Birthdays and Anniversaries This Month

Well, it's June now, the first month of SUMMER! And some Pals will be having even more cause to celebrate this month, with birthdays galore! There are also some anniversaries of Pals who have gained their angel wings.

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES OF PALS

Alex H, Malignant Brain Tumour: The 8th of June, which was Wednesday, was the 6th anniversary of Alex's death. Also, the 29th of June would have been Alex's 21st birthday. RIP Alex, and we wish her family well.

Amelia-Grace C, Neuroblastoma: Amelia-Grace passed away on the 25th of June last year, aged eight, due to this life-threatening disease. RIP Amelia-Grace, you're with the angels now.

Antonia S, Cystic Fibrosis: On the 20th of June, it is Antonia's 12th birthday! Why not send her a card, letter or email?

Chintzia M, Neuroblastoma: The 6th of June would have been Chintzia's 4th birthday. She passed away on the 23rd of June last year. Rest in peace Chintzia, we all wish your family well.

 Daniel M, Neuroblastoma: 14th June will be the 3rd anniversary of Daniel's passing. He passed away one month away from his 6th birthday. Rest in peace, Daniel, we all wish your family well.

 Ethan B, Cystic Fibrosis: On the 25th of June, it will be Ethan's 10th birthday! Have a great day Ethan!

 Megan R, Syringomelia: 24 June will be the 4th anniversary of Megan's passing. She passed away at the age of 12. RIP Megan, you're with the angels now.

SIBLINGS' BIRTHDAYS

Nathan C: Nathan was 1 year old on the 3rd of June! Congratulations little Nathan! Nathan is Connor C's brother.

Tyanna P: Tyanna's 8th birthday is on the 21st of June! Happy birthday for then Tyanna! Tyanna is Courtenay P's sister, and Tyanna has the same condition as Courtenay-Neurofibromatosis-and global developmental delay.

Rhian B: On the 30th June it will be Rhian's 11th birthday! Congratulations Rhian! Rhian is Jack B's sister.

Joe B: At some point this month it will be Joe's 16th birthday! We don't know the exact date. Joe is Jack Bradley B's brother.

 Charlie R: Today (10 June) it is Charlie's 8th birthday! Happy birthday Charlie! Charlie is Jamie R's brother.

 This isn't the full list but Postpals just crashed, I'll update later.

Dannii x

Sad News

Sadly, 10-year-old Alicia R passed away on the 17th of May from conditions caused by cystic fibrosis. She was friendly with Daisy, another Pal, and Daisy's mum Stephanie wrote this about Alicia:

"Alicia's courage, determination, strength and will to live was such an inspiration to everyone who knew her - she embraced life and when she was not in hospital she lived life to the full going to brownies, school, holidays with her family, bouncing on the trampoline with her brother. I know Alicia's family would want you to know how much comfort they all got from the support of Post Pals and how it made both Alicia and Nico smile."

Alicia had been on the website for a few months and was a vibrant and happy girl. We all give our condolences to her mother and little brother Nico.

RIP Alicia, you're with the angels now :(

Dannii x

Featured Pal: May

It's just before May so I decided to start up the Featured Pals section again. So sorry for letting it slip :(

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED PAL: ALICE P


Alice is 15 and has been a Pal for 3 years. She has Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Her sister, Milly, is also a Pal. (although for some reason unexpressed in Alice's posts she has recently been completely removed from the site). She recently was told there was no more curative treatment on offer for her cancer. Nevertheless, Alice is still very much involved in raising funds for Postpals. She is an amazing Pal and really deserves some post.

She loves Lush bath products, Nintendo DS, and 'all things girly' :) She loves dogs and has a Labrador called Mabel.

Birthdays and Anniversaries: Week Saturday 23 April-Saturday 30 April

Here are the birthdays and anniversaries of current members of Post Pals and Pals that have gained their angel wings.

It is Faith L's 13th birthday on Monday! Being 13 myself, I will definitely be sending her a birthday message! Why don't you send a card? Check out the Post Pals Latest News section-there is an offer on Funky Pigeon for a free £3, which can send a card or a doorstop to a Pal :) Faith has cystic fibrosis and is one of the newest Pals.

It is Amber H's 4th birthday on Tuesday! Happy birthday Amber! Amber is the sister of Ashley H, who passed away last year.

Dannii xxx

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all readers of my blog, and of course to everyone at PostPals!

