It was with great joy that we returned to the Witkowski Lab this spring for Beaudin's CAR T themed birthday. You can read more about our original visit here. And if you want to enjoy this entire post straight from the website, click on over.
With the help of YOU, our dear readers, we raised over $1500 for the lab!
Everything to us. Pennies against their six-figure budget. Everything and nothing.
Luckily, the amount is irrelevant compared to the heart.
How About Pin the CAR T Cell on the Cancer?
Sometime during planning the party, I'd told Beau we needed a party game. Something celebratory, sure, but really something to do so we weren't just sitting there staring at each other. Something like pin the tail on the donkey, I suggested.
"How about 'pin the CAR T cell on the cancer cell?" he suggested eagerly.
Obviously. Absolutely yes.
He was considerably less interested in helping me make it happen. But his sister is an eight year-old who can't turn down a crafting opportunity, and so she and I sat at the kitchen counter with our markers and colored pencils and colored in a big blob cancer cell on a poster board.
She was confused how cancer compared to donkeys, so I explained, slowly and somewhat awkwardly, how CAR T therapy works. She listened, enamored.
"Yay, Science"
It is a long road for pediatric cancer siblings. The way they piece it together from whatever scraps of conversation they can get their hands on. It's easy to forget that even though this has been her entire life, her understanding is everything and nothing.
Luckily, the amount is irrelevant compared to the heart.
I asked her what the poster's theme should be, what we should write across the top.
"Yay Science!" she said.
Obviously. Absolutely yes.
FHB
The birthday party went off without a hitch. We stopped at Snarf's Sandwiches and picked up an entire spread. I had emailed Snarf's asking if they wanted to get in on the celebration and they offered to foot the bill, remarking that Beau's idea was quite snarfy.
We decorated the conference room with a simple, felt Happy Birthday banner, laid out a Snarfy spread, and started welcoming the team. We expected 6 or so Witowski Lab staff, and were pleasantly surprised that Matthew had invited even more guests. Leaders from the Children's Hospital Blood Cancer department as well as leaders from the CAR T therapy department of Anschutz.
Before long I gave the kids the "FHB!" directive. FHB means Family Hold Back. An amazing term I learned years ago from my dear friend Colleen. FHB is a code word that is only exercised in the most glorious of moment. The moment when you realize that despite planning and preparation, you have more loved ones gathered than you expected, and thus the food may not go as far.
In logistics, FHB is the cue for anyone in the know to let the guests go first.
But in heart, FHB, is the moment you find yourself unprepared for how much love surrounds you.
Cricket gifts
During our first visit, Matthew had mentioned he'd be heading back to Australia to do some presentations and see family. That led him and Beaudin to talk extensively about their shared love of Cricket.
As everyone sat down with their snarfy,FHB drinks and food, Matthew presented Beaudin with his birthday gift. An authentic cricket bat, freshly back from down under.
I gave a short presentation to the crowd that was more or less 5 minutes about what got us from a cancer diagnosis in 2019, to a lab birthday party in 2026. It was short and sweet, but the best part was that I presented at one end of a long table, flocked by the brilliant humans who made this science possible, and directly in front of me, were my three kids.
Shout out to Joshua for going all in on my hare brained ideas, be it CAR T therapy to begin with, or off-site birthday parties. He was an amazing hosting side kick, and took photos to boot!
We then got down to business and pinned those CAR T-cells on the cancer. It progressed exactly as you'd imagine: Matthew leading things off, everyone being hesitant to let loose in their workplace in front of their boss, and their boss's boss!, and soon enough, laughter beyond containment.
Birthday Expectations
Back in 2022, on Beau's 10th birthday,Joshua and I sat in our bedroom and spoke with Beau's oncologist about whether we should move to a bone marrow transplant. The CAR T cells hadn't persisted the way the study wanted and the science was too new to know what that meant.
No evidence of disease in his body, 3 years into therapy, and the suggestion on the table was transplant.
I remember lying in bed that night, weeping, thinking, "this is just not how I ever expected to spend any of his birthdays."
4 years later, I had about the same thought driving home from the Witowski lab.
However the feeling could not have been more different.
Joshua and I hand in hand. Beau in the backseat holding a cricket bat. Jude remarking that the team, "really likes us!" and Selah already asking if she would get to go again, the next time we went to visit.
A "Yay Science!" poster rolled up in the trunk.
None of this would have been possible without the kind donations from the readers of this blog.
I don't make asks often, but when I do, you always show up.
No comments:
Post a Comment