Rollerskates, monsters and a wire

Hello! Been the usual busy time with some wonderful magic moments brought to us care of Tara and her gorgeous sisters! Like the afternoon that we were picking up Cassie's camp photos - and a mentally-challenged man chatted away to us. Afterwards Tara said "I feel so sad for people who have something wrong with them." And then she burst out laughing and said "oooh, I've got something wrong with me too...but I don't want anyone to feel sad for me. I'm very happy!" And the conversation evolved over the next few days to the point where she realised that, just like her, most other people with issues are probably happy too and don't want anyone to feel sad for them. And then she pointed out that actually there is no division between people with something wrong with them and those without - because "everyone has something wrong with them, you just can't always see it."

She also had a great conversation about the kids at her old Australian school who "didn't like me and didn't wanna play with me because of my leg" - but she says it all in such a beautiful matter-of-fact way - you can see she didn't take what they thought of her onboard at all - she left their thoughts with them.

At school, the fab and lovely Mrs Donohue asked the class to write a letter about anything that they are currently concerned about. Tara wrote that she actually had no problems of any concern...but that when her dad was a kid he used to be scared of monsters and had to jump from his door onto the bed!

And her tenacity continues. One evening we noticed that LouLou may just fit into Cassie's old rollerskates. And the next night, lo and behold, Tara came rollerskating down the corridor in her PJs - she'd secretly gone and put them on. Scary but fab! And she's still tryna master tennis (with the most patient dad in the world)!

Other news - I was invited to do a speech about South Africa for the local Rotary Club and sooooo would've normally said 'no thanks' - but after the experiences this year with these 3 little girls - Cassie with her French speech, Tara with her speech to the Premier, and Jadie mastering her Evonne Goolagong speech - I was inspired by them to also lift my level! And - with a HUGE thanks to Kim S. and Melanie W. (and Alex & Stu for their Aussie support!) - I managed to pull it off. Whew! Could NOT have done it without you guys! The girls were SO excited with the certificate I received afterwards - just like theirs.

We had a lovely surprise this weekend when Tara's other Godmother - Phil - came up from Melbourne (pictured here...with sunnies as big as Tara's!) - fabalicious. And most exciting news is that Tara may get her new leg tomorrow!!!!! Altho' we won't let her start wearing it till next week - coz she and Jadie have an overnight school camp this week, so best to keep it simple with old LouLou. The school's been amazing at ensuring the facilities will be suitable for Tarakie - a chair in the shower (so she's not sitting on the floor like she does at home) etc etc. So funny actually coz one of the help groups - Montrose or something - called us to enquire about Tara. They're a group who assist people with amputations etc. Anyway - after all the questions - they called us back 2 days later to say they will not be offering any assistance to Tara coz she's "not bad enough" - and it was so weird coz it still feels like you're being rejected...even tho' of course you're so glad that Tara's considered so normal that she doesn't need help!

Still no news about whether Tara's one of the kids with a wire left near her heart. Frustrating. Many phone calls. But still no answers. Oh dear - in the 15 minutes since I typed this - we've had a phone call from the Brisbane Royal Children's to say Tara did have that particular catheter in her arm. So she'll have to be x-rayed to see if she has the wire lodged inside her BUT the good news is that so far the children from Royal Children have been okay. Still not nice tho'. You get that nervous feeling. Argh! Small prayers please! Will keep you posted...if she does have it tho', it should be ok - just a small op to remove it. Happy Week Everyone!

Welcome Home LeggieLoo Quilt

YAY! Gela came down from Brisbane and brought Tara's LeggieLoo quilt, which her and her friend Catherine have finished off BEAUTIFULLY...even tho' Gela was meant to be recuperating in bed from her op! The LOVE and dedication that's gone into the quilt are just extraordinary - especially since Catherine's never even met Tara...and Tara only met Gela properly the night before her operation (Gela had already been a brilliant support when Tara was a baby having a million ops - but Tara had no memory of those days...thank goodness!) That night before Tara's amputation, Gela turned what could've been a nerve-wracking evening into the most fun and giggles the girls had ever had - she painted Tara's left foot so that she could leave colourful prints of Leggie Loo all over a piece of canvas material. The girls also wrote messages, and Big Foot (Tara's right foot) got a look in too. Tara kept the canvas tucked around her during the week in hospital, like a security blanket...and then we gave it back to Gela to magically transform it into a quilt that tells the story of Tara's journey this year. The girls fought over who was allowed to sleep with it, they just love it so much. And Tara took it to show-and-tell on Friday.

So lovely re-reading the messages the girls wrote to Leggie Loo like Tara's one saying "I love you. I will miss you a lot. Thank you for teaching me things. You are lovely. bye!!!! Love Tara".

One of Jadie's messages read:

To Leggie Loo
It was the last day of seeing you. It was very tough for you I think.
Love Jade!

Cassie wrote:

To Leggie Loo
We will all miss you! I love you so much!
love Cass xox

And one of them wrote "Leggie Loo was a great friend".

