The first ever DFW Hydrocephalus Association WALK needs your help!

Hey everyone! Listen up!

The first ever DFW Hydrocephalus Association WALK is about 3 months away! It's time for us to start fundraising! I hope to raise $10,000! I know that is ambitious, but it is something that I feel really strongly about. And with your help, I think I can.

You can also join the team and walk with us! I will have a team shirt that I will put up on Zazzle and I will attach the link when I finish the shirts - if you would to buy one! 

The walk is September 27, 2014. It will be from 8am-12pm in Frisco.

If you would like to donate here is the link: Eilish's Donation Page (http://HAwalk.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=1098262&u=1098262-400879978)

Also, if your company would like to be a sponsor or donor for my walk or my team - please let me know. Since this is the FIRST Hydrocephalus Walk in Dallas, we are desperately in need of people and companies to help out.

Any amount counts and I hope you guys can help out in any way! 

Thank you!

Eilish and Bonnie

I Have Had A Busy Week!

I have had a lot happen in the past few days! 

First, I finally got my Drivers Permit, so now I can start to learn how to drive! I was so afraid I wasn't going to pass that little test, but it actually was easy. I had nothing to worry about.

Also, I got my Seattle Seahawks 12th flag! Yay! I FINALLY have one and I have some big plans for what to do with it! :) You will see more of that later.

And last, I signed up to start volunteering for DFW Rescue Me, the group where we got the pups! I also signed up to foster dogs. We decided we could foster if the dog needs a emergency temporary place to stay before they can find a more permanent foster, or if the dog's foster family is going on vacation, then we will watch it.

So today we picked up a pup for the week while his foster family is out of town!! We get to puppysit him the whole week. Look at him! 

His name is Max. He is 6 weeks old and they think he is a Shiba Inu pup.

He is so tiny he makes Bonnie and all of her 6 1/2 pounds look big!

Bonnie, Clyde and Dolly have all been very nice to Max. There is A LOT of tail wagging and sniffing and slobber. Bonnie got a bit too nice she had to be put outside so he could sleep - Bonnie would not stop licking him. Just as we had guessed!

Finally, It was nap time for Max and Clyde. Bonnie, Dolly and I went outside to plant and water some more plants and play with the hose. Bonnie likes to attack the water!

Look at that! So cute!

I think Bon Bon got a little bit jealous, because Max kept sitting in my lap.  That's usually what Bonnie does. There was still room for Bonnie, but she decided to go off to a different pillow.

Dog Park

Hey everyone! It's me, Bonnie! It's been a while since I posted! I've been really busy.

        I got to go on a special car ride today! Most my car rides end up at the vets. And that's not fun. But this one I ended up at a special place called Wiggle Field Dog Park! I have never been to a dog park before. I didn't even know what it was!  It was very fun! 

       We got there and at first Clyde and I were the only ones, so that was nice because we could check everything out first. It was so huge and I could run forever! Then 2 small white dogs came in and Clyde and them ran all over the place.  I played with them a little bit. Clyde got REALLY tired. I also found a LOT of bugs that I played with. I watched them forever.

Then, a small old Chihuahua came after the other 2 dogs left and we all played too. I said "Hi" to the big dogs on the other side of the fence. One dog I said "Hi!" to over and over and over, but he ignored me.  I also had fun digging holes and watching the bigger dogs go swimming in the pond. It so much fun! I didn't want to leave! 

It was a big place!

I found a bug!

Clyde said hi to a big dog.

Clyde was so tired! He had just ran allover the place playing with some of the dogs!

13th National Conference on Hydrocephalus!

It's FINAL!

I am registered and all set to go the 13th National Conference on Hydrocephalus July 9-11. This year, they are having it in...PORTLAND! 

We are staying a couple extra days to do Portlandia things.

This is a link to the proposed schedule.

Do you know who this is?

Do you know who this is?

This is a picture of Roald Dahl, with his wife Patricia Neal, and their 3 oldest children (Olivia, Tessa and Theo). 

So why am I writing about him on a Hydrocephalus Blog? 

Well, everyone knows that Roald Dahl is famous for writing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". But he is also very important in the world of Hydrocephalus. 

When his son Theo was only 4 months old, the nanny was pushing him in a stroller and also had Tessa with her. She waited at the crossing for the light to change. When it did, the nanny pushed Theo’s stroller off the sidewalk and out into the road. At that point a taxi zoomed around the corner and crashed into the stroller. Instead of braking, the driver panicked and he stepped on the gas, ripping the stroller out of the nanny’s hands and sending it flying 40ft through the air, before it smashed into the side of a parked bus. Theo’s head took the full force of the impact and his skull shattered.

When the doctors finally determined what was wrong and how to treat it, they inserted a "Holter Shunt". However, this shunt kept clogging, causing convulsions and blindness and Theo had to keep returning to the hospital.  Frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the Holter Shunt, Dahl got together with 2 friends - a Hydraulic Engineer and a Neurosurgeon and developed the "Wade-Dahl-Till Shunt".  The hydraulic pumps did not clog and were a massive improvement on the Holter Shunt.

Several thousand children benefitted from this shunt and the inventors never accepted any profit from it.

First Concert - Muse

      As a family friend once said, "Graçon has Travel Hockey and Eilish has Travel Concerts!"

      Sometimes I feel going to concerts is kind of like what I do. Since, I can't play sports.  I DO go to a lot of concerts. It's pretty much the only thing that you can do in Texas. And before you start telling me I'm wrong...yes. I know. There are a lot of professional sports teams - but the only one in Texas that we care to watch is the Dallas Stars.  And I know. There are museums. But once you've taken every guest to the 6th Floor Museum 5 times, it gets a little old. As with every city, there are art museums, and zoos, and aquariums and arboretums. And I've been to every one here in Dallas, and in about 20 other cities. So I'm kind of over that.

     Oh, and yes, we do have lakes. I love lakes. But I like lakes you can actually see the bottom - like in the NW. Not this scary mucky brown water we have here.

Little Bitterroot Lake, Montana

     Anyway. Half the time it's way too hot for me to go outside…I hate the heat. 75 degrees is, like, way too hot for me. And when it is 110 out? Forget it!!!

     Most the shows I go see are small lesser known bands and the tickets don't cost more than $25. Places like the Granada, Prophet Bar, Trees, The Kessler, etc. all have really great shows and are awesome venues. And if I do go see a more well known band - for the most part - I am in the nose bleed seats. There's a trick to getting good tickets and seeing good shows (like a super secret last minute concert for 50 people to see Young the Giant...)

     So back to my main topic.  The first concert I went to see, on 3-17-2010, was Muse! Man, that was an absolutely amazing concert!! I was still very high up in the seats, but their stage was so incredibly cool!! You wouldn't have been able to see all of the stage if you were up close. They tell a story rather than playing songs - each song leads into the next. My mom says they are like Rock Operas. :) 

Muse concert

Hydrocephalus Association announces Guest Speaker!

Adam Page knows the meaning of determination. At the age of 15, he was the youngest member of the 2007-08 U.S. National Sled Hockey team. Now 22 years old, Adam is a two time gold medal winner for the Sochi 2014 andVancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, respectively. The Hydrocephalus Association is excited to announce that Adam will serve as the motivational keynote speaker at our 13^th National Conference on Hydrocephalus, July 9-11, 2014, in Portland, Oregon. Coming off of his winter game win, Adam will inspire us all, kids and adults alike, as he addresses the conference participants.

Read more about Adam!