10,000 Thank Yous

     Meghan and I are still vibrating from the energy that was emanating from the Canadian Corps Legion Hall in Toronto on Saturday night. Unbelieveable. About 250 people showed up to show their support for us and our families and let cancer know in no uncertain terms that it's not welcome here, there, or anywhere else. While we weren't able to be there ourselves, we got some vivid descriptions and photos that have helped us picture it.

Some of the crowd

     The 1970s style 2-floor venue was perfect, complete with QEII portraits, hooked rugs and some straggler legionnaires.  Stu Henderson, Dave Marshall, and Ian and Simone of $100 thoroughly entertained the crowd with their mix of Neil Young covers, and Canadian rock, folk and country originals. The wood-paneled building was populated by people from every page of Meg and my histories as individuals and a couple, as well as by those who were there just to support the cause. 

 

Dave and Stu setting up

Ian and Simone entertaining the crowd

     A staggering amount of money was raised through donated silent auction items, t-shirt sales, and cover charges. These contributions will allow us to navigate this uncertain time with peace and security, and words can't express the overwhelming gratitude that we feel. It is earth-shakingly humbling. We feel so lucky to be able to focus almost exclusively on my healing and the development of our brand new family for the next little while. We also hope that stability comes soon, and look forward to the opportunity to reciprocate some of the compassionate kindess that has been shown to us back to the community at large. We're not sure what that will look like yet, but we will be sure to keep you all posted as it develops.

A sample of some of the generously donated auction items 

    For now, all we can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. Over the past few months, the world seems to have revealed itself to us as a place of such beauty. People have truly shown their best, most altruistic sides to us, and it's been an absolutely cathartic experience. There are horrible, scary things that lurk in dark corners some days, but the light from those around us seems to keep them cowering there. And of course, any day now, a brand new brilliance will shine on our world and those dark things won't know what to do with themselves.

     They've been mentioned before, but many thanks need to go to the organizers of the SMASH IT! benefit. The amount of work and effort that people put into this event was truly unbelieveable. My brother Shawn and Brianna's sister Meghan helped with many of the logistics, and huge love goes out to them. The SMASH IT! Website should be updated at some point soon with some photos. There are too many silent auction donators to list here, but the items were unique, creative, and from my understanding, completely sold out by the end of the evening. Special mention should be made of Mitch Newbold, one of Meghan's father's business partners who really rose to the occasion and gathered an incredible bounty of valuable items.

     Of course, any part of this evening would not have been possible without the lovely Katie Ross and Claire Slocombe. Katie and Claire are both friends of ours from years back, and any communication we've had about the event has made it clear that these two poured their hearts and souls into making sure this party was going to be a success. They are two very special women in our lives, and I don't know if or how we'll ever be able to let them know how much this has meant to us.

The lovely Katie and Claire

     We wish we could have been there. With all of those worlds colliding, it sounded like some pretty amazing energy was created, and we're still feeling it rippling across the country. Yesterday I had my tenth radiation treatment out of my scheduled twenty - halfway there! My hair started to fall out yesterday, so I think it's back to the closely cropped look for a while, but otherwise, I'm still feeling good.  Meg is looking and feeling great, and my brother Mike arrives tomorrow, so we've got a second hand on deck just in case. . .

     The next little while should be a buzzing time, and we're so excited for the birth and for our families to arrive. Now let's get through these next couple months, and get home, where the other morning it apparently looked like this:

Now that's motivation. . . 

Thanks for your continued support, love, and communication. We'll be in touch again soon. xo Mark and Megs.