Post Pals - Putting a Smile on Childrens Faces

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Monday, November 26, 2007

Tobey's Birthday

Just over a year ago, Lewis made a new friend called Tobey.
Monday was Tobey's 4th birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBEY! - and on Sunday we went to a special Butterfly Farm to help Tobey celebrate his special day!
Lewis had a great time! He loves spending time with Tobey, he always makes him laugh!
We hope you enjoy the photographs!
Please do visit Declan Kelly's website. Declan is very poorly at the moment and he and his family would really appreciate your kind comments in their guestbook. www.declan-kelly.com

Saturday, November 24, 2007

NEXT!

Hello again! Well what a very special day we had on Wednesday this week!
After the BEST Wellchild Awards, the fashion clothing store NEXT very generously offered each of the winners £150 to spend in NEXT!So we arranged to meet Natalie Robinson (16 years+ bravery award winner who lives in Sheffield) at NEXT in Meadowhall for our shopping sprees!
On arrival we were greeted by Sam Midgely who introduced us to our personal shoppers who would help us to spend our £150!
Natalie headed off to the women's section with her mum Loren, and me and Lew headed over to the childrens section!
It was great to see all the lovely clothes and to be able to choose cool outfits for Lew without thinking about the price tags! We got Lew a great selection of outfits, jeans, tops, pyjamas, some gloves and even a coat!
So thank you SO MUCH to NEXT for your very very generous gift. Lew has already been wearing his new items of clothing and we especially love the tiger pyjamas!
It was so lovely as well to catch up with Natalie and Loren and as before, Lew was totally smitten by Natalie and spent most of the afternoon gazing at her!
It was only our second time of meeting Natalie, but already she has a huge place in our hearts and we love her!
For Lew, Thursday was very cool as well! Samuel had gone to school as normal, but mid morning we had a phone call to say he had been injured playing hockey and he had to come home (his thumb had been hit hard with a hockey stick and was bleeding and swollen and so Samuel needed some treatment as he has haemophilia). Lewis loved having his big brother around and it really made the day very special for him!
Lewis wearing Samuel's school tie! Our friend Catriona, earlier this year, bought Lewis an iTeddy and I just wanted to say thank you again to Catriona, Neil, Tilly and Eliza for this super gift! It gets so much use! And here is a photo of Lew enjoying listening to his music on it just this week!

Thank you to everybody who has sent Lew pictures and cards this month! Here is a photo of Lew in front of his post wall! And DONT FORGET!

You can catch Lew (and other Wellchild Award winners) in BEST magazine on sale this Tuesday!

And in December, you can watch the Awards Ceremony on Sky channel 539, Virgin TV channel 233 or Freeview channel 87 at the following times:

Friday 7th December at 9.30pm Saturday 8th December at 8.30am, 2.30pm and 8.30pm Sunday 9th December at 2.30am, 11.30am and 5.30pm Monday 10th December at 00.30am and 5.30am

DONT MISS IT!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Fashion Show, 9th November

Thank you SO MUCH Alison and George!
Many months ago, Alison (mum of Samuel - another Samuel, not mine!) approached us and asked if she could do some fundraising for Lewis. We of course accepted! And several months and LOTS AND LOTS OF HARD WORK later, Alison pulled it off! It was a fantastic night, well done Alison! And thank you so much also to George who stepped in towards the end with his expertise to give Alison a hand!
Thank you also to Cinderella's Bridal House (Silver Street, Doncaster, http://www.cinderellasbridalhouse.co.uk/ / 01302 365 013) and SEEN fashion wear (http://www.seenltd.com/Scot Lane, Doncaster) and Homeboy childrens fashionwear (Doncaster).
Special thanks to Jane for her beautiful singing (which I sadly missed) and for the gorgeous talented Ellie Hughes (only 11 years old and with a fabulous voice that amazed everybody!)!
Thank you to the Angela Gravel School of Dance for the beautiful dance performances! We especially loved Ghostbusters!
Thank you to Matty DJ for his talents on the microphone! And for playing Save All Your Kisses For Me TWICE as its Lew's favourite song!
Thank you also to Alys Camp for their great performance!
Thank you to Aladdin's Cave (Scot Lane, Doncaster) for the DELICIOUS chocolate fountain and the pop fountain for the children! And not forgetting the HUGE amount of beautiful balloons that made the room so very very special!
Special thank you to Cinderella's for providing us with a chauffered limousine to and from the event! How lovely was that?!! Lewis loved the special sparkly twinkly lights in the limo! You can get details of the limousine for hire by contacting Cinderella's.
Of course, thank you to the Holiday Inn, Warmsworth for providing the venue for the show!
An extra extra special thank you to Alison's Dad for his fabulous skills with a microphone too! And because he looked so handsome in his DJ and bowtie!
Thank you so much to everybody who donated prizes for the raffle and the auction. Thank you to everybody who put in their time and effort to make the night a great success. Thank you to everyone who modelled, especially the gorgeous local children who made the night extra special! And thank you to everybody who came along, bought raffle tickets, bid for auction items and basically made the night the success it was!
THANK YOU ALL!
We hope you enjoy the photographs. Please please if you have any photos of your own from the night that you can share with us, do let me know!
We managed to raise around £3,000 for The Lewis Jeynes Fund. As well as helping Lewis, some of this will go to The Bluebell Wood Childrens Hospice, some of this will go to Postpals (www.postpals.co.uk) Christmas Elves Appeal and some of this will go towards helping other children in Doncaster who have undiagnosed, life limiting conditions like Lewis.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Fingers crossed