Now it's Easter, the whole country is filled with goodwill and happiness. Why not send a bit of that goodwill and happiness to raising some money or awareness for Postpals?

Here's a great start: Everyclick. Set up an Everyclick page for Postpals and you can raise money for them just by surfing the web! Here is my page: http://www.everyclick.com/supportpostpals

If you could contribute, that would really help :) it doesn't have to be a donation, just do a little searching!

Have a great Easter!

Dannii xxx

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES WEEK Saturday 26 March-Saturday 2 April

This is where I document the birthdays of current pals, siblings and the birthdays/death anniversaries of the pals who have gained their angel wings.

Aaron F (Cerebral Palsy): Aaron's 11th birthday is tomorrow, Sunday the 27th! Aaron is a new Pal and so why not welcome him to Postpals with a birthday card or little gift?
Jamie S (Sibling of Abbie): Abbie S (Neuroblastoma) passed away aged 5, almost 5 years ago. Jamie, her older brother, has his 11th birthday today! Happy birthday Jamie! Why not send a card or email?
Lotty B (Sibling of Hanna): It is Lotty's 3rd birthday today! She is the sister of Hanna (VACTERL Association). Why not send a little toy for Lotty?

(There might be more people but I have to come off the computer now, will update later)

I'm Back! Recap of News

I now have a laptop! So I am now going to be carrying on with my weekly posts :) I may be a little erratic though because I have exams soon, but I'll do my best.

A hell of a lot of new Pals have been welcomed to the Postpals site, I will do a full list in my next post.

SEND A CARD TO A CHILD FOR FREE! FunkyPigeon.com have a thing going on where if you sign up (free) and set 5 reminders in your account, you get a free £3-enough to buy a card or door hanger for a sick child! Better yet, there is also a 50% offer code-MARCH501. Buy a card and make a child or their sibling smile!

My postpals project is going quite well, although there appears to be a few classes that have forgotten all about it :( I am hoping to get in all my letters by Easter. There are some really great, huge class posters!

Hope you're all well, and have a great Easter!

Dannii x

So sorry for the long absence!

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in a while- you may remember I had problems with my computer, well 2 weeks after I'd started posting again it died! Permanently! So I am painstakingly typing this out on my brother's itouch so you know I haven't abandoned the site :) As soon as I manage to replace my laptop I will begin posting regularly again.

I am still involved with postpals though- I am doing a project at my school, it is the second project at my school, I am getting all the different classes to write letters to assigned pals! I am getting an unbelievable amount of letters in! If any of you reading this are school age or teachers, you might want to do some kind of event for postpals!

Ecard project is back on :)

Managed to contact Kate Dee from postpals (thank loads for the help if you're reading Kate) so the cards should get through now! :)

THE ECARD PROJECT

I prefer writing emails to the Pals than letters, although I still occasionally write letters and send gifts, for quite a lot of reasons; it is easier for the Pals to keep track of them, they reach them faster, there is no chance of them losing them and they are still just as heartfelt. So, as it's the festive season, I had an idea about sending Ecards to all the Pals and their siblings this year!

Ecards are a great idea for the Pals because there is such a huge assortment of them, and I like to believe that they really make them smile to know that someone sent them a card! I know I would only be able to send a couple of actual cards, but I can send ecards to them all because I have found an amazing site called 123greetings.com which have lots of cards that make great festive gifts! (Be careful if sending cards and gifts through the post this Christmas-the snow problems mean that they are unlikely to get through in time- I can see a blanket of about 20cms of snow outside my window, and according to the MET office that's a 'light shower'. Light avalanche more like :) )

So that is my project this Christmas-to make sure every Pal and Sibling receives a smile! However, I am having a bit of trouble because all the 123greetings ecards that I try to send end up in Postpals' spam inbox.

IF A POSTPALS VOLUNTEER IS READING THIS, PLEASE LET VIKS KNOW THAT THE ECARDS SENT ARE GOING INTO THE POSTPALS SPAM INBOX AND NOT REACHING THE PALS!

I am trying to contact Viks at the moment and if I manage to successfully then I will post on the site :)

Dannii xxx

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK: Week of 13/12/10

Christmas is near, and some Pals have their birthdays near too! Why not send them a Birthmas gift? Or a Chrisday gift? Alright, enough with the puns :)

There is actually only one birthday this week, but it's a special one: Alice Pyne's 15th Birthday!!! Alice has had a rough time with her cancer lately and she deserves a few glittery cards and brown paper parcels!

