Milan at 30 Months

Milan spent the holidays on the east coast and had lots of cousin and family time!

First, he spent time in Maryland opening tons of gifts and bouncing away on a bounce house

He took many joy rides on the Metro, his first subway experience

 

Here's almost the whole U.S. contingent of the Shah family on Christmas day!

(only missing one person)

His next stop was Virginia where he got to bond with his cousin, Keshav 

(and by bond we mean fight over all of the toys)

He took a train ride in the mall...

...and got to ride the carousel.

We are looking forward to more bonding adventures with Keshav on our next stop:  India! 

Stay tuned!

Milan at 29 Months

Milan had a book about cable cars from the library so we took him up for a ride

We spent the evening decorating gingerbread men and gingerbread trees

Milan posing in front of the Christmas tree

Thanksgiving in Phoenix

Milan met his grandparents and Rahul mama in Phoenix this Thanksgiving!

 

Milan could have spent hours throwing rocks in Lake Pleasant

 We also drove to Sedona and saw beautiful rock structures at sunset

Milan at 28 Months

Joy riding the Caltrain 

Trying out his new balance bike

 

Say cheese!

Caution:  this one's a little PG rated

 

Monster Milan

Milan had no trouble getting in the Halloween spirit this year in his monster costume

He first paraded around the yard at his school with his friends

He also got lots of candy trick-or-treating and now wants to eat candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Remembering Maddie

Milan's first friendship was with Maddie.  Before they were even born, their parents would take hikes and meet for brunches and dinners and talk about how one day, they'd be lifelong friends.

Maddie, born 4 months before Milan, was one of his first visitors after coming home from the hospital

Milan and Maddie started sharing before sharing was cool

Maddie and Milan even went on exotic field trips around the bay area together

Maddie's life took a sudden turn a few days before Christmas last year when she was diagnosed with with high-risk neuroblastoma, 3 months before her 2nd birthday.  Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells found in several areas of the body and most commonly affects children under the age of 5 years old. 

After bravely enduring an aggressive treatment plan, she lost her battle on October 17, 2014, less than 10 months after her diagnosis.

 We had the opportunity to remember Maddie at a beautiful memorial with her family and friends.  While her loss was felt, it was clear that her memory will endure.

We feel that if something positive can come from this tragedy, it is more awareness of Maddie's illness and directing more resources towards helping people like Maddie.  We have donated to the following organizations in Maddie's honor:

UCSF Neuroblastoma Program

where Maddie underwent many treatments

Alex's Lemonade Stand
 an NGO that supports translational (lab-to-clinic) pediatric cancer research

New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy

supports many promising nationwide clinical trials

We dearly wish things could have been different for Maddie, so that she could have experienced her first day of school or learned to ride a bike.  But we can only hope that more research and treatments will prevent others from having to go through what Maddie and her family went through.

 

Happy Diwali!