Dawn Torrence Ireland

2 posts within a month... amazing, huh? ;)

Things here are still hectic but good. The events are coming along, the media is now on board. The event sites are getting hit constantly by local people, people learning about CDH and others keeping tabs on what CHERUBS is doing (TAIWSOT). We've decided to allow other dress colors as well and made it a black and white ball instead of just white ball - this has greatly increased the interest in the Angel Ball. The Golf Tournament is going well also. The CDH Conference is going to be WONDERFUL!!!! It's all coming together!

Craig started cortisone treatments for his back and they are really helping. The boys are done with baseball for the summer and now non-stop into golf and golf tournaments. They would kill me for saying this but... have you ever seen 10 to 12 yr olds in their little golf outfits carrying their clubs and trying to be all grown-up when they play with their friends? It is absolutely freaking adorable. Adorable. They think they are cool - I think they are adorable. I really have to stop using words like adorable and cute.... I'm crimping their style I suppose. But they are adorable. They turn 13 in a few weeks. Teenagers. Can I admit I'm a little sad to see them leave little boys stage and enter into the teen years?

Speaking of 12 yr olds... I may end up with custody of my niece by the end of the year. She is completely out of control and my parents can't handle her. I'm determined to snap her back onto the right road, whatever it takes. She's too young and stubborn to know that 1 mistake can ruin the rest of her life. So either she makes a complete turnaround by the end of the summer or she's moving in with me where she will get 24/7 supervision by an adult who she cannot charm or wear down. She's going to stay out of trouble and grow up to be a good person if it kills me. The only other option is an all-girl reform school, preferably Christian. Not a school full of delinquents where she can learn even more bad behavior but a school where expectations are high and peer pressure to do well is the norm. Any advice sincerely appreciated!

Our research site programming starts in August. I am so excited about that, maybe even more excited than I am about the events. I love that so much support and information is at CHERUBS... 13 years of doing that, we're pretty good at it! But no one is really doing the research on CDH that needs to be done. And no one has the database that CHERUBS has. Finally all this data will be used to actually make a real difference in the fight against CDH. We will be doing something proactive against CDH. Raising awareness is wonderful - the end result should be more attention to CDH and in turn, more research. We're going straight to research. Many doctors and hospitals will be working with us, the CDH Study Group and CHERUBS have been working together for years - we're taking it to a whole new level. All CDH families will be able to participate. We can all work together to find the cause and prevention and best treatment of CDH.

This is the first step to the end of CDH. I get goosebumps thinking about that.

[b:0dff3f27ba]This is the first step to the end of CDH.[/b:0dff3f27ba]