Dannii xxx

I'm Finally Back!

Finally I'm back online!
Sorry about the loooong absence...anyone who knows me will know that my laptop charger cable had completely stopped working a couple of weeks into September. Now, miraculously, it's working as good as new! So I can get back on top of things, at least whilst this lasts.

Obviously, a heck of a lot has happened since September the 10th! PostPals has had quite a few new arrivals, and sadly a few departures as well. Here's a list (I am going to have a tough time picking for Pals of the Month!)

NEW PALS SINCE SEPTEMBER
Name: Adam C, Age: 16, Birthday: 18th of February, Condition: Intestinal Failure
Adam W, 3, 2nd of March, Cerebral Palsy
Aled G, 7, 1st of September, VACTERL Association (Aled came off the site a couple of years ago but is now back because he has just had a major bowel operation.)
Alicia R, 10, 12th of December, Cystic Fibrosis
Antonia S, 11, 20th of June, Cystic Fibrosis
Ella C, 3, 9th of September, Chronic Renal Failure
Holly S, 9, 6th of December, Metabolic Disorder
Lennon R, 4, 5th of December, Not Yet Diagnosed
Matthew P, 5, 10th of March, Malignant Brain Tumour
Seraphina I, 4, 27th of November, Rett Syndrome

PALS THAT HAVE MOVED ON
Ben S, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (Ben has been on the site for over a year, and has now finally stopped his chemo and is apparently happy in secondary school!)
Erin F, Crouzon Syndrome (Erin has been on the site for over 2 years now, and she and her parents feel that they have had their fair share of post now and there are more ill children that need to take priority on the website. Erin is now 8 and having a fab time in Year 4.)
Jack Peter B, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (After 2 years of living with cancer, Jack is now off treatment and doing great!)
Luke H, X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (Luke and his three brothers Daniel, Josh and Nathan all had this condition which is barely existent, affecting only 100 families WORLDWIDE. Thankfully, they are all now cured and Luke, the youngest son, has moved on. A happy story for their family!)
Robyn H, Neuroblastoma (I am so pleased that Robyn has moved on. Any Neuroblastoma family will tell you it is a terrible cancer-notorious for returning, and there isn't the greatest chance of making it through, so the fact that Robyn is in remission is fantastic!)

PALS THAT HAVE GAINED ANGEL WINGS
Benjamin H, 5, DOD: 4th October 2010, Malignant Brain Tumour. Ben was an amazing little boy, battling against his cancer, despite relapsing multiple times. As his parents said, "He was always happy and never complained. He was an inspiration to us all."
Jazmine L, 9, DOD: 6th November 2010, Ewing's Sarcoma. Jazmine was a real little fighter, taking on her cancer for 3 years, and took great joy in completing her 'bucket list' of things she wanted to do before she passed away.

BIG NEWS
Alice P (Hodgkin's Lymphoma) has sadly been told that her cancer is terminal. I sent Alice and Milly a letter and some gifts a couple of months ago and it is heartbreaking to hear this news.
Nia S (ALL) has finally come off high dose chemo and is on to maintenance chemo!
Matthew P (Malignant Brain Tumour) has terminal cancer and has sadly had to stop chemo.

Please tell your friends to join the blog! Postpals needs Publicity!

I'll Be Back...

Hi guys! Sorry about the lull in posts-only a couple of months into the new school year! But I promise I will start posting regularly again soon!

September's Featured Pals: Connor C

Each month I feature two Pals on the website who I think could really use some post right now. The first Pal is Connor C (4, Neuroblastoma).

Connor was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma (An advanced form of the disease and the state in which it is most commonly discovered) in November 2008, when he was only 2 years old.

He had 7 weeks of chemo, an operation to remove the tumour, another 8 weeks of high-dose chemo, 3 weeks of radiotherapy, and finally 6 months on tablets called retinoic acid.

After 16 gruelling months, Connor was in remission. Sadly, in June 2010, it was discovered that he had relapsed, and the cancer is now terminal.

As his mom says, "The little fighter he is has now started more chemotherapy to try to slow things down. He's not letting anything stop him and is living life to the full and is still the cheeky little boy he always was and will be."

Sad News: Ashley H

I am very sad to report that Ashley H, (7, Neuroblastoma) lost his 2-year battle with Neuroblastoma on the 8th of September at 2:10 a.m.