Fingers crossed Lew is much better today. He had a really good night and with his milk water down to 50/50 and on a very slow drip overnight, he has managed to keep most of it down, PHEW!
So today he's actually dressed and in his chair, rather than in his bed!
Yesterday was a horrid horrid day, when you cant see any future and any light and so horrid depressing negative thoughts crowd in to fill the space.
I will do the fashion show pics etc, later this week (still catching up on everything from being in hospital) but for now here are a couple of very cute pics of Lew with his cousin Evie who came to stay with us at the beginning of the month.
Also a quick but very big thank you to Lew's cousin Millie from London who sent him some colourful pictures for his wall.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Lewis still not well

Just a quick update to say the photos I have promised wont be on for a bit longer as Lewis is still not well. We are caring for him at home (at the moment cant face hospital and so the local hospice community team are helping out with Lew's care at home) and hope he will be better very soon.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Back home again

As you may already know, Lewis was admitted to hospital last Sunday with pneumonia. Well we are back home now, very tired, but much better and looking forward to spending some time at home! Lew still isnt 100% so we have to take it easy with him for the next few days, but at least we can all sleep in our own beds again! I will update during the week with fashion show photos and other stuff about our week in hospital. But just a quick and VERY BIG thank you to all the staff on Ward 31. Cant remember all the names but will try to remember some: Anne, Alex, Jayne, Chris, Jodie, Gina, Fran, Helen, Dawn, Lydia, Debbie, Vicky, and all the visitors we had from Ward 30 and the CAU (Andrea, Janette, Sara, etc).

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Lewis not well

Hello, just a quick hello to say Lewis isnt well. After 3 visits in one week to the assessment unit at the hospital as I knew there was something not right with Lew, we saw his paediatrician for his regular check up and were told Lew has a bad chest, and he now has two inhalers. Ventolin to help open his airways to help him to breath better and a steroid inhaler, not sure what this does but he's got to have it for at least 3 months. Since starting the inhalers, Lew's chest has got worse. Now perhaps without the inhalers his chest would have been MUCH worse, I dont know. But if he continues to cough, choke and wheeze the way he has done today, we will be back at the assessment unit tomorrow!!! Despite Lew being ill, he has been very happy to see his Aunty Nicola, Uncle Lee and especially his cousin Evie whom he adores! We also had a very special night last night (Friday) at the fashion show which was arranged almost single-handedly by our now very good friend Alison Firbank, and towards the end by her 'accomplice' George! I will add photos and more details about the night when Lewis is feeling better and I can concentrate more. Please do leave your comments. The comments space is looking very empty!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Make A Wish!

