April 2010

It has been almost nine months since Max finished his chemotherapy. As many of you know, he spent two years of his life in and out of the hospital taking his medication, while doing his best to live life like a normal four, five and six year old boy should live. He will be seven years old next month. This past winter, we went to Disney World through Make a Wish Foundation. It is an amazing organization who grants wishes to any child who has been faced with or who is currently battling any life threatening illness. At the time of the trip to Disney, my back was in bad shape. After an MRI, I was told that I had two herniated discs in my back. I could barely walk two city blocks without stopping in sheer agony. I had three epidurals over the past nine months and it just did not work. We questioned whether Disney was a good idea. Max told me that if my back went out at the park he would push me around in a wheel chair. Well, we went to Disney and while I never needed the wheel chair, my back was completely shot by the third day, and I told Annemarie, that when we return to NYC I was going to opt to get the surgery. The very next day, Max and I went on Mount Everest and then onto another roller coaster in Dinosaur Land. We were able to go around and around, without waiting in lines because we had the Make A Wish Pass. It was a special trip for our family and proved to be quite the magical kingdom after all. Mount Everest, the roller coaster, snapped my back into place. So while I won’t be running any marathons any time soon, I am pain free.

Two weeks ago Max had his monthly scans. He will continue to get these scans in the years ahead. It never gets any easier, as we wait for the results. We feel blessed that they came back clean. Max continues to be in remission. Today he is in the first grade and is looking forward to baseball this spring, camp this summer, and of course the second annual Roar For A Cure Carnival to be held in East Hampton on August 21st. He continues to be an inspiration.

As for The Max Cure Foundation for pediatric cancer causes, we have been working around the clock for the past nine months. There are many exciting projects and partnerships soon to be released, hence the reason our site has not been updated and we have been out of touch for awhile.

Stay tuned. And as always, Be Brave & Roar For A Cure.

Dave Plotkin