My Afternoon with Max

(I hope y'all will read my blog post below, but if you only have a couple of minutes and just want to see the video, click here to see the video from Mike and Amber!)

Recently, I had the great experience of being able to meet my patient partner, Max Gagnon, for the first time.  Max, who is five years old, has been battling leukemia for a little short of two years now.  I previously wrote about his story and how he and his entire family -- father Mike, mother Amber, and sister Olivia -- have inspired their entire community in New Hampshire.  If you haven't read their story, I encourage you to read it here. 

As part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge program which paired the two of us, I flew up to greater Boston to meet him and his family at a fun get together.  Officially, the goal was to make posters to celebrate all the Patient Partner participants at the upcoming team dinner the night before the Marathon.  But for me, it was much more than that -- it was the first time I got to meet Max and his family in person.  While we had the opportunity to FaceTime a few times before, being able to experience Max in person was something I was really looking forward to.  Little did I know that it would be all that I hoped for and then some.

By the time I got to the event, Max and his family ... ok, really mostly Max =) ... were well on their way with the decorations.  He was plowing through various sticker books of super heroes, Lego characters, and construction vehicles just to name a few.  When I snuck up behind him, he gave me a big hug -- the type of hug that warms the soul and shows you what pure joy feels like.  Unlike last year, when he really wasn't able to participate due to his medical treatments, this year he was in full decoration mode, and there was nothing that was going to stop him!

Among Max's many loves is Legos and Ninjago, so I brought him up a present my son, Asher, has selected for him.  In short, he loved it -- this was an action shot of him showing his dad, Mike, their next "project" to work on together.  Not only was it great to see Max having so much joy from the experience, but getting to meet Mike and Amber face to face was a blast as well.  Not only could you feel the happiness they felt being able to see Max enjoy himself, but it was a remarkable contrast to some of the difficult times they've experienced along their journey with Max.  

One of the moments I distinctly remember was them showing me the picture from last year's poster party, with little Max tuckered out from the treatments he had been receiving.  Fast forward the clock to this year where as I was talking with Max's parents, Max proceeded to use me as his personal tackling dummy -- of course, he saw Asher doing that to me in one of our FaceTime sessions, so little wonder where he got that from! =)

It was just a two hour session, but in that time I not only felt a tremendous sense of pride to be able to run on behalf of Max and his family, but it continued to further my emotional connection to this team and its work.  We talked glowingly about the recent trip Max made to the Jimmy Fund Clinic for treatment as a nor'easter was hitting the Boston area, and as a result Max got to speed around the clinic in a pedal-powered tri-cycle!  We also got to see how those treatments and care from the doctors have allowed him to truly enjoy being a kid -- complete with decorating his own cookie and playing the goalkeeper in an intense game of foosball!  I'm sure I'm not giving the afternoon it's justice in terms of what it meant to Max and his family; I can only tell y'all how much the afternoon meant to me to see Max having a great time.

For more from a very fun day, check out this video that Mike and Amber put together of the afternoon!

As I left the facility to head back to the airport and back to Atlanta, I was already looking forward to the next time I'd be able to see all of them, just a few short weeks from now.  And of course, being able to spend the final evening before the Marathon with them will be one of those life moments I won't forget.  

I'll close with this: I have been very blessed to have many moments in my life where I'd welcome the "pause" button to be hit, just for a little while.  My first time getting to meet Max in person ranks right up there.  And with every donation we make towards the work the Jimmy Fund Clinic, Dana-Farber, and others are doing, we'll not only truly find a world without cancer... we'll find many more memories in time for us all.