The Post Pals team said: "He was a very brave Jedi who took on cancer the same way he took on Darth Vader."

Here is a picture of Ashley at the Post Pals party 2 months ago, with Joe B whose big brother, Jack Bradley, also died of cancer.

Now Ashley's pain has eased and he is flying with the other angels from Post Pals who lost their lives battling with cancer and other diseases.

R.I.P Ashley x

August's News

August has been a great month for Post Pals!

There have been record numbers of new Pals this month-7 in the last month alone!

There have also been some Pals that have 'Moved On'- Jack Peter B and Ben S have both finished their leukaemia treatment; Erin F has been well for a while now; and Luke H is also well so he has joined his 3 brothers on the Moved On list.

I personally think, looking at the post that the kids are getting, that Post Pals is having a brilliant year and is getting a lot more followers.

Dannii xxx

ILLNESS PROFILE: Chronic Renal Failure (CRF)

Chronic Renal Failure is a condition where the kidneys don't work as well as they should. It is a fairly common problem in its milder forms in the elderly, but Max (pictured) is only 2 and has a severe form of the disease, which is rare. Treatment is usually through dialysis or a kidney transplant. 

The only current Pal who suffers from CRF is Max P (2) (pictured): Max is currently on the donor list for a new kidney, and is having a lot of meds and injections. 

                                                                                          

UPDATE: Alice P

Alice is 14 and has Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She has been waiting for months and months to get a crucial bone marrow donor match-and SHE HAS FINALLY GOT ONE! :)

The news is bittersweet, however, because she must clear her bone marrow with her latest round of chemo for the bone marrow transplant to work. It is crucial that this works for her.

I know you'll all wish her the best of luck.

Dannii xxx

Birthdays and Anniversaries: August 2010

Sorry this is late! These are the birthdays being celebrated and anniversaries being commerorated on the Post Pals website this month.

Ben S (ALL): On the 23rd August, it will be Ben's 11th birthday!

Dominic F (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy): On the 23rd August, it will be Dominic's 16th birthday!

Jon Paul O (Cystic Fibrosis): On the 29th August, it will be Jon's 19th birthday! (This is incredible because when Jon was a baby, the docs didn't think he was going to see his 3rd birthday...guess they were proved wrong :D)

Milly P (Crouzon Syndrome): On the 19th August, it will be Milly's 12th birthday!

Tom S (Noonan's Syndrome): Yesterday (5th August) it was Tom's 7th birthday!

Jules N (Daisy N's brother): On the 4th August, it was Jules' 8th birthday!

Josh F (Macaulay's F brother): On the 8th August, Josh will be 5!

Chloe P (Max P's sister): On the 16th August, Chloe will be celebrating her 13th bday!

Joe H (Megan H's brother): On the 31st August, Joe will have hit the big 1-0!

Jade D (Tie D's sister): On August 12th, Jade will be 11!

Adelle D (Tie D's sister): On August 29th, Adelle will be 5! (In case you haven't noticed, Tie has a hell of a lot of sisters...6 actually :O)

Jamie R (Neuroblastoma): Jamie passed away exactly five years ago on the 31st August.

Jamie W (Neuroblastoma): Jamie passed away earlier this year, but on the 2nd August it would have been her 6th birthday.

Katie P (Neuroblastoma): Katie passed away, but on the 18th August it would have been her 6th birthday.

Madison P (Rhabdomyosarcoma): Madi passed away, but on the 30th August it would have been her 5th birthday.

Cameron E (Hannah E's brother): On the 27th August, Cameron will be 11!

Tyler P (Madison P's sister): On the 14th August, it will be Tyler's 8th b-day!


In case you are interested, I am doing a little birthday project this year-every Pal and Sibling will get an ecard on their birthday :) It's not much, but it will make smiles :)

Dannii xxx

August: Featured Pals 2

Each month I feature 2 Pals on my blog who I think particularly need some TLC right now. This month's Featured Pals are Jazmine L and Jon Paul O.

 Jon Paul O is 19 this month. He loves everything to do with fire engines and playing football.

Jon was born with many problems and died-twice!-but was brought back to his family. He wasn't expected to live until he was 3, but he proved the doctors wrong! He has to have a lot of medication and is a regular in hospital, but he always stays POSITIVE not NEGATIVE about his illness, as his mum says in the updates of his page.

Right now, Jon Paul is stuck in hospital for 6 weeks with very low lung function (because of his CF) so he could really use some post right now!