It's been a while!

Well it's been almost six months since we last updated and Kelly is still achieving so much.  We picked up prosthesis number four on Christmas Eve, partly due to her growth but also the fact that her previous one had been extremely well tested and was starting to fall apart!  This time it's adorned with ballerinas as this is still her passion and I'm sure the reason that she has progressed so well.  She can't wait to get back to dancing to show her teacher and to try it out because already she's finding it far more comfortable (her last one was causing a fair bit of pain by the end).  Talking of dancing, for the very first time Kelly danced a solo in her concert in December.  Even without a dress rehearsal and with only one shot to get it right she danced beautifully and again had the audience in tears!  She also did group ballet, contemporary and jazz dances and was able to be just one of the gang without standing out at all.  I just love to see her on the stage beaming absolute joy.

Kelly finished grade six on a high after being elected house captain.  She has always given her best as far as school sport goes, been in the netball and touch football teams, swam in the swimming carnival, competed in athletics and ran cross country.  At cross country she sold inspirational wrist bands in house colours and with the support of her school managed to raise $1000 for The Tara Maria Fund (www.thetaramariafund.com) to help Tara (an amputee like herself) to buy a beach leg.  The school also donated $200 and a family friend, Gary Wood, donated $200 on Kelly's behalf bringing the total to $1400 which was absolutely amazing.  We hope to continue this fund raising this year.

My new beach leg

I now have my new wet leg made by BPO so I can go to the beach, play in the water and even swim!

Oh, I can also stand up in the shower again which is really great!!!

Year Six Camp - Camp Goodenough!

I had the best time on school camp and I did all the activities.

Mum and dad were really proud when I got home and showed them the photos!

December

In December we went back down to Sydney for a holiday. This time I got to go to the ballet (Sleeping Beauty) I met up with Alice Topp again and had a life time of experience to go backstage with mum, meg (my cousin) and my Auntie lisa. I got to go to the dressing and costume rooms and even dress up in all different head pieces!! (thats one of them in the pic) It was by far the best day ever!!! :)

Also i went back to randwick hospital to visit everyone!!! It was nice to see everyone again :) But I was sad Joel wasn't there :(

I reached my goal!!!!

In November I reached my goal of dancing in the end of year show!

I did one Ballet and one Contemporary dance. It was good to be dancing with my friends again :)

You can see me in the videos below!! I'm centre at the back in the red dress for ballet if you can't spot me and in the third row closest to the camera in contemporary :)

September - What a Month!! (by mum)

Well September has been a very busy month with many milestones reached. Kel's progressing amazingly well and we couldn't be more proud of her. She's reclaiming her independence and has refused to get in her wheelchair unless it's absolutely necessary! She's been in the pool, started to walk short distances without her crutches, played Wii fit, ridden her bike and returned to dancing!!!!

She had an amazing time at the school fete and I had to give her the freedom to go off with her friends to have some fun. We had hardly got in the gate before she was off on her crutches and there was me left worrying she would be missing out on the rides (only to learn later that she had been on them all including the jumping castle!!!) A fabulous day but a very tired little girl at the end of it with very aching legs!

Her next adventure was organised by a generous group of people at SPC Church who very kindly gave us the opportunity of spending a wonderful and much needed day together as a family, Whale Watching in Moreton Bay. A first for Kelly and her brothers and everything went off without a hitch - clear blue skies, a wonderful boat and crew and of course plenty of whales. The day was topped off with an early birthday picnic in Redcliffe with the Woods, Bartrams, Fetting girls and Sue (thanks for the very clever and very yummy whale cake Sue). Thank you also to everyone involved in this special day, your thoughtfulness and caring since Kelly's accident continues to astound us. Please know that it is very much appreciated.

Then two days later my little girl turned 10! An extra special birthday this year and certainly something to celebrate. Her 12 year old cousin Meg flew down from Cairns all on her own as a surprise for Kelly on the morning of her birthday. As if this wasn't enough of a gift she had bought with her a beautiful framed speech that she had given at school about her inspirational cousin Kelly. Thank you so much Meg, what a beautiful speech and a lovely thing for Kelly to have. The girls, together with Kellys great friend Connie, then hosted a party for eight of her school friends here at home. It was so lovely to see Kelly being able to play alongside her friends.

Well we're almost at the end of September, tomorrow we go to pick up a "stumpy" (prosthetic without the foot which will hopefully allow Kelly a bit of freedom on the beach) so we'll be heading up the coast to try it out on Thursday. I'm sure it won't be long until she's mastered that one too!

Well my precious girl, I hope my posting meets with your approval!
I love you so very much,
mummy xxxxxxx

Walking without crutches!