On Monday Lewis had his wish come true thanks to the Make A Wish Foundation (http://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/) and Heaven at Home (http://www.heavenathome.co.uk/outdoor-hot-tubs.htm). As part of Lewis' (and our) very special day, we were whisked away in a limousine to TGI Fridays in Sheffield for a gorgeous lunch. Lewis' carer from Bluebell Wood Childrens Hospice came along with us as she has done so much for Lewis over the past 10 months and has become very special to us. While we were enjoying ourselves in TGIs, the hard work was going on at home. Sandy and Dave (Make A Wish) were helping out Phil (not Tony!!) and Christine and co (Heaven at Home) to get everything ready for Lew while we were away! And what a wonderful surprise for Lew when we arrived home to see that he had his very own hydrotherapy spa pool in our back garden for him to use whenever he wants! Lewis benefits greatly from hydrotherapy. Not only is the water good for relaxing his muscles and supporting his body, but being in the water is something that Lewis CAN DO FOR HIMSELF. He isnt watching someone else, he isnt relying on someone else to entertain him. Of course we have to support him in the water, but he's in it, he's doing it, and you can see on his face HE LOVES IT! He has been poorly the past 10 days or so so wasnt too sprightly in the pool on Make A Wish Day, but we will keep you updated with photos of him in the pool once he is well enough to get in and enjoy it properly!
So thank you very very very very much to Make A Wish and to Heaven at Home for making Monday 5th November 2007 such a very very special day! And with Lew's new spa pool, many many happy days to come too!
The Yorkshire Post newspaper did an article on Lew's very special Make A Wish Day - http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Hot-tub-helps-child-cope.3446938.jp.
Please remember, The Make A Wish Foundation is a charity so if you would like to help by making a donation or by doing your very own Make A Wish fundraising, please do go to the website for more information - http://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/
I have also added some new (old) videos to YouTube. They were very difficult to upload as watching them was incredibly upsetting for us. But we hope it will show you how much Lewis has lost in the past 10-12 months and how easily things in our life that are precious can be taken away http://www.youtube.com/SmnthJeynes.

Take a look at other videos of Lewis at YouTube

The Lewis Jeynes Fund

The Lewis Jeynes Fund was established to provide care and support to Lewis Jeynes and the success of the Fund has meant that we have also been able to purchase specialist equipment for other children with undiagnosed neurologically degenerative conditions in Doncaster and the UK.

Lewis and his friends around the UK all suffer from acute and undiagnosed life limiting or terminal conditions and very often specialist equipment is difficult to afford due to the changed circumstances at home. This is where the Fund can provide vital assistance to those in need. All of the proceeds of the Fund go straight towards helping Lewis, and other children and families like him and us.

Contributions should be sent to The Lewis Jeynes Fund, 15 Kentmere Drive, Doncaster, DN4 5FL or by BACS to Nat West Bank, “The Lewis Jeynes Fund” Account No. 35662565 Sort Code 60 06 39. You can also go into your local Nat West Bank and pay into the Fund over the counter.

22nd October 2005

22nd October 2005
Lewis checking our supermarket receipt!

April 2006

April 2006
Colchester Zoo, just before Lew stopped walking

August 2006

August 2006
Lovely ice cream yummmm!

September 2006

September 2006
Ward 30 - just after Lews first major seizure

October 2006

October 2006
Doncaster childrens assessment unit - 'm on the phone!

October 2006

October 2006
In DRI childrens assessment unit blowing up rubber gloves!

30th November 2006

30th November 2006
Ward 31 - Blowing kisses to Daddy! Mwah!

30 November 2006

30 November 2006
Ward 31 - Playing cars!

1st December 2006

1st December 2006
Frankie & Benny's - just discovering cant eat very well

7th December 2006

7th December 2006
My arm doesnt work but my tongue still does!

7th December 2006

7th December 2006
Playing with Evie and mummy on the sofa

7th December 2006

7th December 2006
Lew in the bath with Evie providing entertainment!

7th December 2006

7th December 2006
At Homestart Christmas Party, waiting for Father Christmas with Aunty Nicola and Evie!

December 2006

December 2006
Playing with Miss Jodie at Building Blocks Nursery

i love you much (most beautiful darling) by e.e.cummings

i love you much (most beautiful darling), more than anyone on the earth and i like you better than everything in the sky -sunlight and singing welcome your coming although winter may be everywhere with such a silence and such a darkness, no one can quite begin to guess (except my life) the true time of year - and if what calls itself a world should have the luck to hear such singing (or glimpse such sunlight as will leap higher than high through gayer than gayest someone's heart at your each nearness) everyone certainly would (my most beautiful darling) believe in nothing but love

Lewis' cousin Millie

Lewis' cousin Millie
January 2007

Lewis and his cousin Evie

Lewis and his cousin Evie
February 2007

Lew and his cousin Anna

Lew and his cousin Anna
February 2007

12th December 2006

12th December 2006
DRI Christmas Party - meeting Father Christmas!

30th December 2006

30th December 2006
Lew in Ward 31, not very well

5th January 2007

5th January 2007
Ward 31 - playing with my lovely balloons!