After only a few dramas we are here in sunny Carlsbad …. well, OK, not much sun has been seen and it was freezing today but we made it! Great trip over with the good folks at Qantas – they were fantastic with Mike which was great as I know he was quite stressed about the trip. For any plane enthusiasts, the A380 is amazing and the sky-beds and console arrangements are very, very cool …. so cool that Ash couldn’t really get much sleep – there were far too many episodes of Dora and Wiggles to choose from. She was hysterical at one point with the big headphones on and the screen turned around dancing away in the aisle – I can’t believe we didn’t have the video camera handy!

We got off to a great start – all ready on time and everything going gang-busters until we realised we had left the box with all Mike’s medical supplies at home — Oopla! After paying a ridiculous amount to have them raced to the airport in a cab we managed to get all of us and all our stuff on the plane. First lesson learnt – check what you have packed and put it in the car yourself (or at least check the car!!). Second lesson learnt shortly there-after ….. Qantas idea of “meet and assist” very differnt to mine!! Somehow I was supposed to manage child, all hand luggage and crappy airport manual chair on my own …. obviously I looked pathetic b/c i ended up getting some help … lesson 2 – always take electric chair all the way to the gate and make them deal with it there!!! After that, lesson 3 on the flight – always give child phenergen about 3 hours BEFORE you want them to go to sleep not 1 hour after. Anyway, we made it to LA and there was a bit of drama transferring (ie, no-one hurried, Mike’s manual chair was busted up on the flight in to LA — nice one baggage handling guys — get back on strike for more pay – you will need it to pay for all the stuff you bust! Our other bags were masacred too so not entirely sure what happens underneath those big planes.) Anyway, we are in LA with only 2 hrs to transfer flights and get out to the other terminal and no wheelchairs in sight – oh well. Our bags made the flight to San Diego but we didn’t! Seriously scary internal security – given all the hoops you have jump thru to go internationally it seems weird that they are quite happy to send bags without passengers on domestic flights! Anyway, we hooked back up with all our luggage in San Diego, jumped in a hir van and drove on the wrong side of the road with very little sleep- it was great!! We made it to the hotel and settled in to our tiny, tiny little room. So far the carers Mike has had have been fantastic so hopefully that keeps up. We have found a supermarket and are already over how sweet everything is. Ash is being an angel (except that she is still awake now!).

We have found a couple of things to do around town and everything seems quite accessible so far … enough from me for now. Have a great weekend. Will write more once we have been to project Walk on monday.

Ok, this is the third time I have typed this post up ….. it won’t be nearly as much fun this time around!

Firstly, a huge thankyou to everyone who attended – what a fantastic night – we thankyou all for your support and hope that you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. I was worried it might just have been the red wine talking but the texts and e-mails I have received yesterday and today indicate to me that it was an inspirational and enjoyable night.

There are so many thankyous that need to go out after an event like that, many months in the planning and hours of hard work but I will try to keep it quick – thankyou to the alcohol sponsors – CuB, Mt Toolleen winery and Henley Hill winery; and to the companies who donated items to make the raffle, auction, silent auction and prizes such a success – Crazy Johns, MasterFoods, John Sands, Crown Promenade, Aireys Inlet Getaway, Catering on the Move, GIANT bikes, Piping Hot, SweetAs, Bunnings, Prahran pool, Zoe Mou jewellery, Firrin by Chloe Elizabeth and all the others I have forgotten! For those of you who left with something – we hope you enjoy your spot prizes, raffle, bargain table and auction prizes.

Obviously a huge thankyou to our amazing guest speakers – Daniel and Robbo. Thankyou for donating your time, we hope you enjoyed the event as much as we enjoyed hearing you speak. Your openness and honesty were amazing and inspiring.

So many people helped out but the following people deserve special mention – without them there would have been no event: Anthony, Damien, Jo, Jacquie, Sparky, Pete and Ri.

Now that the thankyous are done – apologies next! Due to a slight technical difficulty with the presentations I did not get to meet and greet as you all arrived, nor to have a relaxing champagne with the canape’s – so to those of you who I did get to meet or chat to properly – sorry! For those of you who I was very much looking forward to meeting and then managed only a few short words before letting myself get distracted again – apologies! Hopefully we can all catchup again once we return from the U.S. I had grand visions of spending the night with lots of time to chat and catchup but probably it was best that you got to listen to the guest speakers instead – much more coherent and a lot more interesting! Also, apologies for earth hour! We did a fair bit of planning and had purchased the candles on your table with grand plans of making note of earth hour at 8:30, turning down the lights and dining by candle-light but got so interested in the guest speakers that this did not happen! Even though we missed the chance to formally recognise this – the lights were down, your lights were off at home and we did eat by candle-light so we did do a little bit to help.

