Tuesday - November 18 - Newsday

My family is trying to get my greatest wish granted from the Make A Wish people. What I wished for is a vacation with ALL of my family. I want my Mom and Dad and my Stepmom and Stepdad and ALL my brothers and sisters to go somewhere where I could snorkel and swim with dolphins and just hang out with my brothers and sisters. Make A Wish sometimes gets famous people to meet kids but what I want is to get to go on vacation with my whole family all together. Well, we'll see.
Love, Bree

Note from Parents:
We are trying to expedite Brianna's wish through the Make-A-Wish foundation. She has stated that her greatest wish would be to go on a vacation with both of her families. Her dad's family and her mom's family...together on a tropical vacation. She would swim with dolphins, snorkel, and just enjoy swimming and hanging out with all of her siblings. It appears that this may be a more complicated process than you would expect. We are doing our best to communicate with the organization our unique situation and hope that they will in fact be able to grant her the wish. She colored a Christmas picture the other day that included both families next to a Christmas tree. She couldn't care less about meeting anyone famous, etc. We tried to help her explore all options through the make-a-wish packet and she could not get beyond wanting both families to be together. Along with her statement about just wanting to be home, on the couch, watching t.v. with her family and that she doesn't need anything for Christmas (just to be home) she has a very real sense of priorities. Forget material items, forget celebrities....just be with family!! The Naperville Sun and Chicago SunTimes covered Brianna and Max's story today and we hope that the greater community will open up their hearts and begin an even larger prayer network. We hope that our loving community continues to grow and that people will learn more about this rare form of childhood cancer and help us fight to find a cure. We understand that the statistics are quite negative, yet there is much more to keep in mind. The families and some friends are very aware of the challenge we face. However, we believe that as you read these updates and those from the Lacewells you will realize that the hope we have and the faith we possess far outweigh any numbers doctors may present. Not only do we believe that God CAN heal but God WILL heal our children. That is what separates those that truly believe and we have deepened our faith more than ever to be able to find the courage and strength to fight our battle on a daily basis. We are not going to leave any stone unturned. If our story can spread far and wide it is our hope that we will not have missed a single opportunity to explore any/all treatments and research that can help our children. DIPG parents are a very determined and motivated group of people and we are fortunate enough to have a strong network of prayer groups and community support from our family, friends and neighbors.We all know children are more resilient than adults. We all know that they have an unbelievable ability to heal and bounce back. Brianna is showing progress and we will continue to pray for her to continue on her path of healing. She is starting to "perk up" more and has enjoyed two nights in a row of full sleep. We believe she is feeling some improvement in her condition as her headaches have not resumed and her double vision has almost completely diminished. Please pray that she continues with her progress. Pray that doctors work to find the answer to this disease. Pray that the siblings of Max and Brianna are able to remain positive and allow this experience to bring them a better understanding of their faith.Thank you to the staff at Gregory Middle School for their overwhelming support to help Brianna, as well as Eric and Haley through this difficult time. The compassion and understanding displayed by the entire staff is overwhelming and greatly appreciated.
God Bless!
Brianna's Family