte keeps going, keeps moving onward, forward. And I’ve stopped worrying about the pace because slowly, as it turns out, is just fine by us.

We just arrived in NYC today for her round 5 of 7 for the Neuroblastoma Vaccine for maintenance trial. We flew this time and that went very well. We are still staying at a nearby hotel arranged by the Band of Parents as RMH is still not accepting new families. Both of us went in today for COVID testing (or as Charlotte calls it “tickling our brain”🤣). Tomorrow she will receive her 5th vaccine injection and then Wednesday she’ll have a 4 location bone marrow biopsy for routine surveillance. We should be able to fly home Wednesday night. Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas has again arranged our flights. So many special organizations helping us along the way❤️🌈

As for Charlotte, she is doing remarkably. She is growing and blossoming and feeling great. She initially cried when we told her about this trip, as she tends to do when our dream world is awoken again by Charlotte’s cancer. It’s hard when the long break comes to an end, but as I held her while she cried, a double rainbow formed right over our home. My cell phone started binging with notifications from neighbor friends and I told her that God was listening and giving her a hug. She nodded behind her tears and then in true Charlotte fashion, asked to go take a bath bomb bath🥰.  Our mermaid, our brave and sweet warrior, is and will keep going. We are so grateful and as hard as it is to ride this rollercoaster, we promised God that we would do anything and never complain a single moment of it if we could continue moving forward in maintenance, leaving active treatment far behind. And so here we are. Back in NYC with a hurricane looming in our path. Tomorrow may be interesting and I’m still unsure the timing of this storm and how it will affect us actually getting to the hospital which is about a mile away for our 1pm appointment. Thank you for your prayers for this round and for always❤️🌈

(Having photo upload issues tonight so I’ll update more tomorrow. The picture I could upload was from just last weekend where we went on our first camping trip and Charlotte caught her first fish!! More updates tomorrow including something special😍)



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