I have alluded above to a number of e-mails and texts which have come thru over the last couple of days but I think that this snippet from one encapsulates the general feeling of them all:
“Whilst I didn’t get a chance to tell you last night mate, your words of hope and determination are entrenched in the back of my head and this has given me impetus to make myself better at whatever I do in my life.”

“When I would have sat there and felt sorry for myself, you have accepted your cruel twist of fate and looked at the positives. How you do that is incomprehensible, but that’s why you will succeed in the future.”

The final banking has not yet been done but it looks as though there will be enough money to either fund the physio sessions at project walk or purchase a couple of pieces of equipment. It is so fantastic that instead of looking forlornly at equipment that will help Mike’s recovery, he can try it out and if it helps we can organise to bring it home – so thankyou very much

I cannot remember what I had included in the last 2 versions I did of this post (prior to losing them in the ether somewhere!) so I would like to finish up with wishing you all the best for the next 8 weeks while we are away – enjoy the break from us!! We will keep you up to date with at least one post a week. I won’t have Sparky around to help but will do my very best to make sure I include photos and video where possible – but I wouldn’t start holding your breath!

Enjoy April Fool’s Day and we look forward to seeing you all when we get back at the end of May.

A Night with Mike – Benefit Dinner

Today is the last day to show your support for Mike – and get him some much needed equipment – we need your forms TODAY! If you have paid electronically, could you please ensure that you have registered your payment with Monica by Email.  If you have not sent a form or emailed Monica (monica@michaelforbes.org), we don’t know that you are coming  —- and you won’t have a seat or food!  The final numbers must be confirmed with the venue by the COB today. For last minute registrations – please get the form below or from the fundraising page or e-mail monica.

Supersprint – Triathlon Raffle Winners

Wrapping up a great weekend, several michaelforbes helpers sold many raffle tickets at the St Kilda Triathlon.  The raffle raised about $2000 and will provide Mike with an extra week of active rehabilitation in the States during May.  Thank you to all who donated through the raffle and those helpers who kindly gave up their valuable time over the weekend.  The winners of the raffle are:

• 1^st prize – Giant DEFY road bike (valued $1190): D. Richardson, Sandringham
• 2^nd Prize – Free entry in Supersprint Great Ocean Road Ride 2010: J. Bradley
• 3^rd Prize – 2 Wilson tennis racquets: C. Matthews

All prize winners not already contacted will be contacted shortly.

Last call for ticket sales to the Big Dinner ….. with Robbo and Kowalski (and Mike too!). This is the last fundraising event for a very long time so come along and support Forbesy in his aim to “be the best he can be”.

There are a few tables left but we need to close out ticket sales at COB Monday so that we can advise the venue ….. So grab your mates and fill a table, send back your form so that we can make sure your tickets get sent out early next week in plenty of time and put on your party shoes to help support Mike and send him off to re-hab – we leave 3 days after the dinner for 8 weeks. His improvements already have been amazing and we are confident there is more to come!

Robbo and Kowalski will be there for the night so come along and meet them and listen to them speak about their amazing careers. And in the last bit on the dinner, thanks to the businesses who have been so supportive of the fundraising exercise

Mike has been well for the last few weeks and is slowly building up his strength for the challenge that will be Project Walk … although Mike is labelling it “Project Stand up without help and without falling flat on my face”! Those of you that come along to the dinner will notice how well and spritely Mike is looking at the moment … courtesy of a Botox injection! I am not entirely sure how it works that he gets the Botox! It was in his thumb but he is claiming it as his new Hollywood look – apparently it was enough for about 7 Hollywood actresses.  I am convinced it was a waste of good Botox and that he should just age gracefully but it does seem to have a made a huge difference. I am just wondering if he will come back with plumped up lips next time!

Look forward to seeing you next Saturday night.

We are finally re-booked for take-3 to the U.S. …… clearly not learning from our rotten luck last year we have booked flights leaving here on April fool’s day. We thought this was OK as the flight currently leaves just after 12noon but by April it leaves around 11 – so it is bound to be a disaster!

