Welcome to My Diary

Happy New Year to Everyone. Everything has been at a "whirlwind pace" since just before Connah's Birthday. A local newspaper phoned us up and asked if they could run an update of Connah's story on his 10th Birthday. The story was done extremely well and there were some excellent photo's of Connah on the front page and inside. No sooner had we finished reading the article than the story was run in several Major Newspapers followed by a phone call from ITV Daybreak who duely arrived at 5.30am the following morning to do a live broadcast, followed by a second broadcast later in the day. BBC soon followed up a few days later with TV & Radio interviews. Then another e-mail from Germany. A TV Station called RTL wanted to come over and film Connah for one of there programs. The crew spent the whole day with Deb's and Connah with interviews with Connah's School Teacher, our GP Eamonn Jessop, Gails Dance Studio's and Dad Chris. Channel 5 have also been in contact and will run an interview sometime in the New Year.  This along with all the preparations for Christmas made things very hectic. Christmas was a quiet affair with some time spent away from phones/computers/work, but not away from the weekly home treatment regieme. Now we are back at school and looking forward to February when we go once again for more scans. Top of Connah's whish List from Santa last year was "Not to have any more Cancer". Well lets keep our fingers crossed and see what February brings! Please spend a few moments thinking of all the Children that have this horrible disease and lets Pray that they all get to have the present at the top of thier lists, which I'm sure will have been the same as Connah's. Love to you all. Debbie, Jim, Chris & Connah

Hello everyone. We had some good news from the scans. The amount of disease in Connah's body has reduced. Only by a little bit but a reduction no less and as there is only a small amount left reducing that last bit is really good news. Thank you very much to all of you who support us and send Connah positive thoughts. Love Debbie, Jim & Connahxxx

Hello everyone. At one time we never thought we would see a year and now with God's good grace we have seen 5 very memorable years. 5 years ago today Connah was diagnosed with this horrible disease, which he still has inside him. Debbie, Connah and Sylvia returned from having a week of scans down in London last week an we await the results. However our Grandson Connah amazes us every day with his appite for life (and food)! He does everything that anyone else does and thouroughly enjoys himself. A few months ago Debbie sat him down and spoke to him about the Cancer that was still inside him and he he took it inhis stride and said, "yes but I'm getting better every day and one day we will be able to stop doing treatment at night and then it will be gone"! Well thats how we look at it too, one day it will be gone! Thank you all for your support over the years. Please keep it up, we need you all. Good luck to Cory who is having surgery tomorrow and to Adam has just started his treatment over in Griefswald. Love to you all. Debbie, Jim & Connah 

It has been a while since I last updated and I know that some of you check to see what is going on regularly. Always take long gaps as a good sign and that things are running along in a normal manner. When I say normal I mean normal for Connah, school, gymnastics, dance, football, more dance, homework and playtime. For us it means the constant battle with emotions, every time we hear of another child getting sick it brings to the surface the old fears and worries about relapse. The self doubt that your not doing enough and on and on it goes. However life’s not all hand wringing and apathy there are lots of good bits! Connah has been practicing really hard these last few weeks to improve on his 3^rd place in the dance competition held at the Nova. Last week was the winners evening again back at the Nova where all of the 1^st – 3^rd places went to dance their routines again and receive their medals. It was a smashing night and everyone was delighted to see that Connah had “beefed” up his solo performance. On Saturday night it was the annual Awards show in Rhyl where all of the Prestatyn Group dancers and Musical Theatre Group go to put on the end of year show. Once again Connah put on a fantastic performance in his solo dance and everyone cheered the roof off. Well done to Manon for winning Gayle’s Prestatyn Dance Studio’s Most improved Dancer Award.  