They're all loving LouLou tho'...even tho' she does occasionally (hmmm...frequently) stand on her sisters' feet by mistake!

First week back at school was fab. Jadie's loving her new role and Cassie went to New South Wales for a school camp for a few days - learning to canoe and do all kinds of fun stuff in the lake and the ocean. Had a LOVELY evening with Neal who was up on business from Sydney...and brought Gela, the quilt, flowers (thank you Gussy!) and truckloads of chocolate with him (which Tara also mentioned in her Show & Tell).

Shame - Tara shed a few tears because Jadie's been invited to play at a friend's house tomorrow and she hasn't - but just feels right for Jadie to get her first play on her own (Tara's had a few already). Jadie loved her first modelling lesson this morning and we had yummy dinner and bingo at Granny's tonight.

Last night the Baxters came for a sleepover and we adults went out for dinner in Tedder Avenue - and spotted Dicko (from Australian Idol) and Nigel (from the US So You Think You Can Dance) - which was kinda fun coz not much normally happening in our neck of the woods!

Tony happened to buy the newspaper today...and there was an article asking parents whose children have had operations in the last year to please contact this Hotline. And blah - turns out that some children have been left with wire lodged near to their hearts from the catheter that was inserted in their arm to give them antibiotics and other drugs. It's not life-threatening but requires an op to remove it. Only 3 hospitals in Queensland have been affected...and the Royal Brisbane, where Tara was, is one of them. Argh! Hopefully Tara's not one of the kids that had this particular catheter (altho' of course we feel for the parents of anyone whose child did use it). But they'll only let us know next week. Yikes. It's never over.

Home for the holidays

Oh sob - it's back to school tomorrow...which means Tone and I have to wake up early. Argh! But very exciting for Jadie - she could barely sleep tonight, so excited about being form captain.

We've had a fab holiday tho' - here at home - with a constant stream of gorgeous friends from around Australia. Tone and Phil and all their childen have been up from Melbourne for the past 10 days. Tone (Wits) and I both noticed how not one person at their resort's swimming pool actually stopped to stare at Tara - even tho' she was hopping around the pool and diving in sans her prosthetic leg. I think she was just acting so 'normal' and so full of fun that nobody had a chance to even see anything out of the ordinary.

There have been a few moments tho' when the kids have played games - and the boys aren't as keen as the girls to have Tara on their side...coz she's a little slower. But the girls have so made up for it that I don't think Tara's really noticed. And if she has - it's just more impetus to learn to run faster.

She's been learning to ride her new bicycle (which was donated to her by a very kind cycling shop owner in Melbourne). And even tho' she fell off twice - she got right back on it again. All 3 girls are also learning to play squash and, as Jadie mentioned in her blog entry (where she had a go at Cassie!), they also had daily swimming lessons during the holidays. Tara's stroke is great - she was placed in a higher group than even gorgeous Cas! (Very funny & soooo fab to see Cas laugh at herself. Nothing like your younger one-legged sister being a better swimmer than you!)

Donna & Fraser came for a sleepover; and Steve & Sian, Zoe & Portia and friends also stopped in from Noosa. All divine. And Tara just loved playing tennis with them. Love her get-go attitude. She didn't think twice about playing with the older girls, even tho' she's only just begun learning tennis and it's a rare miracle when that ball gets over the net.

We had another media interview - this time over yummy milkshakes at Bahia - for the Queensland Events magazine which comes out next year.

And most importantly, Tara got a cast taken for her next leg!!! Hopefully she'll be in the new leg by the end of October. Wow! She had to go in and get the current leg fixed a little - was hurting her around her knee so she couldn't wear it. Blah.

Saw such a funny interview on telly last night with Andy Hills - the Aussie comedian who has an amputated foot. He was talking about doing the Leeds show (UK) - where he let his prosthetic leg do some crowd-surfing. It is funny how people do react to seeing a prosthetic leg - even on the beach with Tara - people are less likely to stare at her, as to stare with huge grins on their faces at LouLou, propped in the sand. It's a novelty people seem to love. Tone and Phil's little twins have just loved stroking Tara's stump - very loving.

OK - must get ready for school tomorrow! Hope you all have a fab week!

Naughty Cassie

Hi Tara,

I hope you're having lots of fun on holidays with the Wits and all the other people.  I am doing a modeling cause in 12 days and wish you could come as well. I've been sick and I still am a little bit sick and I really hope you don't get sick now in the middle of the holidays. On  Wednesday the 24th of September the Patons came and we were doing lots of fun games to win prizes and I won a game and picked a prize from the lucky dip but a few minutes later it broke so I got another one which was a tamagotchi.  In the afternoon we all set off to swimming. I was in the pool when Cassie was playing with MY tamagotchi and Tara had just got out of the pool. Dad asked Cassie  if  she could give Tara her clothes in the shower which was down the steps and to the right. Cassie was holding her clothes and my tamagotchi and she dropped it somewhere and now it's lost. Hopefully Cassie's learnt not to use other people's things without asking.

Love Jade