Mike is doing much better so thanks to those of you who have been dropping in. To the work guys that he had lunch with today – thanks – he loved it! He finally appears to be over whatever bug he has had and the wonderful Harri, Pat and Penina have all been working hard to get a bit of mobility in to his back after 2 weeks of lying still so that pain seems to under control too …… this is a thankyou from me b/c I don’t have to put up with him being a grumpy bear!!

Anyway, Mike is definitely on the mend – he has managed to get in 3 hydro sessions and a couple of phsyio sessions this week – along with plenty of rest – so we are very confident that by the beginning of April he will have plenty of strength and stamina to get the most out of project walk. Now that his back has been loosened off a bit it is amazing how much better his legs are moving! And he can sit in the chair for more than 2 hours at a time. We have been on a few outings which is always good for a change of scenery.

I think he is also pleased that the big boxes of cycle kit in the front room are dwindling rapidly! Don’t forget to drop in to CBD or Spoke(n) or flick me a mail if you want a kit so that I can reclaim a corner of my study! I know that everyone wearing them loves them and it was great when I got in a stealth ride the other morning to see 3 or 4 sets of kit in a 45 min ride!

Also, he has another new party-trick of which we are very proud. His left wrist has decided to half remember how to work. It is still very, very weak and does not function normally at all but it is amazing how much such a tiny improvement can give you. He was able to hold a fork without a splint and extract some chicken from a wrap —- food seems to be a fairly large motivator still!

Thanks to his wonderful carer Lois for cooking his favourite meal (and just generally being wonderful) – Mike appears to have his appetite back after 2-3 weeks of barely eating.

Mike is planning on getting out for a few rides over the next couple of weekends so we will work on a time and if you are free drop by. No doubt there will be a park play (for the kids) and a cafe stop involved.

In other exciting news there has been lots of work going on by some amazing people and the invites for the dinner will be out by next Wednesday at the latest – very exciting! Lots of great prizes and raffle and auction items already in.

Finally (last but not least and all that) …. some of you would have received e-mails about the Entertainment Book fundraiser that the wonderful Jo has organised. For those of you unaware – The Entertainment Book provides you with 100′s of opportunities to try restaurants, attractions (adult & children), activities, theatres, cinemas, retail services, travel & accommodation – all with introductory offers.  Entertainment books are distributed through fund raising groups, organisations and charities to help raise much needed funds.  The featured restaurants do not pay to be included, they are selected based on awards, reveiws and personal recommendatrions. For every book sold, $13.00 goes to Mike’s program. To order one (or if you need any further info), please contact Jo direct at:  jomortimore@optusnet.com.au or on 0411 722 772.

To all of you who don’t know yet – we were just tricking! We haven’t left for the U.S. and given the current date and the benefit dinner on the 28th March we now won’t leave until April. Mike is still pretty sick but the week in hospital seems to have killed the bug … hopefully when he finishes this course of anti-biotics he will start feeling a bit better.

In short, this means that we are still around and will be taking it pretty easy (on doctors advise — see, sometimes we do listen!!) for the next couple of weeks. I am finally giving in today and am going to unpack! We’ll put it down to a practice run and we’re sure to do better next time – I certainly won’t be getting medical supplies to day before we are due to fly and packing until 1am! The blue house is open to visitors so feel free to drop in whenever – for the next few days Mike is enjoying a nanna-nap sometime in the middle of the day but I think he is very keen to catchup with people and even go for a ride or two over the coming weeks and weekends.  We need to get his spirits back up again and get him back enjoying life.

Anyway, the benefit dinner is coming along really well so make sure you put the 28th March in your calendar. Ticket details will be out soon but it promises to be a great night. Thanks to Anthony for all his great work on this and to Robbo for offering to be a guest speaker – what an awesome gesture- thankyou! Hopefully we will be leaving fairly soon after this event to start up at Project Walk so come along and make sure we leave this time!

Not much else to report at present as Mike is being lazy and I am taking the opportunity to organise the house and try to get it a bit clean. We are also trying to get the house modifications going along so that Mike doesn’t fall the laundry/bathroom floor once it starts rotting away from our hasty mods! I am also very keen for him to be able to get his chair in to Ash’s room so that he can read her bedtime stories again so that I get a rest!

Don’t forget to pick up your cycle kit at CBD or Spoke(n) stores or e-mail me at monica@michaelforbes.org if you want a set.