It was a very late night and on Sunday morning Deb’s and Connah had to be up bright and early to get on the coach to go over to Liverpool for another Dance Competition. This one included dancers from other groups so a tougher competition! When Deb’s and Connah travel anywhere it’s a bit like gearing up for a trek to the North Pole! Provisions have to be got in, food has to be prepared, exact quantity of drinks has to be calculated, extra food for if there is a delay, supplements prior to each meal have to be measured out and bottled up etc etc..  At the end of this Deb’s is laden down like “Shank’s Pony”. You may ask why do we do all of this! Because all the food, drink, supplements are all organic and you can’t just pop into the local shop and say “have you got an organic cucumber, a cup full of Aloe Vera Arborescence and some ground up Apricot Kernels they would look at you slightly strange, so its “shank’s pony”. Oh Connah helps he manages to struggle along with his DS in his hand! Any way detracting from the story! The Solo competition was a bit stiffer this time and all the dancers gave good performances. Connah gave his best dance yet and when he did his one handed cartwheel the audience went wild. Deb’s told me that when it came to the announcement of the winners everyone was on the edge of their seat. Announced in reverse order, 3^rd place went to (not Connah), 2^nd place went to (not Connah). In the pause Deb’s and Tara said “Connah will be disappointed that he did not get anywhere”. 1^ST place, Connah Broom, everyone goes hysterical cheering. Deb’s was sounding horse when I spoke to her on the phone later from all of the cheering.  So very well done Connah and thanks to Gayle & Tara for the hard work you put in. Thanks also to Christina for taking the time to come over and support Connah. So a terrific weekend was had by all.

Deb’s and Connah will be off down to London for 6 monthly scans at the end of July. Connah’s last scans came back as no change from the previous one last year. We will update everyone when we have any news. Thank you to everyone who sends an e-mail in or puts a comment on the web page suggesting different things to try, we do research them all and if we think that it will be good for Connah we do try them out. Love to you All Deb’s, Jim & Connah.

PS I forgot to mention on Saturday morning (prior to the Saturday night Rhyl Annual Dance / Musical Theatre Show) Connah was at his gymnastics club for a competition and won a medal there!!!

For Physical Education Connah’s school report read: Is developing co-ordination in both gym & dance. Performs basic skills of rolling, striking, kicking and applies in a variety of simple games! We put this down to "they must have been looking at the "Clark Kent" version of Connah Broom when they wrote his report!!!

Hello Everyone. Just a quick update to let you all know whats happening with Connah. Connah continues to do well and his disease is stable according to the scans from last February. He is coming towards the end of year 4 at school and is looking forward to moving up in September. Last weekend he took part with his friends from Prestatyn Dance Studio in a compition and came 3rd in the solo performance (wearing his "Usher" t-shirt) and 2nd with his group. They danced really well and we were very proud of him (I will download some photo's shortly). He has a few more compititions coming up so we are hoping for even better results to come. Connah's class have been given a voucher for a tennis coaching lesson tomorrow down at the Prestatyn Tennis Club so we are off there tomorrow to see if he can become the new "Fred Perry" (Andy Murry but with style!). Love to you all, Debbie, Jim & Connahxx

Well done to Sylvia who bravely walked round the Balmoral 5km’s last month to raise over £1,500   for the J-A-C-K Foundation and for Connah’s Appeal. As you can see from the picture, walking 5km’s dressed as a chicken looks no easy task. The weather as usual on the day of the race was challenging, going from a light breeze to windy gusts and a heavy rain. Finishing in less than one hour was an excellent time to bow out on. Once again well done Sylvia and Nils and thanks to everyone who supported. Debbie, Jim & Connah

(Note from Sylvia)

Now it is left for the younger ones in future.  My running shoes are hung away, but I will do the organization for future runs.  Scott said he will run in a Gorilla outfit for me next year.  So we must all look forward to that!!

I do thank everyone who supported me within the UK and abroad as every penny means support for these Neuroblastoma children and their families.

Take care,

Sylvia. 

