Joli's 3 year anniversary

It's hard to believe we have officially celebrated life as a predominantly cancer family. This year, August 17, 2008, marked Joli's 3 years since her diagnosis -- that means, she has now had a prosthesis longer than she had her "seeing eye."

As I mentioned before, I was incredibly sad not to have celebrated her anniversary at Sesame Place like we had done in the past. But, this year, I couldn't have imagined a better way to celebrate.

We met up at Lake Compounce with 3 other Retinoblastoma families we met at Camp Sunshine. There were a total of 5 Rb survivors (one family, bless them, had 2 kids with Rb). It was a very special day because we were spending it with kids who had survived Rb, and we all knew how very fortunate we were to be able to celebrate together.

Here are some great photos of the girls with their friends!


Joli and Jada with their friend Julia (diagnosed at 7 months old, and is now 8 1/2 years old)


The girls with Alia, age 6 (diagnosed as a toddler - can't remember exactly when) and Maryam age 18 months (diagnosed just after being born because of the family history)

Not pictured is their friend Abby who, though has bilateral Rb and only central vision left, was with her older brothers at the water park! Go, Abby!

here are some other cute pictures of the gals:


Oh, Jada....
Jorge and Joli on one of those "free fall" rides -- yikes!