"This night last year our whole world came crashing down.....My husband and I decided at about 9pm or so to take our son Maiysn to London sick kids ER. I still remember watching my husband carry our little boy into that hospital and how Maiysn was clinging so tight to his daddy with not a worry in the world, fully trusting that his parents were taking care of him....Little did we know that we would never walk out of that hospital with him again...They immediately looked at him and told us he needed to be in the PICCU (pediatric intensive care unit). They did blood work, x rays of his belly, and within a short time we were told he was in liver and kidney failure. They told us this wasn't good and they were going to do their best to try and get his kidneys working again....As soon as we got to the ICU something in Maiysn changed. He was mumbling words, he was confused and he was never the same! I remember they kept offering me a chair, or somewhere to sleep, but there was no way I was leaving his side!!!! My hands never left his warm body that whole night because I kept telling myself that I will never get the chance again to touch his soft warm hands, and maybe I felt like if I closed my eyes, or stopped touching him, that he would just give up!" 


This is what my best friend wrote remembering last year at this time. This is what a momma went through when losing her little boy. This is what a momma had to deal with when cancer decided to get involved. This is what every other momma's nightmares are made up of. 
This my friends, is tragic, unfair & so heartbreaking. This is what cancer can do. 


But what cancer can't do, is take away who Maiysn was to his momma. 
"Maiysn used to say to her "I love you more than you love me, mommy". And she would always say "that's not possible"


Cancer can't take away his memory or the legacy he's left behind...Tomorrow, November 17th, is the first anniversary of the day my best friend had to say good bye to her little boy. And while I literally suffocate just thinking of the pain she is dealing with, I truly can't even begin to imagine all she's been through. 


Tomorrow will be so very hard for her but I want her to know we remember Maiysn - We always will. Tomorrow, the legacy he left behind will soar and 100 Kick-It-Capes will be given out in honour & in memory of a little boy who touched so many. 


But friends, I also need you to help us remember him: 
 
  • Tomorrow please wear RED - It was Maiysn's fav colour and I joked with my best friend today, that if/when I make it to heaven, I'm going to give Maiysn heck for picking the only colour I don't wear, as his favourite. So please, wear RED & post a photo using #RedforMaiysn so that my best friend can feel the love.
  • Do something kind for others - Maiysn had such a kind, sweet spirit about him. The last time I saw Maiysn was a few weeks before he passed away and I wanted nothing more than to just hold him. And that’s what I did - So tightly and for so long, just soaking in all I could of him. And later Maiysn told his mom, "Auntie Tara was holding me too tight, my spleen really hurt but I let her cause I knew she wanted to." He just endured my snuggles, almost as if he knew I needed them. So do something kind for someone else in memory of him.
And
  • Please join Little Hands Kids for a Cause Holiday Toy & Loonie Drive in memory of Maiysn - All toys will be donated to hospitals & programs that helped him when he was in treatment. More information can be found HERE.

Imagine if you can, for even one second, the deep pain you'd feel of losing your child. To me it would be the biggest heartbreak in life. My best friend described it well when she told me her heart is just so "heavy"...

 So, help me help lighten the load a wee bit & keep Maiysn's memory alive.