Wednesday, April 23, 2008





New News on Joey

All-

So we got some new news on Joey...they have changed his diagnosis to Tay Sachs. Tay Sachs is very similar to Canavan's, except that the life expectancy of a baby with Tay Sachs is usually around 3-5 years.

I don't really have any new information, but the National Tay Sachs and Allied Disesase website has ton's of good info. www.ntsad.org.

We are really looking forward to Joey's birthday party on 5/3 and his actual birthday on 5/5. We can't wait to celebrate this huge milestone!

Love to all,
Rachael

Monday, April 14, 2008

Joey and "Muddy Buddys"

We just had a really nice weekend. Our good friend Mende came to visit Joey from Minneapolis and she and Joey fell instantly in love. And, as with all the ladies Joey loves, he smiled and laughed for her all weekend (which of course, mommy can't seem to make him do!). Mende's mom, Charlotte Price also came to visit Joey and again...he smiled and laughed for her. We had an amazing time.

On Sunday, we went to a Jeep Club event, hosted by Muddy Buddy's Jeep Wrangler Club of Dayton, Ohio. Joey's uncle Rick is a member. It was, by far, the most amazing afternoon. We met tons of wonderful, kind people who donated ALL of the profits from their meet and greet to Joey. And, the winner of the raffle ALSO gave all of her money to Joey.

We want to make sure that anyone reading about Joey knows what a wonderful group of people Muddy Buddys Jeep Wrangler Club of Dayton is. They barely know Joey's uncle Rick, yet donated all of their proceeds to Joey. AND...they have already offered to host another event for Joey. To all of our new Muddy Buddys friends - thank you. Words cannot describe the feeling of joy you brought to our family. I know that the world is filled with good people after spending time with all of you.

And for those of you in Dayton/Cincinnati area, the group is hosting a park clean up next Saturday, 4/19. They will be particating in the Five Rivers Metro Park Clean up.

You can check out Muddy Buddys website at http://www.muddybuddys.net/main.htm to find out about this great group of people and the park clean up next week.

Once we download more photos tomorrow, I'll post some of Joey at the Muddy Buddy's event.

Thank you all again,
Love Joey, Ron and Rachael

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

question of the day: what is Canavan's Disease?

there's a pretty good explanation of it over at Jacob's cure at www.jacobscure.com


or mom explains it pretty well below

how cute, he's got a new hat


saw this on sale and couldn't resist

the one photo everyone loves

this is just a test run

today's day one of blogging for Joey, our favorite little man in the whole world, the reason i get up in the morning.

Updates on Joey, 4/2/08

It has been a hard week for our family...the news of Canavan's is devasting. Many of our hopes and dreams feel lost. This is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. But the good news...Joey is wonderful. He is a happy, gorgeous (no...not just gorgeous, but AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS) and we love him with all of our heart.

To date, we have an initial diagnosis of Canavan's Disease. Here are some resources:
http://www.canavan.org/
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/canavan/canavan.htm

We are still pending the "final" results, confirmed by another blood and urine test. But the Dr's are 99.9% sure this what it is.

What does this mean for Joey? We don't know. What we do know is that Canavan's disease is a cerebral degenerative disease that affects the nerve ending in the brain and causes progressive brain atrophy. There is no cure, nor is there a standard course of treatment.

Right now, we are really in shock, but we want to tell all of you how much we love you. The amount of love and support we have received is amazing...I had no idea we had so many people who loved us so dearly.

thank you and we love you all,
Rachael, Ron and Joey