Unbelievable! As you know Connah goes to football training on Saturday mornings and then sometimes plays a match on Sundays. Most of the time he is on the “substitutes” bench and comes on during the second half. Last Sunday the team was playing in a one day tournament with a short break between games. There were no extras on the team. Connah played 3 x 40 minute games and played really well (according to Deb’s as I was not there). At one stage he was knocked to the ground and the Team Coach, John wanted to bring him off, but after a short pause and a few tears he got up and played on and sometime later took out two members of the other team (that’s our Lad)! After lunch he played in the park with 3 of his friends for 2 hours before coming home for a drink, at that stage Debbie called “time out” and he came in for dinner. Some of you who read this will say “so what’s the big deal”? Well the big deal is that any child who is carrying a 5 x 5cm tumor inside them would do well to play a game of football for 40 minutes for a child to play 3 times that “its spectacular” and is a testament to his attitude to living a normal life.

Debbie and Connah are traveling down to London this week to attend the Families Cancer & Leukemia Day at the Royal Society of Medicine. Auntie Sylvia & Uncle Nils will also be attending to represent the J-A-C-Ks Foundation. We hope that whilst they are there they will be given Connah’s scan report from February as we have only had a short e-mail and a quick verbal report so far! Will update you all again on their return. Love, Debbie, Jim & Connah xx.     

Two years ago I was transiting through Dubai when I read the very sad news that Jack Brown had passed away. Yesterday 2 years to the day I was flying over a desert somewhere in a flimsy plane bouncing around trying to avoid a storm so I apologies for this belated entry. Jack Brown and his Family fought the fight against Neuroblastoma long and hard. They did everything that was humanly possible to beat this horrible disease and whilst they were doing it took the time to keep everyone informed of every detail good or bad of their fight. Jack whom we met on the occasion of Connah’s Birthday was an inspiration to everyone he came into contact with. In memory of Jack and all of the children that this disease has taken it is our duty to work together to help find some weapon that we can use to fight this “Hydra” like monster. We must share information on what we think works and what we think doesn’t. We must support those who have the means to research and develop different forms of treatment (notice that I didn’t say drugs). We must find the time to support one another, whenever and wherever that support is required. Last we must always remember those that have passed and those that are still fighting for quite simply they are our Life. Please remember Jack and all the children in your prayers tonight. Thank you All. Debbie, Jim & Connah. 

For more information on Jack visit "The J-A-C-K Foundation website"     

Hello everyone. This is just a very quick update until I get home from Yemen and tell you what has been going on. Connah is fine and apart from driving Deb's crazy with his constant request of "feed me" all is okay. Connah has re-started doing gymnastics, which we had to stop when he first became ill. We will update you all on the scans when we have the complete report, but think about it for a second "re-starting gymnastics", playing in the local football team, full time school, eats enough to feed a Regiment of Cavalry and their horses! What do you think the scans will say? Love to you all, Debbie, Jim & Connahxxxx

Hello everyone. Today Sunday 6th February 2011 was a very big day for Connah and all of us. Today he played for Prestatyn Athletic football team. He has been going to practice and training sesscions for the last two seasons but has not be able to find a team that he could fit into. So at training on Saturday he was asked to play in todays game. He had a good game and played all of the first half and came off at half time as someone stamped on his foot. All the team played very well and we won 2-0. We are really proud of him especially when I ws standing on the touch line cheering him on and another boy who I didn't know walked up and said to the Team Coach "Is that Connah Broom playing for the team"? A couple of years ago we never thought that we would hear words such as those being spoken. 

Everything else is going fine too. Debbie and Connah went to see Alexander Burk in Rhyl and spent the whole time up dancing infront of his seat, (got a bit too carried away and had to be dragged back before falling over the balcony). We are going to Connah's Class Service next Friday at school. He is doing very well at his dance class's and we are awaiting his latest exam results, whch he took a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the month Debbie and Connah are both off to UCHL for scans. So finger crossed. Love to you all Debbie, Jim & Connahxxxx PS Please send some positive thoughts to Adam Bird who is going through stem cell transplant at the moment.