Daniel is still being treated at the Royal Marsden and after being so devastated that he was going to have to spend his Christmas there, as the big day approaches I am just more and more impressed each day with the place!
When I first heard that Daniel would be having chemo Christmas Day, I did my absolute best to try and plan some elaborate surprises for him to make his day that little bit more special. But I largely hit a brick wall. I found it near on impossible to get ANYONE to help me on the big day. I contacted loads of local restaurants that were serving Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day to see if they might deliver one to Daniel and Evie (Evie will be spending the day there with him, but they won't feed her so I thought it would be nice for them to have a proper Christmas Dinner delivered that they could share together). I made it clear to them all that I was happy to pay for it and for a delivery fee . . . not a single restaurant got back to me! I also contacted a Christmas stage show to see if the cast would pay a visit to the ward in costume and sing some songs. I said it didn't have to be Christmas Day, just at some point over that week whenever would be convenient to them . . . again, they didn't even have the decency to reply even to say no! And I explained the very sad situation to everybody!
So I was feeling a bit dejected and as though the 'season of goodwill' really didn't exist!
But in the run up to Christmas the stuff Daniel's been doing at the Marsden is incredible! The staff there clearly know how to pull strings better than I do! And how amazing that they must have people dedicated to activities and events as well as treatment. I think it's really great that they recognise how important that stuff is. This week alone Daniel has lifted the Queen's Tennis Cup, met Fulham players Marcus Bettinelli and Jesse Joronen (who offered him match day tickets and invited him into the changing rooms! They also bought dvds and games for the ward and gave him an iTunes gift card) and spent the morning with comedian Jack Whitehall!
I'm feeling so much better about him being there for Christmas knowing that with no help from me whatsoever, the staff there are going to make it incredible for them both. I personally would not only like to know who their cleaning company is (I would literally eat off their floors, a rareity in a hospital!), but who their events manager is!
